MIAMI, Fla. — Story and photo by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman —
After a two-year drought, Brandon Schmidt returned to victory lane in the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series with a thrilling late-race pass Tuesday night at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Schmidt used the outside lane to power around Sascha Wesler on a green-white-checkered restart and held the lead when the caution flag flew for a multi-car crash on the backstretch, freezing the field and affording the Pro-level veteran the victory in the South Florida 200.
The win was Schmidt’s second-career NiPS triumph and his first since January of 2013 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“I was really heartbroken to see that last caution come out, to be honest; I wanted to be able to race it out,” Schmidt said in Gatorade Victory Lane. “It really helped though, on that last restart, to have my Last Row Motorsports teammate Sascha Wesler on the front row with me. He knew he was on way older tires than I was, and we just were able to go at it between us.”
“I figured I’d be able to clear him in [turns] one and two with the momentum on the outside, because he would have to come up a lot higher from the bottom to be able to make it work and I was able to do that. Unfortunately, then the yellow [flag] flew, but that’s racing sometimes and we’ll take a win any way we can get it.”
Polesitter Cody Byus bolted away from an early four-car freight train that included points leader Josh Berry, Tyler Laughlin and Mitchell Hunt in the early going to lead every lap of the opening green flag stint; slowed only by the first caution at lap 25 for a four-wide battle gone wrong that saw the No. 22 of Rob Ackley go around and collect Paul Kusheba, Phoenix winner Brad Davies and Steven Gilbert early on.
Following an early slate of pit stops, Byus held the lead until making his green-flag pit stop on lap 67 and handing the lead to the No. 40 of Josh Laughton — but a slow stop for Byus combined with a caution in the middle of the cycle on lap 70 for the ailing David Rattler put him to fourth for the race’s second restart of the night, while the No. 3 of Schmidt led the field slowly to green with 59 laps to go.
Unfortunately, that slow restart caused a big stack-up behind the frontrunners and saw Teemu Iivonen turned around off the nose of the No. 81 of Mitchell Hunt, sending him back to 31st and leaving Schmidt as the man in charge heading to the closing stages. Another caution — caused by net code that sent Thomas Davis around in a battle with Ryan Borges — left the field with just 48 laps to settle the score heading back to the green flag.
Schmidt would lead the green flag run until making his final pit stop for fuel and four tires with 28 laps to go — bringing Byus, Berry and Allen Boes with him — but overshot his pit and lost the lead to Boes as Trey Eidson began to employ a fuel-saving strategy. While Byus passed Boes for the provisional lead on lap ___, Sascha Wesler drove around Eidson for the true race lead just before a caution flew with 12 laps to go after a huge crash set up a sprint to the finish with Wesler out front and a myriad of two tires and four tires behind him.
Junk ensued on the restart with seven laps to go, seeing the No. 09 of David Rattler checked up and turning a four-wide situation into disaster as the field piled into the aftermath. That wreck set up the green-white-checkered finish and saw Schmidt claim the win with his daring move in turn two before the caution flew for the final time.
Joey Israelson (HPM) made a thrilling run from sixth to second on the final restart, but ran out of time to chase down Schmidt due to the caution flag.
“We just got a little checked up going into one [on the outside] and that just really ruined my momentum,” Israelson admitted. “Our car was on a rail the entire race tonight. After not even qualifying for the race [at Phoenix] last week, I knew I had to do something pretty good and I’d say this fits that description (laughs).”
“We’re just trying to keep our speed up now. The whole team has been working really hard and if we can keep getting top fives I think we’ll be alright.”
Allen Boes finished third to assume the series points lead, followed by Jacob Harberts and Wesler.
With the win, Schmidt moves to fourth in the NiPS standings, just 27 points adrift of Boes. Berry falls to second in the championship chase, five points behind, followed by Dylan Duval, Schmidt and Timmy Hill.
Next week, the stars and cars of the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series head out west to Auto Club Speedway for Round Four, under the lights at the fast two-mile oval. Look for drivers who were strong and Texas and Homestead to be up front again, and keep an eye on Boes as he searches for his first trip to victory lane despite numerous strong finishes early on.
Find out who ends up in victory lane at Fontana next Tuesday on LSRTV, with live coverage beginning at 8:45 p.m. ET!
RESULTS: NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series; South Florida 200; Homestead-Miami Speedway; Nov. 17, 2015
- Brandon Schmidt
- Joey Israelson
- Allen Boes
- Jacob Harberts
- Sascha Wesler
- Ryan Borges
- Shane Dougherty
- Justin Trombley
- Andrew Fayash III
- Josh Berry
- Timmy Hill
- Nick Furler
- Thomas Davis
- Dylan Jones
- Alex Warren
- Byron Daley
- David Rattler
- Dylan Duval
- Dillon Raffurty
- Blake Bryant
- Brandon Hauff
- Nicholas Johnston
- Damon Burnette
- Robin Williams
- Greg McKinney
- Cody Byus
- Joshua Laughton
- Teemu Iivonen
- Jeff Ramsdell
- Ryan Lowe
- Billy Price
- Jason Jacoby
- Paul Kusheba
- Trey Eidson
- Brad Davies
- Michael Johnson
- Tyler Laughlin
- Adam Gilliland
- Logan Clampitt
- Kyle Putz
- Mitchell Hunt
- Rob Ackley
- Steven Gilbert
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network. Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 21-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for both the United Sprint Car Series and the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: speed77radio@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
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