The Yellow Brick Road

Racing down the frontstretch.

After spending a week on the high banks of Talladega Superspeedway, the NASCAR iRacing Class A Fixed Series brought over 700 online racers to the newly repaved 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway for 50 laps under the nighttime Kansas skies. Originally opened in 2001, Kansas Speedway had grown into favorite among drivers and fans for the multi-groove racing it had started to produce due to the deteriorating pavement. Unfortunately, the speedway was repaved in 2012 and now houses a progressive banking package which ranges from 17 to 20 degrees in the corners, instead of the uniform 15 degrees the speedway held previously.

After leading just five of the event’s 50 laps, Dylan Fitzpatrick (Mid-South) drove his No. 16 Chevrolet SS into Kansas Speedway’s victory lane after besting NASCAR iRacing Pro Series competitor Brandon Chubirko (Carolina) by 0.289 seconds. Chubirko led 41 of the events laps, but came up short of the victory after starting from the outside of the front row in his No. 4 Chevrolet SS. The final spot on the podium went to Carolina Club member Lee Herron who started from the fourth spot in the No. 3 Toyota Camry and went on to finish third. The fourth and fifth positions were occupied by Jordan Westfall (Canada) and Zachary Phillips (Atlantic), who started from the 14^th and 16^th positions, respectively. The 3625 strength of field was slowed six times for caution for a total of 21 laps and included two lead changes among three drivers.

Although Ryan Lowe did not compete in the week’s top strength of field event, he was able to accumulate the most championship points for the week (214) by taking his Toyota Camry to victory lane three times in four attempts. The second place point earner for the week was Chubirko, who ended a successful week with 10 victories and 16 top five finishes in 16 attempts for the addition of 207 points to his season total. Herron’s efforts during the week were good enough for the third position after making five starts and recording three victories and five top five finishes. Dylan Fitzpatrick (Mid-South) capped off a successful week in the fourth overall position by netting 204 championship points for his efforts during the week, which included eight starts, three top five finishes, and two victories. The final position in the top five went to Brazilian sim racer Guilherme Coral, who made two starts and recorded one victory while earning 199 points.

A pair of Toyota Camrys race side-by-side.

Qualifying at Kansas Speedway can be a challenging task when the driver isn’t up on the wheel and correctly working the throttle to achieve maximum traction. The driver who did that the best during Week Two qualifying was is an iRacing member who is no stranger to the top of the qualifying chart. Jason Jacoby (Georgia), driving the newly released Toyota Camry, set the fastest time of the week with a lap time of 28.689 seconds around the 1.5-mile speedway. The second quickest time of the week went to current NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series competitor Kevin King (California) who was just two thousandths of a second off of Jacoby’s blistering pace. Rounding out the podium was Nick Shelton (Mid-South) who concluded the week with a time of 28.726 seconds. The final two positions in the top five were filled by Connor Anton (Canada) and Pedro Mojica (Texas) who turned times of 28.736 and 28.744 seconds, respectively.

With two weeks of sim-racing under their belts, Tyler Russell (Texas) currently holds a two point lead over second place driver Anton. The third position is held down by Fitzpatrick, who is currently eight points behind leader Russell. California Club member Logan Clampitt occupies the fourth position and is 15 points out of the top spot. The final spot in the top five is held down by Coral, who is 19 points behind heading into Week Three.

After 50 somewhat difficult laps at Kansas Speedway, the series heads into the headquarters of most NASCAR teams. The virtual Charlotte Motor Speedway will play host to Week Three of the NASCAR iRacing Class A Fixed Series, so check back in a week’s time for a full recap of the action from the 1.5-mile speedway.

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