Keegan Leahy took advantage of a late collision on Tuesday, giving him the checkered flag at a virtual Las Vegas Motor Speedway as part of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series.
Leahy, in the No. 23 Toyota, was sitting in third when Cody Byus and Nick Ottinger were jockeying for position down the home stretch. Ottinger slipped behind Byus and made contact with the passenger side of his No. 27 Toyota, sending Byus into the wall.
Ottinger came out unscathed, but the crash caused him to slow down just enough to allow Leahy to charge to the front and win by 0.062 seconds.
After struggling last season, Leahy was able to prevail in just the second race of 2024.
“I honestly wasn’t sure I was going to get back into victory lane,” said Leahy, who is from Nova Scotia, Canada. “This series is getting so tough to run well in these races, let alone have a shot at winning.”
Meanwhile, Ottinger, of Claremont, N.C., had no regrets about being aggressive even though it goes against his typical racing style.
“We’re battling for a race win at the end,” said Ottinger, driver of the No. 25 Chevrolet. “I was trying, sweating, basically trying to just hold my lane here in the middle and try to take any momentum he had out.”
Ottinger landed in second, while Kollin Keister snuck into third in the No. 66 Toyota. Matt Bussa finished in fourth in the No. 62 Chevrolet, and Parker White rounded out the top five in the No. 53 Chevrolet.
Byus fell all the way down to 16th.
The series continues on March 12 at a virtual Atlanta Motor Speedway.
–Field Level Media