eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Race Preview: WWT Raceway at Gateway

Justin Melillo
The inaugural World Wide Technology Raceway event will take place tonight (31st May). It’s the ninth race of the 2022 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season.
eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Race Preview: WWT Raceway at Gateway

Tonight, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series visits World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway for the first time in series history. This marks the second of three new venues to hit the 2022 schedule alongside the dirt-covered Bristol and Nashville Superspeedway in three weeks time.

At Charlotte last week, Matt Bussa (Mode Motorsports) was able to save enough gas to hold on for the victory. Bussa became the sixth different winner on the season, barely edging out Zack Novak (Rise Esports) on the same strategy.

Being a new venue on the calendar, there are no prior stats to go off of. However, in the one and only first ever race so far on the season, Nick Ottinger (William Byron Esports) was the man on top at the Bristol Dirt Event. 120 laps are on the schedule for tonight’s virtual festivities.

INAUGURAL WWT RACEWAY AT GATEWAY EVENT

Originally named as the Gateway International Raceway and later renamed as Gateway Motorsports Park, what is now World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway is a 1.25-mile (2.012-kilometer) egg-shaped oval based in Madison, Illinois.

The oval section of the circuit was produced in the mid-1990s and has seen racing for NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, as well as NTT IndyCar Series events. This year is the first year that the venue will be on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, and that real-world event will take place this weekend.

Being an egg-shaped oval, similar to Darlington Raceway but smaller and flatter, the first two corners require heavy braking and slowing to the center of the corner, while the latter two are sweeping and momentum-based as drivers head to the line. It is unique, for sure, and should offer a different challenge than what most of these drivers are used to in regular intermediate oval racing.

SEASON TO DATE UPDATE

eNASCAR Coca-Cola: Matt Bussa saves enough gas to win Coca-Cola 150

While Gateway has no previous winners, the 2022 eNASCAR Coke Series season does have six so far. Femi Olatunbosun (Clint Bowyer Racing) kicked off the season with his win at Daytona. Meanwhile, Michael Conti (JR Motorsports) picked up a pair of wins at Las Vegas and Richmond. Those wins were intersected by Steven Wilson (Stewart-Haas Esports) who scored his first career win at the old Atlanta track.

Ottinger finally joined in on the fun, scoring back-to-back victories at the Bristol Dirt Race and then at Dover two weeks later. In his quest for a three-peat, Garrett Lowe (Wood Brothers Racing) would play spoiler to score his first win since 2019. Finally, last week went to Bussa in a thrilling conclusion at Charlotte.

Outside of the six winners, Casey Kirwan (XSET) leads the drivers without a victory on the season. A pair of Jim Beaver Esports drivers in Michael Guest and Blake Reynolds, as well as Team Dillon Esports’ Corey Vincent, all sit currently in the Top 10 in the standings, all playoff eligible currently. The other Team Dillon driver Taylor Hurst is also in the Top 10, but he’d be out at the moment with winners below him in points.

WHO TO WATCH FOR

Michael Conti wins Las Vegas, collects 12th career victory

Team Conti. That’s Ottinger, Conti, and Bussa, who are already winners on the season, as well as Logan Clampitt (William Byron Esports) who has shown speed but hasn’t had the results to show for it. The Team Conti backend team holds five of the eight victories on the season, and if anyone has figured out the new NEXT Gen cars, it’s these guys.

Deadzone Racing also seems to have a great grip on the car to this point, with Olatunbosun and Wilson currently holding wins, and Graham A. Bowlin (Charlotte Phoenix) and Kirwan knocking on the door just about every race week. Bowlin, in particular, looks to be fast just about everywhere we go. His results don’t always show it, but he’s probably the closest driver to winning that hasn’t yet in 2022.

While they haven’t scored any wins yet, the LockDown Racing backend team members have been solid in recent weeks. Novak came oh-so-close to taking the fuel mileage win last week, and his Rise Esports teammate Mullis can be a threat anywhere as well, even though he told Traxion.GG last week that his life has gotten pretty busy as of late and it’s shown on the track as a result.

Vincent and Hurst, as well as Donovan Strauss (Williams Esports) and Briar LaPradd (JR Motorsports) are also part of that backend team, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the latter two rookies start to come into their own sooner than later as the season unfolds.

WHERE TO WATCH

The race itself will kickoff at 9:00 p.m. EDT / 2:00 a.m. BST following the pre-race festivities, which kick off a half-hour earlier. The Countdown to Green begins at 8:30 p.m. EDT / 1:30 a.m. BST featuring Camille Salazar Hadaway, Alan Cavanna and Brandon Kettelle. Once the race kicks off, you’ll hear the voices of Evan Posocco, Blake McCandless and James Pike down on pit road.

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

POINTS ENTERING RACE #9 – WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY AT GATEWAY

POSCAR #DRIVERTEAMWINSPOINTST5’sT10’s
125Nick OttingerWilliam Byron eSports221755
28Michael ContiJR Motorsports215733
310Steven WilsonStewart-Haas eSports122945
475Matt BussaMode Motorsports121925
579Femi OlatunbosunClint Bowyer Racing121434
621Garrett LoweWood Brothers Racing113613
795Casey KirwanXSET0199 (+22)25
89Michael GuestJim Beaver eSports0192 (+15)35
915Blake ReynoldsJim Beaver eSports0182 (+5)13
103Corey VincentTeam Dillon Esports0181 (+4)24
#33 Taylor Hurst – 11th (-4 points from Top 10)

2022 eNASCAR COCA-COLA iRACING SERIES SCHEDULE

DateRace #TrackLaps
01-Feb-22~Clash~LA Coliseum25/50/120
15-Feb-221Daytona Int’l Speedway80
01-Mar-222Las Vegas Motor Speedway100
15-Mar-223Atlanta Motor Speedway100
29-Mar-224Richmond Raceway130
12-Apr-225Bristol Motor Speedway DIRT25/120
26-Apr-226Dover Motor Speedway120
10-May-227Kansas Speedway100
24-May-228Charlotte Motor Speedway100
31-May-229World Wide Technology Raceway120
21-Jun-2210Nashville Superspeedway100
05-Jul-2211Road America25
19-Jul-2212Pocono Raceway60
16-Aug-2213Watkins Glen Int’l35
30-Aug-2214Darlington Raceway120
13-Sep-22PO1 | 15Bristol Motor Speedway175
27-Sep-22PO2 | 16Talladega Superspeedway70
11-Oct-22PO3 | 17Homestead-Miami Speedway100
25-Oct-22C4F | 18Phoenix Raceway110
Leave a Reply
Previous Post
MOZA Racing adds new pedals, wheel and digital dash to its sim racing line-up

MOZA Racing adds new pedals, wheel and digital dash to its sim racing line-up

Next Post
Euro Truck Simulator 2's 'Heart of Russia' update postponed indefinitely

Euro Truck Simulator 2’s ‘Heart of Russia’ update postponed indefinitely

Related Posts