In the ninth race of the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series season, Bobby Zalenski defended his 2017 Sonoma victory by dominating at the virtual road course, leading 52 of 55 laps. The virtual racing stars head to Chicagoland for Race 10 Tuesday night, where Taylor Hurst is the defending winner.
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1: Ray Alfalla (–)
Even though his Sonoma performance was lackluster, points leader Ray Alfalla’s a safe bet for Chicagoland – mostly because there are no right-hand turns.
2: Bobby Zalenski (–)
Two of Bobby Zalenski’s three victories have come at road courses, which, by definition, makes him a road-course ringer, right? Zalenski’s riding some momentum after a big win at Sonoma and holding tight to third in points.
3: Keegan Leahy (+1)
Keegan Leahy’s won a race at a 1.5-mile track – Kansas – but Chicagoland’s a different beast. The Canadian rookie has scored more finishes in the top five this year than anybody else.
4: Matt Bussa (+3)
Gale Force Radicals Online’s Matt Bussa has hit a rhythm at the right time, riding a wave of three consecutive finishes seventh or better.
5: Michael Conti (+4)
Las Vegas marked Michael Conti’s only top 10 at a 1.5-mile track this season, but he’s scored three top-fives throughout his career at Chicagoland. Plus, we have to rank car No. 5 fifth.
6: Ryan Luza (-3)
The good news: Ryan Luza’s won half the races he’s started this year. The bad news: he’s only started six of nine races, which isn’t really nice if he wants to defend his championship.
7: Logan Clampitt (-1)
Logan Clampitt has finished seventh every time he’s raced Chicagoland. We’re heading to Chicagoland Tuesday. Get ready for another P7, #ClampNation.
8: Nickolas Shelton (-3)
Sure, Nick Shelton won a 1.5-mile race this season and hasn’t finished worse than third in any of the three 1.5-milers this season, but he hasn’t finished in the top 10 in any other race. If he can step up the consistency, he’ll become a weekly threat.
9: Nick Ottinger (-1)
Nick Ottinger’s improved his finish in the past four consecutive races, meaning he’s worth a look at Chicagoland – though his Daytona win is his lone top-five finish in 2018.
10: Christian Challiner ()
Great Britain’s iRacing star had a disastrous race in his lone start at Chicagoland – a 36th-place result last year – but it’s hard to ignore his momentum in the past five races, where he’s scored four top-10s.