Hometown favorite Casey Kirwan, competing in the playoffs for the first time, races to the Coca-Cola iRacing Series eNASCAR championship on Tuesday.
For the 2022 series final, the last four competitors competed live in the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, NC. They raced on the virtual Phoenix Raceway along with the rest of the field, racers competing virtually from home.
Kirwan, of Matthews, NC, is the 10th driver to win the series title, the fourth in a row to win it for the first time. Six different competitors won the last six championships.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was on location to give the command “Drivers, start your engine” to open the race, and he handed Kirwan the championship trophy.
“I don’t even know what to say,” said Kirwan, who drives the Chevrolet No. 95. “I always joked with streaming (that) I needed a good trophy for the background. I’ve won a lot of big races, but they’ve never come with a trophy. It (the trophy) is even bigger than the river background. I may have to work on camera angles to make sure everything is there. ”
For the championship, Kirwan earned $100,000 from a prize pool of over $300,000.
Asked what he would do with the money, Kirwan said, “I have some ideas, but I might have to be a bit logical. There’s a lot you can do with it.”
Keegan Leahy of Halifax, Nova Scotia, not one of the Championship 4 contenders, ended up winning the race in the Toyota No. 45. Kirwan came in second, just ahead of another Championship 4 driver, Bobby Zalenski of Fresno, California, in a Toyota No. 18.
Logan Clampett and Ryan Luza, both excluded from Championship 4, finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
The other two Championship 4 drivers are Graham Bowlin of Houston, who finished 18th in the Toyota No. 48, and Steven Wilson of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who finished 33rd at No. Ford. 10.
–Field Level Media
