Bowlin Walks It Off In eNASCAR Regular Season Finale

LONG POND, Pa. – Graham Bowlin used a walk-off win Tuesday night in a dramatic eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series regular season finale at Pocono Raceway to earn a surprise playoff berth.

The Kansas City Pioneers driver from Houston, Texas, who hadn’t won in the series since 2022, only led the final two laps of a triple-overtime marathon at the 2.5-mile ‘Tricky Triangle.

Those five miles, however, made all the difference.

After six multi-car incidents between the last 15 laps of regulation and overtime shuffled the deck wildly, Bowlin lined up fifth for the final restart. He then used a massive tow from the lead battle of OXYGEN eSports’ Femi Olat and William Byron eSports’ Tucker Minter to go three-wide through turn two and surge into the top spot.

From there, Bowlin fended off a furious final-lap rally from both Olat and Minter to secure his third career Coca-Cola Series win and first since May 31, 2022, at World Wide Technology Raceway.

It puts Bowlin in the 10-driver postseason field and marks his third playoff appearance in four seasons.

“You just have to be more aggressive now than what it used to be,” said Bowlin, who advanced to the Championship 4 during his last playoff run two years ago.

“All night you had to utilize the side draft a lot to stall … stalling runs is huge with this car,” he added. “On the straightaway into the Tunnel Turn (turn two), I made sure to stall Steven [Wilson] so I could send it and have clean air on my left front. I’m glad Femi got tight, because I did too … but when Tucker sent it in [to the corner] it gave me a chance.

“I thought [Minter] was going to left rear me, so I parked it, but after that I took the run from Femi on the frontstretch, and I think that won me the race on the final lap. We needed this and we got it!”

A 29-lap green-flag run through the middle stages of the Maconi Setup Shop 150 gave the appearance of a strategic run to the finish.

However, a late block by Kaden Honeycutt down the frontstretch that led to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series part-timer spinning off the nose of defending series champion Steven Wilson drew the fourth caution of the night and generated a rash of “yellow fever” to the finish.

Jonathon Dulaney, who had stayed out long since taking the lead at lap 34 in an attempt to steal a fuel-mileage win, led a string of drivers down pit road for service and created split strategy at the front.

With Cody Byus leading a group of seven cars that stayed out on older tires, the differing plans and rubber throughout the top 10 ultimately led to a sequence of five consecutive restarts featuring multi-car crashes – with not a full green-flag lap completed on any of them.

That included a restart attempt with two to go in regulation where Collin Bowden jumped the green flag, leading to a penalty being assessed before a connection failure took Bowden out of contention completely going into overtime.

Byus was the leader on the first try at extra distance, but got turned around in front of the field entering turn one after a tap from behind by Casey Kirwan. That wiped out many of the top contenders and set up Olat as the new leader – needing a win in his own right to steal a spot in the postseason.

Olat led through the second overtime try and then found himself swarmed by Minter on the final attempt, after Minter crossed from top-to-bottom to challenge for the lead down Long Pond Straightaway.

As Minter and Olat raced door-to-door, however, Bowlin had moved into third and was bearing down on the top two. He used a deep run into the Tunnel Turn to clear the duo, and from there the die was cast.

Minter topped a drag race to the finish line with Olat to secure runner-up honors, with Olat earning a season-best third place but missing out on a chance to race for a championship this season.

Kevin Harvick Inc. driver Jimmy Mullis crossed the line fourth ahead of M80’s Steven Wilson, who earned the $3,000 segment-three payout and the top seed for the playoffs by finishing fifth.

Front Row Motorsports’ Michael Cosey Jr., JR Motorsports’ Briar LaPradd, William Byron eSports’ Nick Ottinger, Team Dillon eSports’ Dulaney, and Kansas City Pioneers’ Wyatt Tinsley closed the top 10.

After leading 15 circuits late, including the first two laps in overtime, Byus finished out of the race in 33rd after his involvement in the turn-one crash on the first attempt at extra distance.

Polesitter Donovan Strauss led the first 25 laps, but lost track position when the lap-47 caution came out and could never recover. He was collected in one of the late accidents and scored 35th at the finish.

With the 14-race regular season complete, Wilson, Bobby Zalenski, Vicente Salas, Minter, Garrett Lowe, Bowlin, Daniel Faulkingham, and Dylan Duval secured their playoff berths with victories.

Parker White and Ottinger secured the final two spots on points, after regular season winners Wyatt Tinsley, Malik Ray, and Keegan Leahy failed to crack the top-20 threshold for postseason eligibility.

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoff Round of 10 begins Tuesday, Aug. 13 at the virtual Michigan Int’l Speedway, where Lowe is the defending race winner.

A replay of every eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series event is available via iRacing’s YouTube channel.

RESULTS: eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series; Pocono Raceway; Long Pond, Pa.; July 30, 2024

1. 48-Graham Bowlin [38], 2. 97-Tucker Minter [17], 3. 22-Femi Olat [15], 4. 29-Jimmy Mullis [25], 5. 10-Steven Wilson [7], 6. 38-Michael Carey Jr. [32], 7. 88-Briar LaPradd [11], 8. 25-Nick Ottinger [5], 9. 3-Jonathon Dulaney [34], 10. 20-Wyatt Tinsley [27], 11. 89-Garrett Lowe [22], 12. 54-Daniel Faulkingham [29], 13. 66-Kollin Keister [3], 14. 18-Bobby Zalenski [13], 15. 23-Keegan Leahy [36], 16. 5-Zack Novak [4], 17. 80-Ryan Luza [9], 18. 62-Matt Bussa [24], 19. 33-Taylor Hurst [37], 20. 7-Malik Ray [14], 21. 99-Matthew Zwack [19], 22. 14-Seth DeMerchant [8], 23. 36-Quami Scott [39], 24. 69-Ray Alfalla [31], 25. 41-Dylan Duval [6], 26. 77-Casey Kirwan [2], 27. 42-Tyler Garey [33], 28. 12-Garrett Manes [26], 29. 40-Dylan Ault [16], 30. 45-Michael Guest [23], 31. 90-Jordy Lopez [18], 32. 55-Ryan Doucette [30], 33. 27-Cody Byus [10], 34. 53-Parker White [21], 35. 51-Donovan Strauss [1], 36. 17-Collin Bowden [20], 37. 34-Darik Bourdeau [28], 38. 8-Kaden Honeycutt [12], 39. 6-Timmy Holmes [40], 40. 11-Vicente Salas [35].

Lead Changes: Six among seven different drivers

Lap Leader(s): Donovan Strauss 1-25, Casey Kirwan 26-27, Seth DeMerchant 28-33, Jonathon Dulaney 34-47, Cody Byus 48-62, Femi Olat 63-70, Graham Bowlin 71-72.

Laps Led: Donovan Strauss 25, Cody Byus 15, Jonathon Dulaney 14, Femi Olat 8, Seth DeMerchant 6, Casey Kirwan 2, Graham Bowlin 2.

Hard Charger: 48-Graham Bowlin (+37)

Pole Position: 51-Donovan Strauss, 53.192 seconds (169.198 mph); third career and second of season

Rookie of the Race: 3-Jonathon Dulaney (9th)

Caution Flags: Nine for 27 laps

Winning Team: Kansas City Pioneers

Margin of Victory: 0.056 seconds

Time of Race: One hour, 31 minutes, 3.752 seconds

Average Speed: 118.600 mph

Fastest Lap: 77-Casey Kirwan, Lap 31, 53.385 seconds (168.587 mph)