FONTANA, Calif. — Recap by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor and iRacing Correspondent Jacob Seelman — Josh Chin/iRacing.com photo —
Coming into the third round of the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series powered by iRacing.com at Auto Club Speedway, The TEAM made shockwaves across the sim-racing world when they acquired series stalwarts Cody Byus and Justin Bolton to further boost their stock in the online field.
Tuesday night at Auto Club Speedway, they backed the new hires up with a sweep of the podium in Southern California.
Leading the charge was polesitter Kenny Humpe, who backed up his Las Vegas victory from two weeks prior with another dominating performance — cycling through a set of green flag pit stops at lap 78 and never relinquishing the top spot again en route to his second consecutive and fourth career victory.
In all, Humpe led 97 of 125 laps on the night and was thrilled with his group’s performance as a whole.
“It’s good to be back [in Victory Lane],” a smiling Humpe said after the race. “We were flying out there all week. We had a rocketship tonight and just had to bring it home — second wouldn’t have cut it. Luckily we were able to do just that.”
Humpe said the addition of Bolton and Byus — along with their extensive setup knowledge — was a big key in The TEAM’s Fontana success, putting five cars inside the top seven overall.
“Whenever you can bring some more ideas in (from other teams) and start looking at new things you can try, it allows you to mesh ideas together,” Humpe explained. “We did that with a lot of the bits that Justin, and Cody too for that matter, brought in and it really paid off with a sweep of the podium. What a night.”
Chad Laughton worked the rear decklid of the No. 58 furiously over the final 26 lap run (set up by a Byron Daley spin at lap 95) but did not have enough to pull alongside and settled for second by 0.127 seconds at the checkered flag.
Bolton, racing on his birthday, completed the podium for The TEAM and said that in his eyes, no one had anything for Humpe at the end.
“Kenny had me covered — had all of us covered really — but [I’m] happy with a third in my first start with The TEAM,” Bolton said. “We’ll take the momentum to Texas and I’ll see if I can’t get my first win in the series out there.”
Two-time series champion Ray Alfalla finished fourth and defending Auto Club Speedway winner Nick Ottinger rounded out the top five.
Cody Byus and Kevin King finished sixth and seventh for The TEAM, followed by Chris Overland, Jake Stergios and Brad Mahar to complete the top ten.
In all, the lead changed 13 times between nine different drivers and the event was slowed by four cautions for 16 laps.
The game-changer of those four cautions was the third one on lap 26, when Thomas Davis and Ottinger made contact racing at the fringe of the top five — the Rheem Toyota was able to save his machine, while Davis spun into the field and triggered a 16-car melee down the backstretch.
Among those involved were the No. 34 of Matt Bussa, who barrel-rolled off the outside wall, Tyler Hudson, Rob Ackley, Justin Trombley, Brandon Hauff and Corey Vincent.
Following that crash, the field went green for 65 laps before the final caution of the event, which pinned defending series champion Michael Conti a lap down after he and others short-pitted on their final stops. Conti, who ran as high as fourth after starting 40th, ultimately finished 20th in a wild scrum with Byron Daley and Bryan Blackford at the line.
With his second straight win, Humpe leads teammate Laughton by 14 points, with Alfalla a further eight markers back in third.
With three races now in the books, Humpe has asserted himself as the championship favorite heading to Texas Motor Speedway, where sixth-place finisher King is the defending winner. Can The TEAM continue their dominance of the intermediate tracks, or will someone else rise to the occasion and become the third different winner in four races in 2015?
Find out in two weeks time as the Lone Star 250 goes green at 9 p.m. Eastern time on iRacing Live and FansChoice.tv, with additional post-race coverage right here on Race Chaser Online!
RESULTS: NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series; Auto Club 250; Auto Club Speedway; Fontana, Calif.; March 24, 2015
- Kenny Humpe
- Chad Laughton
- Justin Bolton
- Ray Alfalla
- Nick Ottinger
- Cody Byus
- Kevin King
- Chris Overland
- Jake Stergios
- Brad Mahar
- Ryan Lowe
- Brandon Schmidt
- Teemu Iivonen
- Justin Trombley
- Tyler Hill
- David Rattler
- Thomas Lewandowski
- Bryan Blackford
- Byron Daley
- Michael Conti
- Landon Harrison
- Adam Gilliland
- Brian Schoenburg
- Brian Day
- Allen Boes
- Tyler Laughlin
- Corey Vincent
- Casey Tucker
- Steven Gilbert
- Alex Warren
- Danny Hansen
- Nathan Wise
- Taylor Hurst
- Brandon Hauff
- Patrick Crabtree
- Michael Johnson
- Trey Eidson
- Thomas Davis
- Andrew Fayash III
- Rob Ackley
- Tyler Hudson
- Matt Bussa
- Brad Davies
