RICHMOND, Va. – Ryan Luza continued his dominance of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series on Tuesday night by scoring his third-straight series win in a caution-laden event at the virtual Richmond Raceway.
Luza, who started 37th after issues in qualifying, didn’t crack the top 10 until just before the lap-80 benchmark, but once he got close to the front of the field the Williams eSports driver was a rocket.
The Cypress, Texas native took the race lead for the first time on lap 100 by beating Jimmy Mullis off pit road, then held that standing out front until Jarl Teien stayed out under yellow to assume command with 52 to go as most of the frontrunners pitted for the final time.
From there, a spate of quick yellows on subsequent restarts allowed Teien to play defense and appear as though he might be able to steal the trophy, but Luza finally got enough green laps to pounce late.
Luza dove to Teien’s inside entering turn one with 14 laps left in regulation – two laps after a lap-185 restart – and never looked back after that.
Despite three more restarts, including two in eNASCAR Overtime, Luza powered away from the field to complete the hat trick of victories and cement himself in second on the Coca-Cola Series’ all-time wins list.
Tuesday night marked his 15th career win, surpassing Nick Ottinger and putting Luza only behind four-time champion Ray Alfalla’s series-leading 23 victories.
It was also Luza’s second-straight score at Richmond, a track he called his favorite on the schedule, after the race.
“That wasn’t easy at all,” Luza admitted. “I can’t believe this one, honestly. I was going to be happy with a top-20 (finish) and not getting wrecked, but we made the right call with taking two tires early and getting up to around 20th. From there, we had four tires for the really long run in the middle of the race there, and just ended up in the right spot at the right time.
“The car was obviously good, but without me getting as fortunate as I did, there’s no way I would have even gotten up to the top three to have a shot at challenging when that caution came out around halfway,” he added. “That pit stop (at halfway) is what won the race for us.”
After a hard-fought battle with Roush Fenway Racing’s Nathan Lyon during the final two restarts, JR Motorsports’ Michael Conti eventually prevailed to finish as Tuesday night’s runner-up.
For both Conti and Lyon, who crossed the line third, it was their best finish of the season to date.
Bobby Zalenski was fourth and maintains a 15-point edge over Luza in the standings, while defending series champion Zack Novak completed the top five finishers.
Teien hung on for sixth, followed by Blake Reynolds, Malik Ray, Corey Vincent and Graham Bowlin.
Tuesday night’s race was slowed by 16 cautions for a combined 77 laps, with seven lead changes among five different drivers.
At one hour, 50 minutes and 36 seconds, it was the second-longest Richmond race in series history.
The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season continues April 28 at Dover Int’l Speedway, where the series returns for the first time since 2018. Conti is the most recent series winner at the Monster Mile.
The results:
1. Ryan Luza [37], 2. Michael Conti [8], 3. Nathan Lyon [9], 4. Bobby Zalenski [2], 5. Zack Novak [11], 6. Jarl Teien [14], 7. Blake Reynolds [35], 8. Malik Ray [23], 9. Corey Vincent [38], 10. Graham Bowlin [5], 11. Steve Sheehan [28], 12. Logan Clampitt [3], 13. Matt Bussa [16], 14. Nick Ottinger [7], 15. Jake Nichols [31], 16. Phil Diaz [27], 17. John Gorlinsky [39], 18. Alex McCollum [4], 19. Michael Guariglia [36], 20. Brian Schoenburg [24], 21. Bob Bryant [17], 22. Dylan Duval [26], 23. Keegan Leahy [18], 24. Brandon Kettelle [33], 25. Garrett Lowe [19], 26. Kollin Keister [6], 27. Chris Shearburn [13], 28. Santiago Tirres [20], 29. Justin Bolton [30], 30. Ray Alfalla [32], 31. Michael Guest [34], 32. Brad Davies [29], 33. Christian Challiner [12], 34. Jimmy Mullis [1], 35. Ashton Crowder [15], 36. Caine Cook [40], 37. Eric J. Smith [21], 38. Jeremy Allen [22], 39. Chris Overland [25], 40. Casey Kirwan [10].
Lead Changes: Seven among five drivers
Lap Leaders: Jimmy Mullis 1-49, Logan Clampitt 50-88, Chris Overland 89-93, Jimmy Mullis 94-99, Ryan Luza 100-147, Jimmy Mullis 148, Jarl Teien 149-186, Ryan Luza 187-207
Laps Led: Ryan Luza 69, Jimmy Mullis 56, Logan Clampitt 39, Jarl Teien 38, Chris Overland 5
Caution Flags: 16 for 77 laps
Margin of Victory: .692 seconds
Time of Race: One hour, 50 minutes, 36.447 seconds
Average Speed: 84.217 mph
Strength of Field: 6,899 average iRating