eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Race Preview: Race 4 – Richmond

Tuesday night marks the fourth points race night of the 2023 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season with 130 laps scheduled ahead at Richmond Raceway.

The 0.75-mile D-shaped oval in Richmond, Virginia returns to the 2023 schedule for a 14th straight season – one of the few tracks that has been a part of every eNASCAR season to date.

Last year, Michael Conti (JR Motorsports) scored his second win of the 2022 season, and what was the 13th win of his career, after a yellow-marred event at the short track in Henrico County. Similar to a year ago, Conti will also be looking to score his second win of the 2023 season once again tonight.

TWO WEEKS AGO AT ATLANTA

In three races on the 2023 season so far, there have been three different winners on three different types of tracks.

At Daytona, Tucker Minter (Team Dillon Esports) scored the late win after a battle with the champ, Casey Kirwan (XSET). In the second race at The Milwaukee Mile, Conti scored his first win after passing Malik Ray (Jim Beaver Esports) late in the going. Last time out at Atlanta, it was Steven Wilson (Stewart-Haas Esports) scoring the win.

In multiple eNASCAR Overtime restarts, Wilson was able to hang on against Kollin Keister (eRacr) and Michael Guest (23XI Racing) coming to the line. With a fifth place finish behind Michael Cosey Jr (Front Row Motorsports), Graham A. Bowlin (Charlotte Phoenix) took over the points standings lead.

RACE 3 AT ATLANTA – TOP 10 RESULTS

FIN	STA	CAR #	DRIVER	TEAM	INTERVAL	LED	PTS
1	14	10	Steven Wilson	Stewart-Haas Esports	105 LAPS	27	40
2	35	42	Kollin Keister	eRacr	+0.035 secs	0	35
3	31	45	Michael Guest	23XI Racing	+0.112 secs	0	34
4	15	38	Michael Cosey Jr	Front Row Motorsports	+0.146 secs	0	33
5	9	48	Graham A. Bowlin	Charlotte Phoenix	+0.170 secs	0	32
6	33	66	Tyler Garey	Kanaan Esports	+0.173 secs	0	31
7	20	20	Wyatt Tinsley	Kansas City Pioneers	+0.234 secs	1	30
8	23	41	Dylan Duval	Stewart-Haas Esports	+0.239 secs	35	29
9	25	11	Parker White	Kanaan Esports	+0.274 secs	1	28
10	3	34	Allen Boes	Front Row Motorsports	+0.333 secs	3	27

RICHMOND HISTORY

As mentioned above, Richmond Raceway is one of the few tracks that have been on the eNASCAR Coke Series calendar at least once every season to date. For the first two seasons, winning at Richmond meant winning the championship as Richard Towler and Ray Alfalla were the victors, respectively in 2010 and 2011.

Steve Sheehan won it in 2012, and starting in 2013 with Nick Ottinger (William Byron Esports), winning back-to-back seasons became the norm. Ottinger took 2013 and 2014. The Champion for 2015, Kenny Humpe, took 2015 and 2016. Alfalla wound up winning a second and third time in 2017 and 2018. Ryan Luza, the 2017 champion, would take 2019 and 2020.

The streak broke in 2022. In 2021, Vicente Salas (Williams Esports), driving for Spacestation Racing at the time, led every single lap en route to his first and only career victory to date. Almost expected to win in 2022, instead Salas struggled to finish 12th and Conti took his first win.

Richmond Raceway has also had a history in the series outside of just being a track on the calendar. What was originally The Chaos Crew, it became Richmond Raceway Esports for multiple seasons. Eventually, it was updated to Rise Esports, but at least the team will recognize their roots with a special scheme on the No. 46 Chevy driven by original Chaos Crew member Jimmy Mullis.

WHO TO WATCH FOR

Recent and past winners are always at the top of my watch list, which brings a trio of champions plus a driver with the most laps led in a single race at this track into the picture.

Conti will be looking for his own back-to-back in his swan song season. He’ll be challenged by his Team Conti teammate Ottinger, looking to get back to Richmond victory lane for the first time in nine years. Luza will also look to recapture the magic he had at the track back in the Gen 6 days.

Of course, Williams Esports will be looking for their first victory in the series since Luza won back at Richmond in 2020. They’ll have Salas, riding the high of a real-world victory at Hickory Motor Speedway over the weekend, as well as his teammate Donovan Strauss, looking for redemption for the 2023 season at Richmond.

Other players include those looking for their first wins at the track, including Atlanta’s winner Wilson and new points leader Bowlin. Some will be looking for their first career wins, including Malik Ray, Cosey Jr and Tyler Garey (Kanaan Esports), all who currently reside in the Top 10 in the standings so far.

PLAYOFF SEEDING AFTER RACE 3 AT ATLANTA

POS	#	DRIVER	TEAM	PTS	BEH	WINS	T5	T10
1	8	Michael Conti	JR Motorsports	84	WIN	1	1	1
2	33	Tucker Minter	Team Dillon Esports	79	WIN	1	1	1
3	10	Steven Wilson	Stewart-Haas Esports	50	WIN	1	1	1
4	48	Graham A. Bowlin	Charlotte Phoenix	93	+25	0	2	3
5	25	Nick Ottinger	William Byron Esports	89	+21	0	1	2
6	38	Michael Cosey Jr	Front Row Motorsports	81	+13	0	2	2
6	66	Tyler Garey	Kanaan Esports	81	+13	0	0	2
8	41	Dylan Duval	Stewart-Haas Esports	78	+10	0	0	2
8	34	Allen Boes	Front Row Motorsports	78	+10	0	0	2
10	7	Malik Ray	Jim Beaver Esports	70	+2	0	2	2
11	45	Michael Guest	23XI Racing	68	-2	0	1	1
12	42	Kollin Keister	eRacr	67	-3	0	1	1

WHERE TO WATCH

The Countdown to Green starts at 8:30 p.m. EDT / 1:30 a.m. BST to bring you up to speed on everything you need to know going into the event. The racing will go green shortly after 9:00 p.m. EDT / 2:00 a.m. BST for the Richmond 130 lap race event.

The broadcast will be available at eNASCAR.com/live or on the iRacing social channels.

2023 ENASCAR COCA-COLA IRACING SERIES SCHEDULE

RACE	DATE	TRACK	LAPS
CLASH	31-Jan	eNASCAR Clash at the LA Coliseum | Winner: CASEY KIRWAN	20/40/70
1	14-Feb	Daytona International Speedway | Winner: TUCKER MINTER	80
2	28-Feb	The Milwaukee Mile | Winner: MICHAEL CONTI	100
3	14-Mar	Atlanta Motor Speedway | Winner: STEVEN WILSON	100
4	28-Mar	Richmond Raceway	130
5	11-Apr	Autodromo Nazionale Monza	30
6	18-Apr	Talladega Superspeedway	70
7	2-May	Las Vegas Motor Speedway	100
8	16-May	Darlington Raceway	120
9	30-May	Charlotte Motor Speedway	100
10	13-Jun	World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway	120
11	27-Jun	Watkins Glen International	45
12	11-Jul	Nashville Superspeedway	100
13	25-Jul	New Hampshire Motor Speedway	101
14	1-Aug	Pocono Raceway	60
15 – PO1	15-Aug	Michigan International Speedway	60
16 – PO2	29-Aug	Dover Motor Speedway	120
17 – PO3	12-Sep	Phoenix Raceway	120
18 – C4	26-Sep	Homestead-Miami Speedway	100