HOMESTEAD, Fla. (March 22, 2020) – It was an eventful and drama-filled 100 laps in Sunday’s eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race from the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway, where Ross Chastain challenged his No. 6 Oscar Mayer Ford for the lead early before going on to finish 14th, while Chris Buescher and the No. 17 Fastenal Ford was caught up in a couple of late-race incidents to finish 28th.
Chastain rolled off from the fourth position after posting a quick lap early in Sunday’s qualifying session from the 1.5-mile track, while Buescher fired off 21st.
Chastain put the Oscar Mayer eFord up front and on camera early and often, running inside the top-five for the opening 25 laps. After a series of cautions to open the first quarter of the event, Chastain restarted fourth at lap 27 before being turned by the No. 24 machine, suffering heavy damage. He would use one of his two allowed resets on the day, and by lap 50 was back up to 14th.
With 40 to go, Chastain made a big strategy call with a fuel-only stop, which put him P2 on the restart with 34 to go. From there he got shuffled back just a bit but remained inside the top-10 with 10 to go, before going on to finish 14th.
Buescher had a somewhat unlucky day in his Fastenal eMachine, getting caught up in a multi-car incident early on. He was then assessed a penalty after reportedly passing a car under yellow, forcing him to start at the rear of the pack.
After a spin just after the halfway break, Buescher lined up 13th with 25 laps left but unfortunately was collected in another incident before going on to finish 28th.