Zalenski Punches Ticket to eNASCAR Championship 4 With Charlotte Roval Win

October 14th, 2020 by

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before.

Bobby Zalenski led flag to flag in Tuesday night’s eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series road course race, this time scoring the victory at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. For the second year in a row, a victory on the unique layout enabled the Fresno native to secure a spot in the Championship 4 of the series playoffs, this time ensuring that he’ll have a chance at becoming iRacing’s first $100,000 champion when the final checkered flag falls on November 1.

“I don’t know how we’re still able to do this, me and my team,” Zalenski said after the pivotal victory. “You put all this preparation in, and somehow you’re able to maximize every aspect every time, understanding the cars and tires and (so on). I’m just happy we’re going to Homestead—that’s the goal. A road course is a road course, but we’re trying to win a championship and get to Homestead.

“I’m just glad we had a clean race. We had a really great Q lap, and I was able to just go out and drive. But I’m tired!”

Zalenski’s sixth road course victory in a row in the championship was widely predicted coming into the race, but he was by no means the only eNASCAR playoff contender to have a good points day at the track. Fellow playoff contenders Jimmy Mullis and Nick Ottinger completed the podium, while Keegan Leahy hung on for fourth place in spite of an uncharacteristic mid-race mistake that saw him take on some left side damage. Only Logan Clampitt, the first driver on the outside of the playoff bubble, stood between an all-playoff top five, beating Garrett Lowe to the line by more than seven seconds.

With no full-course cautions on the Roval, it was bound to be a long night for those playoff contenders who don’t specialize in turning left and right. Ryan Luza salvaged a career-best 11th place finish, while Ray Alfalla survived with a 24th place run, one lap down. Only Michael Conti took a DNF, after a shifting issue popped the car into first gear and blew the engine; he’d be scored 37th at the finish, and will likely require a win of his own to make it into the Championship 4.

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Manufacturer

Laps

Led

Interval

Best

Pts
1 1 83 Bobby Zalenski Chevrolet 55 55 1:15.008 47.058 45
2 3 46 Jimmy Mullis Toyota 55 0 1:15.517 47.016 39
3 6 25 Nick Ottinger Chevrolet 55 0 1:15.390 47.156 38
4 2 32 Keegan Leahy Toyota 55 0 1:15.532 46.932 37
5 9 99 Logan Clampitt Toyota 55 0 1:16.470 46.727 36
6 7 21 Garrett Lowe Ford 55 0 1:15.971 47.177 35
7 8 37 Christian Challiner Chevrolet 55 0 1:16.204 47.107 34
8 5 27 Corey Vincent Ford 55 0 1:16.317 47.175 33
9 13 23 Casey Kirwan Toyota 55 0 1:15.929 46.744 32
10 4 18 Graham A. Bowlin Toyota 55 0 1:16.730 47.137 31
11 18 53 Ryan Michael Luza Ford 55 0 1:16.339 46.872 30
12 12 6 Nathan Lyon Ford 55 0 1:16.775 46.743 29
13 15 24 Jake Nichols Ford 55 0 1:16.480 46.901 28
14 16 77 Bob Bryant Toyota 55 0 1:16.682 46.806 27
15 11 17 Kollin Keister Ford 55 0 1:16.594 46.807 26
16 32 3 Blake Reynolds Chevrolet 55 0 1:16.361 46.959 25
17 34 90 Zack Novak Toyota 55 0 1:16.896 46.766 24
18 14 41 Dylan Duval Ford 55 0 1:16.900 46.936 23
19 17 55 Caine Cook Ford 55 0 1:17.234 47.166 22
20 19 5 Matt Bussa Ford 55 0 1:17.450 46.862 21
21 22 88 Brad Davies Chevrolet 55 0 1:17.114 46.786 20
22 23 10 Justin Bolton Ford 55 0 1:17.268 46.927 19
23 28 33 Michael Guest Chevrolet 54 0 1:17.729 46.813 18
24 24 2 Ray Alfalla Chevrolet 54 0 1:16.846 47.037 17
25 20 9 Eric J. Smith Ford 54 0 1:16.597 46.767 16
26 26 15 Michael Guariglia Ford 54 0 1:17.557 46.943 15
27 38 66 Jarl Teien Chevrolet 54 0 1:16.307 47.135 14
28 35 75 Phillip Diaz Ford 54 0 1:16.810 46.861 13
29 21 97 John Gorlinsky Chevrolet 54 0 1:17.078 46.841 12
30 30 36 Chris Shearburn Chevrolet 54 0 1:18.029 47.122 11
31 31 16 Chris Overland Ford 54 0 1:17.338 46.921 10
32 25 47 Steve Sheehan Chevrolet 54 0 1:17.814 46.795 9
33 29 51 Malik Ray Toyota 54 0 1:17.711 46.845 8
34 36 14 Brandon Hayse Kettelle Ford 53 0 1:18.285 46.928 7
35 27 54 Alex McCollum Chevrolet 49 0 1:17.082 47.069 6
36 37 4 Santiago Tirres Chevrolet 41 0 1:16.973 47.578 5
37 10 8 Michael Conti Chevrolet 9 0 1:16.383 47.122 4
38 33 79 Brian Schoenburg Ford 1 0 3

 

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoff points through 17 of 20 events are as follows:

  1. Bobby Zalenski, 2015
  2. Keegan Leahy, 2046
  3. Jimmy Mullis, 2045
  4. Nick Ottinger, 2041
  5. Ryan Luza, 2039
  6. Garrett Lowe, 2035
  7. Ray Alfalla, 2020
  8. Michael Conti, 2004

There’s no rest for the drivers of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series next week, as the series continues its mad dash through the playoffs with the second of three races in the Round of 8 at Kansas Speedway. As always, the race can be seen live on Tuesday at 9PM ET on eNASCAR.com/live and across the iRacing Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube channels. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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