Towler wins iRacing.com WCS crashfest at Bristol

Good pit strategy, heads-up driving and a little bit of luck put Richard Towler (Hull, England) in the winner's circle at Tuesday night's NASCAR iRacing.com World Championship third round race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The win over Thomas Hazard (Rochester, Minn.) on the tough Tennessee bullring also vaulted Towler to the top of the championship point standings.

Polesitter John Gorlinsky (Manasquan, N.J.) finished third after leading much of the race. Justin Trombley (Winter Harbor, Maine) and Patrick Fogel (Hughesville, Pa.) rounded out the top five.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 1) was among the victims in a multi-car crash at Bristol.

Towler, who saw a good chance to win the previous race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway slip away late in the race, found himself at Bristol deep in the pack midway in the 250-lap contest after getting caught up in one of the race's several multi-car crashes. A balance of aggressive and cautious driving brought him to within striking distance of the lead.

"It feels great to make up for the disappointment of Vegas this way," Towler said following the race. "But it's sad to see so many good cars get caught up in other people's problems."

A smart gamble on a two-tire strategy on the penultimate round of pit stops while the race leaders -- Josh Berry (Hendersonville, Tenn.) and Josh Parker (Cranston, R.I.) were changing all four -- put Towler in the lead, but with tires that couldn't stand up to a full green flag run. The good luck came when Parker, on his four fresh tires went deeper into a turn and spun Towler -- providing the Englishman with the yellow he needed to change his badly worn tires.

As Towler noted, a lot of good cars were eliminated or rendered uncompetitive in crashes. An early one was the Chevy of Las Vegas winner Sandeep Banerjee. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won the first race of the season at Daytona, was another caught up in the race's biggest crash, which was triggered by seventh-place starter Nolan Scott (Chattanooga, Tenn.). The wreck also ended the victory chances of previous points leader Thomas Lewandoski (Buffalo, N.Y.), who eventually struggled home 14th and dropped to third in the standings; Brad Davies, (Wachula, Fla.), Derek Wood (Lincoln, Neb.) and Brian Schoenburg (Moorpark, Calif.).

Tyler Hudson let Josh Berry know he was none to happy with the driver after the race.

Earnhardt (Mooresville, N.C.), a preseason championship favorite missed the Las Vegas race due to off-track commitments at his day job as a Cup Series driver. Prior to getting caught up in Scott's wreck, Earnhardt was running third in a car that seemed fully capable of winning.

The fireworks didn't end with the checkered flag. Tyler Hudson (Brandon, Miss.) rammed Berry into the Turn One wall before taking his Chevy to post race inspection.

"I'd managed to miss all the carnage, lead some laps, and was running second with about 28 to go," said a frustrated Hudson. "A lapped car with fresher tires (Josh Berry) spun me out. I was passing another lapped car or I would've pulled over but just got turned, wrecked my car and don't even know where I finished."

For his part, Berry was apologetic. "I had fresh tires and was trying to make up time. Tyler kind of slipped up and I got into him. I just made a mistake -- sorry Tyler."

Hazard's second-place finish promoted him six places in the championship standings, fifth behind Towler, Jayson Anderson (Visalia, Calif.), Lewandowski and Jesse Atchison (Prince Frederick, Md.).

While the first two rounds of the NASCAR iRacing.com World Championship Series were held on bigger tracks -- Daytona International Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- and featured plenty of green flag racing, the fourth race is at the paper-clip shaped Martinsville Speedway, March 23. Expect a lot of close racing and perhaps a bit of bent sheet metal and frayed tempers.