Brad Davies, Josh Parker and Derek Wood entered the final week of the iRacing Pro Series Oval season at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a legitimate shot at winning the online racing oval championship.

Davies had led the points since the start of the iRacing Pro Series Oval, winning the first iPSO race at Daytona and setting sail. Until now. Parker had been inching closer all season, but had never been able to take the points lead. Coming into Homestead, Parker trailed Davies by a mere nine points. The two got the same Wednesday night split; whoever finished ahead of the other would emerge with the points lead. At the same time, Wood was in another split and needed a win to keep his championship chances alive.

Davies started from the pole and controlled the race, but had Parker hot on his heals. At that time, Wood was running in the top five in his race.

Davies led until he pitted on Lap 56, while Parker stayed-out and hoped for a caution. Only a few laps after Davies pitted for tires and fuel, David Osbourne lost control of his car in Turn 2 and brought out the yellow -- which left Davies out to dry for the race, and, seemingly, the championship. Exactly what Davies didn't want to happen after the yellow, happened. Parker took the lead and dominated the rest of the race, getting the win and the points he needed to take the championship lead for the first-ever lead change in iPSO points, while Davies came home a lap down in 12th spot.

Wood could not manage a win. He had a good run, finishing third, but nobody in his split had anything for Josh Berry, who started outside the top five, but picked them off one by one, found the lead and was never really challenged.

That was all she wrote for the race for the championship. Parker is the inaugural iRacing Pro Series Oval Champion, beating Davies and Wood.

"First off, I want to applaud iRacing on a great inaugural Pro Road and Oval Series," Parker said. "Before Pro Oval began, if you said I will be battling for the championship I would probably say, 'Uh, what?' Especially with some of the best racing against me. After 24 weeks of racing, and it coming down to whoever wins the last race between Brad Davies, Derek Wood and myself is just incredible. I have won a few big races but this is by far the most accomplished series championship I've won.

"The list of thanks is pretty big, But I will try to cut it down.. iRacing is the first, without them none of this will be possible for any of us who made the DWC. Jim Caudill Jr. taught me a bunch of my setup knowledge; Chad Coleman, a long time sim racing friend; and many more. I really want to give a big thanks to Derek and Brad for such an exciting season in the PRO Oval Series."

There were still a few more scores to settle during the final week, namely the race for the top 50 in points and berths in the inaugural NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship. Only 88 points separated 47th through 52nd in the points. This had all the bubble drivers needing stellar runs to have a chance. The big gainer of the week was Derek Cash, who placed himself solidly in the top 50 at No. 39. Also coming through in the clutch was Kirk Hapke, one of the nicest guys in the garage who put a lot of time into testing; lots of people are happy to see him make it.

Not so happy were Dustin McGrew, who was in the spot nobody wanted to be in -- the first man out. McGrew just didn't get enough the final week at Homestead and missed the NASCAR iDWC by 22 points. Joining McGrew in the grandstands will be Rob Ackley, Justin Lowery, Daniel Willis and Nelson Rivera, all of whom put in a huge effort but fell just short of making the cut.

"I would've had to finish first or second [Wednesday] to make it, and I wrecked myself going for it," Rivera said. "My only regret is that I wrecked too early in the race [Lap 20]. Wouldn't have minded wrecking with less that 10 to go while digging."

But while those drivers are thinking about what could have been, Justin Garrett, Martin Theimt, Robert Hall, Kirk Hapke and Jim Moore will be celebrating clinching the final spots of the NASCAR iDWC entry list. All of those drivers have shown flashes of excellence during the course of the 29-week season, but they will have to take their game to the next level if they want to stand a chance among the best.

In addition to Parker and Berry (who also won on Saturday), this week's winners included Richard Towler and Ray Alfalla. Parker tallied the most points (313), which was much needed; it propelled him to the championship. Alfalla and Berry both also scored big, both earning 306 points to end their season strong.

Heading into the Driver's World Championship, Parker obviously is the favorite, and Berry was Mr. Consistent during the Pro series, but you also have drivers like Alfalla and Towler, both of whom seem to either completely crush the field or to be nowhere. Or will Davies rebound from his crushing loss of the iPSO championship and rebound for a DWC title? Also in the mix is NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished sixth in the points. He doesn't get as many wins as he would like, but he always seems to be in position at the end of the race, and hardly ever records an incident.

Or is it possible for a driver like Jim Moore or Justin Garrett to come from the bottom of the charts to the top during the course of the NASCAR iDWC? Alex Horn, Tyler Hudson, Daniel Pope II, Theo Olson and Chris Main also are drivers to keep an eye on; they've all had flashes of brilliance during the iPSO season.

All these questions and more will be answered when the NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship kicks off on Feb. 10 at Daytona International Speedway.