Keegan Leahy made it look easy Tuesday night in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, picking up a victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway that’ll virtually ensure his spot in the $100,000-to-win playoffs.
Leahy put a 23XI Racing Toyota on the pole for the second consecutive race, following rookie teammate Mitchell deJong’s lead in the Daytona season opener. Leahy’s quick pole lap — his fourth in a row at Miami — was a harbinger of the evening’s 134-lap race, which his No. 32 paced for most of the night after Buffalo Bills running back Antonio Williams gave the command to start (virtual) engines.
Tuesday night racing? That's music to our ears. 🤘@BuffaloBills RB @A_B_Williams26 gets us fired up for tonight's @CocaColaRacing iRacing Series race: https://t.co/pKBfkg6Ln4 pic.twitter.com/jTB7MMzgZ8
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 24, 2021
The caution-free trend of the 2021 season continued as the 40 quickest sim racers on iRacing proved they’re the best in the business, even with 11 rookies in the field. Clean racing meant strategy — and green-flag pit stop ability, even with Homestead’s tricky access road — was a valuable skill in Miami.
Leahy was untouchable on speed for much of the evening, meaning an alternate strategy was the only way somebody could best the 2019 championship runner-up. Bob Bryant was one of the few who dared to deviate; he led 23 laps amidst the traditional pit cycles, though Leahy’s speed in the end proved insurmountable. Bryant finished the night in eighth position.
Leading 105 laps en route to taking the checkered flag, Keegan Leahy was in a league of his own Tuesday. He picked up his ninth-career victory, breaking a tie with Bobby Zalenski for sole possession of sixth on the all-time wins list. Leahy’s win was his first under the 23XI Racing banner, though he won three times last season with the Denny Hamlin Racing namesake.
Congratulations @KeeganLeahy‼️
Way to grab that first 🏁 of the season in the #eNASCAR @iRacing series. #TeamToyota pic.twitter.com/uMSeBLK5jW
— 23XI Racing (@23XIRacing) February 24, 2021
The 2017 series champ Ryan Luza finished second, and 2020 Homestead winner Chris Shearburn came home third. Garrett Lowe and Taylor Hurst rounded out the top five.
Of course, the evening wasn’t all perfect for Leahy, who botched the victory celebration just a bit. He’d better hope the boss won’t mind those crunched pixels.
Keegan was perfect from green to checkers… but apparently needs to dial up team owner @dennyhamlin for help on his burnout. 😂 pic.twitter.com/kEIB6IsZIX
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 24, 2021
Las Vegas Motor Speedway awaits the Coca-Cola iRacing Series next week for the third race of 2021.