Bobby Zalenski took the lead from Parker White during green-flag pit stops with nine laps to go, then hung on the rest of the way to pick up his third eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series win of the season at the virtual Chicago Street Course on Tuesday night.
Zalenski, who leads the series with three wins this season, picked up the 14th win of his career, fifth in Coca-Cola iRacing Series history.
“I kind of messed up,” Zalenski said of the race-deciding green-flag stops. “When (White) pitted, I was going to pit so I slowed down and I lost some time. … I’m getting updates that he might be stuck behind (Dylan) Duval, and I know I’m going to take less fuel than him because I’d been saving fuel.
“And, man, when I came out (ahead) I was like, ‘Holy crap, we did it.’ We put this plan together since Lap 1.”
On that first lap, Zalenski started in the third position in his No. 18 Toyota and tried to overtake the lead on the opening turn. Instead, he drove it in too hard and, while he did pass pole-sitter Steven Wilson, he was unable to get by White and spent much of the race working with White’s No. 11 Toyota in front of him.
Zalenski and his team’s fuel strategy actually played out perfectly, as he ran out of gas on the front straightway as he was about to attempt his burnout.
“I don’t really think so,” White said when asked if there was anything he could have done differently to retain the lead after the last round of pit stops. “Bobby was able to save so much fuel behind me. … After finishing P2 after leading the most laps that’s really good for me.”
White was looking for his first career win. Instead, he finished 0.539 second behind Zalenski for second. Wilson finished third in his No. 10 Ford, 0.895 second off the pace. Tucker Minter in the No. 33 Chevy and Casey Kirwan’s No. 95 Chevy rounded out the top five.
Series leader Michael Conti (who sits one win ahead of Zalenski on the career list) finished ninth, nearly 30 seconds back in his No. 8 Chevy. He holds a 38-point lead over Jody Lopez through 11 races.
After taking the week off for Independence Day, the series returns to action July 11 at virtual Nashville Superspeedway.
–Field Level Media