Olatunbosun Narrowly Misses eNASCAR Playoff Berth

Femi Olatunbosun (22) was nearly the surprise star of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series regular season finale Tuesday night. (Justin Melillo/NASCAR photo)

LONG POND, Pa. – While 10 drivers were able to celebrate eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoff berths Tuesday night at the virtual Pocono Raceway, Oxygen eSports’ Femi Olatunbosun nearly stole the show.

Olatunbosun, who entered the regular season finale below the top-20 threshold where a win would automatically move him into the postseason field, needed a shock victory and some additional help to qualify for what would have been his second playoff appearance in three years.

He nearly got both.

Despite being involved in a multi-car incident on the opening lap of the Maconi Setup Shop 150, Olatunbosun escaped with non-terminal damage and later used a bold strategy call to stay out on older tires during a lap-47 caution period, giving him track position for a wild closing sequence.

As part of five straight restarts featuring various crashes, Olatunbosun worked his way into the top spot, taking the point on lap 63 after then-leader Cody Byus was spun around in front of the field due to contact with Casey Kirwan.

Olatunbosun then held serve through a second overtime attempt, holding a tenuous grasp on the 20th spot in regular season points at that juncture and in position to do the near-impossible.

Kansas City Pioneers driver Graham Bowlin had other ideas, however, using a daring three-wide pass in turn two on the third and final overtime to steal the win away and relegate Olatunbosun to a third-place finish.

While it was a season-best effort for the 25-year-old Olatunbosun, a native of Revere, Mass., it left him on the outside looking in when it came to the playoff grid.

Olatunbosun was stoic after the race, however, in reflecting whether or not he could have done anything differently to hold on for the win at the 2.5-mile ‘Tricky Triangle’.

“Man, maybe I could have gotten a little better exit off of turn one, but after getting a piece of the lap-one wreck, I knew I was going to have a little straight-line [speed] deficit,” Olatunbosun explained. “ I tried to push it a bit harder on exit there [to hold the lead], and it was just a bit too much. I still felt like I was in great position though. We came off turn three side by side with Tucker [Minter], right behind Graham, but Graham did a good job of kind of playing the landscape and Tucker side-drafted to keep me side by side with him.

“Other than that, I think I did everything I could. All you can ask for in a situation like that is a chance, and we had that on the final restart.”

Asked by Motorsports Hotspot whether he could have imagined being in that position after his involvement in the first-lap melee that kicked off the race, Olatunbosun shook his head in disbelief.

“Not a chance,” he admitted. “Something changed … usually I’d be super mad and screaming on the radio after an incident like that, especially knowing that I felt like I had a chance to win from the start, but my mindset shifted that quickly to, ‘OK, lets just go out and try to get the best finish we can.

“We took it on the chin and then Steven [Wilson] and I had some great [pit] strategy that cycled us toward the front, but overall, I felt like I drove one of the best races I’ve ever had in the series,” he added. “I put myself in contention at the very end, and it didn’t work out, but it could have been all over on lap one … so I’m happy with that and there’s no real regrets.”

The positive news for Olatunbosun out of Tuesday’s race was that he moved up to 20th in points, as he looks to earn an automatic qualifying berth back into the Coca-Cola Series for 2025.

The top 20 in the year-end standings are automatically locked in to the 40-driver field for the following season, meaning that if Olatunbosun can hold serve or improve over the next four races he’ll be back for his fifth straight season at eNASCAR’s top level.

With a championship run out of reach, that’s the target now for Olatunbosun down the home stretch.

“It’s definitely a good feeling, I think, to be finding our rhythm at this point in the year,” said Olatunbosun. “I think I’ve had good speed; we’ve just been super unlucky. Now, though, it’s finally starting to translate into good finishes.

“We’ll take it and see what we can do from here.”

Olat and the rest of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series field return to action Tuesday, Aug. 13 at Michigan Int’l Speedway, where Garrett Lowe is the defending race winner.

Broadcast coverage is slated for 8 p.m. ET, live on the iRacing eSports Network.