Keegan Leahy led only one lap in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Tuesday night. However, he led the most important lap: the last one.

Leahy took advantage of a last-lap incident between Cody Byus and Nick Ottinger to secure his 13th career eNCCiS win. It marks Leahy’s first win since the 2022 season finale, ending a 19-race winless drought.

“Absolutely incredible,” an excited Leahy said on the post-race show. “I honestly was not sure I’d get back to victory lane in this series. It was getting so tough to run well in this series, let alone win.”

Leahy utilized fuel strategy, topping off on fuel under the final caution on lap 33 and then saving enough to get to the end and put himself in position to seize the opportunity for the race win.

“I knew I had enough to make it if I saved a good amount,” Leahy told Blake McCandless about the fuel strategy. “The issue is that we had to save so hard that those guys pitting, I wasn’t sure if they were going to catch us or not. It was really close.”

Ottinger held on for second place, falling just .062 of a second short of the race win after his final contact with Byus.

“Ultimately, we’re battling for a race win at the end,” Ottinger said about the finish. “On 70-lap old tires, I got loose and tried to correct it. Sorry to Cody. Just going for the win.”

Defending eNCCiS champion Steven Wilson led the first 65 laps of the race, but he fell on the wrong side of the pit strategy and had to settle for ninth. Kollin Keister, Matt Bussa, and Parker White completed the top-five finishers.

TONIGHT’S ACTION

Wilson had the best view for the initial green flag, earning his third career pole to lead the field to the start. Wilson cleared for the lead quickly before the race’s first caution on lap 3 after Garrett Lowe got turned around in turn three, creating a four-car wreck.

On the ensuing restart, Wilson fired off well to stay up front, but he could not create any separation from the rest of the pack. Coming around to lap 19, rookie driver Matthew Zwack lost control of his No. 99 Nitro Circus Ford on the front stretch to put the field under yellow for the second time. The whole field used the caution to come down for pit service, with Wilson retaining the top spot.

The race went back green on lap 24, but just six laps later, the yellow flag came back out again after Darik Bourdeau got spun in his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford, a victim of intense racing in the middle of the pack. A group of drivers running near the back used the caution to come down and top off on fuel in an attempt to run longer.

With the restart on lap 35, the race settled down into a long green-flag run. At halfway, Wilson continued to show the way, but White was in hot pursuit just a couple of car lengths behind him. As the run progressed, the top three of Wilson, White, and Graham Bowlin began to pull away from the everyone else.

On lap 66, Wilson surrendered the lead for the first time and came down pit road for their final stop, along with many of the leaders. For Wilson, disaster struck as he had a slow stop, spending 19 seconds in the pit box. This gave the lead to White, who pitted himself after leading two laps. On lap 70, Bobby Zalenski pitted to hand the point to Michael Cosey Jr., who was first among the drivers who topped off on fuel under the previous caution.

Down the stretch, it became a battle of two groups of strategies, with the top 10 trying to stretch their fuel and the later pitters trying to catch them. With 18 laps remaining, it was battle of the Michaels for the race lead as Michael Guest took control from Cosey Jr. Six laps later, Ottinger closed in and got around Guest for this first appearance in the lead.

In the final laps, Byus closed to the rear bumper of Ottinger, setting up an epic battle for the race win. Byus and Ottinger fought side-by-side, with Leahy waiting in the wings in third. Byus and Ottinger came off turn four neck-and-neck but contact between the two slowed them down just enough for Leahy to make the pass for the win.

ODDS AND ENDS

• Paint Scheme of the Week

• Running for the new BS+ Competition team, 2023 playoff driver Jordy Lopez sported a particularly bright and sunny livery on his No. 90 Ford to go with the sunshine of Las Vegas.

Leahy’s win vaults him to the points lead after two races and with two races remaining in segment one. Under the new season format, the points leader after each regular season segment earns an additional five playoff points. This gives Leahy an opportunity to potentially improve his positioning for a championship run.

NEXT UP

The 2024 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will go from one 1.5-mile track to another in two weeks with a 100-lap race at the virtual Atlanta Motor Speedway on Tuesday, March 12. Race coverage starts at 7:30 p.m. with Countdown to Green, followed by the race at 8 p.m. on enascar.com/live, youtube.com/iracingofficial, and twitch.tv/iracing.

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