It took the whole regular season, but Graham Bowlin won his way into the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoffs.
Making a daring three-wide move in the third and final overtime, Bowlin picked up the fourth—and arguably biggest—victory of his eNCCiS career at the virtual Pocono Raceway to punch his playoff ticket.
“I don’t know, it just worked out for me,” Bowlin said during the Sunoco Post Race Report. “I wasn’t lifting all night man. I got bullied last race a couple of times. It is what it is. I’m in the playoffs now because of it.”
Tucker Minter got to the inside of Bowlin coming to the line but settled for second, followed by Femi Olatunbosun in third. Jimmy Mullis and Steven Wilson completed the top five.
With Pocono being the regular season finale, the 10-car eNCCiS playoff field was set following the conclusion of the race. While Bowlin won his way into the playoffs, Wyatt Tinsley fell outside the top 20 by one point, meaning his season-opening victory at Daytona does not count towards playoff eligibility.
TONIGHT’S ACTION
Donovan Strauss led the field to green, but the race did not stay green for long. The first caution came out just as the leaders completed the opening lap for a massive frontstretch crash that started when Garrett Manes got into the right rear of Olatunbosun, collecting about 10 cars.
The race restarted on lap five, but four circuits later, the yellow flag was unfurled again when four-time eNCCiS Ray Alfalla got spun down the front stretch by Cody Byus. The quick succession of yellow flags continued with the third caution on lap 14 when Minter and Michael Guest got together on the exit of turn 3.
The ensuing lap 18 restart set the stage for the longest green flag run of the race. This forced the drivers down pit road for for tires and fuel, with several different pit strategies in play to shake up track position.
After 29 laps under green, the yellow flag came out for the fourth time when Kaden Honeycutt unsuccessfully threw a block on Wilson, getting spun around on the frontstretch. This led to another schism in strategy, with the top six, led by Byus, staying out having last pitted on lap 16.
The final laps were marred by repeated appearances of the yellow flag, with wrecks immediately following restarts at 10 laps, six laps, and two laps to go to bring the race into eNASCAR overtime.
It looked as though Collin Bowden would lead the field to the first overtime, but the driver of the No. 17 got assessed a black flag for a violation on the previous restart. Bowden did not serve the penalty and then suffered a connection issue, putting Byus back in the race lead for the overtime.
Byus entered turn one out front but got tagged in the left rear by Casey Kirwan, igniting a huge wreck that engulfed at least half of the field. Olatunbosun emerged from the crash as the race leader.
Olatunbosun and Minter fought side-by-side for the lead during the second overtime as another wreck in the back of the field resulted in yet another caution. Olatunbosun kept his nose just barely ahead of Minter to be scored as the race leader.
Olatunbosun and Minter made up the front row for the third and final attempt at overtime. Olatunbosun got a good jump on the start, but Minter countered with a crossover move. Bowlin ducked to the inside to make a three-wide pass in turn three, taking the white flag out front. Bowlin staved off last lap challenges from Minter and Olatunbosun to win his way into the eNCCiS playoffs.
PLAYOFF GRID (THREE RACES IN THE ROUND OF 10)
| Steven Wilson | 2020 points |
| Bobby Zalenski | 2010 |
| Vicente Salas | 2010 |
| Tucker Minter | 2005 |
| Garrett Lowe | 2005 |
| Graham Bowlin | 2005 |
| Daniel Faulkingham | 2005 |
| Dylan Duval | 2005 |
| Parker White | 2000 |
| Nick Ottinger | 2000 |
The ten playoff drivers will compete over three races in the Round of 10 to claim one of the four spots in the Championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
NEXT UP
The eNCCiS playoffs kicks off in two weeks with 70 laps around the virtual Michigan International Speedway on Tuesday, August 13. Race coverage starts at 7:30 p.m. with Countdown to Green, followed by the green flag shortly after 8 p.m. on enascar.com/live, youtube.com/iracingofficial, and twitch.tv/iracing.
About the author
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.
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