Ty Majeski once again showed why he’s one of the best iRacing drivers in the world, dominating from the pole en route to the win under the lights in Friday Night Thunder at a virtual Martinsville Speedway.
“I was able to control the race starting up front and was able to control all those restarts,” Majeski said on the eNASCAR broadcast. “Thankfully, I was just able to really stay in control the entire race, not make any mistakes and we were able to bring it home.
“Definitely, I feel like it was long overdue. I’ve always had speed but just never could put a whole race together.
“I don’t run these big cars a ton, so it took me a bit to find my rhythm with them and get the strategies right. I hurt myself so many times on strategy on the Pro Invitational races and Saturday Night Thunder races, so I just learned each and every week and we were finally able to put it all together tonight.
“It certainly helps being on a short track, which is what I primarily do on iRacing. So it was right in my wheelhouse and thankfully I was able to hold those guys off on all those restarts ad put a whole race together as well.”
Alex Labbe finished second, followed by Stefan Parsons, Donny Lia and Josh Berry.
Sixth through 10th were Chase Cabre, Derek Krause, Anthony Alfredo, Noah Gragson and Drew Herring.
Even after contact with Stephen Leicht with 14 laps to go didn’t keep Majeski from taking the checkered flag in the 125-lap race in Xfinity Series virtual cars.
Leicht had been involved in a solo incident and tried to spin his car back into traffic on the frontstretch, only to make contact with the cars of both Majeski and Lia.
Leicht was parked by race officials after turning into Majeski and Lia on Lap 111. The cars of both Majeski and Lia suffered only minor damage.
Majeski, a native of Seymour, Wisconsin, becomes the fifth and final different winner of the Friday or Saturday Night Thunder series.
Friday night’s race was a prelude to the final scheduled NASCAR Pro Invitational iRacing Series even, which takes place at 3 p.m. ET Saturday at a virtual North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Results
Feature
1. Ty Majeski
2. Alex Labbe
3. Stefan Parsons
4. Donny Lia
5. Josh Berry
6. Chase Cabre
7. Derek Kraus
8. Anthony Alfredo
9. Noah Gragson
10. Drew Herring
11. Ty Gibbs
12. Myatt Snider
13. Bayley Currey
14. Grant Enfinger
15. Christian Eckes
16. Ryan Ellis
17. Josh Bilicki
18. Landon Huffman
19. Kaz Grala
20. Ryan Truex
21. Brett Moffitt
22. Justin Allgaier
23. Kyle Weatherman
24. Harrison Burton
25. Jesse Iwuji
26. Logan Seavey
27. Jeb Burton
28. Todd Gilliland
29. Stephen Leicht
30. Drew Dollar
Heat 1 (10 laps – top 6 drivers advance to main event)
1. Ty Majeski
2. Chase Cabre
3. Todd Gilliland
4. Brett Moffitt
5. Drew Dollar
6. Ryan Truex
7. Grant Enfinger
8. Ryan Truex
9. Chase Briscoe
10. Ty Gibbs
Heat 2 (10 laps – top 6 drivers advance to main event)
1. Anthony Alfredo
2. Stephen Leicht
3. Harrison Burton
4. Josh Bilicki
5. Landon Huffman
6. Myatt Snider
7. Drew Herring
8. CJ McLaughlin
9. Ryan Vargas
10. Ruben Garcia Jr.
Heat 3 (10 laps – top 6 drivers advance to main event)
1. Donny Lia
2. Josh Berry
3. Justin Allgaier
4. Derek Kraus
5. Kyle Weatherman
6. Kaz Grala
7. Brandon Brown
8. Jeffrey Earnhardt
9. Spencer Boyd
10. Scott Stenzel
Heat 4 (10 laps – top 6 drivers advance to main event)
1. Alex Labbe
2. Stefan Parsons
3. Bayley Currey
4. Logan Seavey
5. Noah Gragson
6. Christian Eckes
7. Ryan Ellis
8. Austin Cindric
9. Will Rodgers
10. Matt Mills
Last Chance qualifying race (15 laps – top six drivers advance to main event)
1. Grant Enfinger
2. Drew Herring
3. Jesse Iwuji
4. Ryan Ellis
5. Ty Gibbs
6. Jeb Burton
7. Scott Stenzel
8. Jeffrey Earnhardt
9. Chase Briscoe
10. Austin Cindric
11. Ruben Garcia Jr.
12. Will Rodgers
13. CJ McLaughlin
14. Brandon Brown
15. Ryan Vargas
16. Spencer Boyd
17. Matt Mills
