Everyone who drives in the NASCAR iRacing Series World Championship (NiSWC) will tell you Thomas Lewandowski knows how to find his way to victory lane. In fact, the New Yorker had visited the winner’s circle 167 times on the iRacing ovals before Tuesday night’s online race at Dover International Speedway.   Still, while Lewandowski has run well in NiSWC and even finished third in the 2010 points race, none of those 167 wins had ever come in NiSWC competition.

But win number 168 proved to be a classic.  Lewandowski held-off both championship leader Ray Alfalla and John Gorlinsky over the final 54 laps of a rough and tumble race, to take the checkered flag by just 0.135 of a second. In a race filled with 11 cautions and constantly changing pit strategies, Lewandowski stayed out of trouble and made all the right calls.  Most importantly, he gained valuable track position when it mattered most by taking two tires on the final pit stop.  It proved to be the winning move.

“All I had to do was get lucky with some cautions and hold-off Ray at the end of the race,” Lewandowski said.  “I would like to thank Ray for racing me clean at the end even though I threw a couple blocks in at the end of the race and also like to say thanks to my sponsors Wrangler, Whiskey River, TaxSlayer, and to all my teammates at JRM.“

While Alfalla held-off Gorlinsky for the runner-up spot, most of the other top points contenders weren’t so lucky.  Josh Parker started on the pole ahead of teammates Brad Davies and Steve Sheehan and all three looked poised to capture victory. Parker started the race strong, leading the first 65 laps before giving up the lead on a pit stop. Try as he might, Parker could never regain the track position he lost in the pits and with 51 laps to go got caught up in a big crash on the front straightaway, ending any hopes he had for a victory.

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Brad Davies passed JR Motorsports teammate John Gorlinsky for the lead with nine laps to go to win the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) race at Chicagoland Speedway. The 2010 NiSWC runner-up survived a run-in with Josh Parker on pit entry in the closing stages of the race to claim a series-best third win of 2011 while also improving his position in the championship standings.

Coming into Chicagoland, all the sim racers knew a good qualifying position would be critical to their chances of success as passing has proven to be extremely challenging once the new tires recently introduced by iRacing have a few laps on them.  Parker put himself in the best position possible by taking pole position with a blistering lap that was half a tenth faster than anyone else could muster.  And when the green flag flew, he quickly built a big lead which he would keep until the first round of pit stops. When the yellow waved on Lap 46, Parker and most of the field opted to take four tires while Gorlinsky gambled and only took fresh right side rubber. The move put Gorlinsky in the lead, and he hoped his two tire call would pay off.

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John Gorlinsky drove to victory on Tuesday in Round 13 of the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Gorlinsky, who started from the pole position on the 43 car field, led 117 of 162 laps, including the final 33 circuits of the online race. The driver of the #21 Wrangler Chevrolet Impala set the pace early as well, leading the first 53 laps before green flag pit stops shuffled the running order. This is Gorlinsky’s first win of 2011 and second of his career after crossing the line first at Daytona last season.

“I still can’t really believe it,” said a smiling Gorlinsky in Victory Lane after the race. “We came up with some really good changes and finished-up with the race setup on Sunday night, which is the earliest I’ve ever been done with a race setup. By the time qualifying ended and the race started, I was telling myself this was my shot to really make something happen.

Indianapolis winner Brad Davies steered his car home in second place after a hard charge brought him to within a half second of Gorlinsky at the finish. Derek Wood rounded-out the podium positions with Chris Main (Germantown, MD) and Josh Parker (Cranston, RI) completing the top five. Twenty drivers finished the event on the lead lap, with 36 cars on track when the checkered flag flew. Six different sim racers exchanged the lead seven times in the race, which featured five cautions and took one hour, 38 minutes to complete.

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Week Twelve of the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship brought the series to the fabled Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With the season’s end in sight it was anyone’s guess what might happen in the online race. The Brickyard is not known for intense stock car battles thanks to its flat corners and long straightaways, but the world’s top sim racers put on possibly the best show of the 2011 season with Brad Davies registering a dominating performance to take his second win of the campaign.

Championship leader Ray Alfalla came to Indy looking to build on his already impressive point lead but would have to deal with some stiff competition. Davies and Derek Wood captured the front row starting spots, putting them in prime position to control the race. Passing had been difficult for the drivers all week during practice and the race would prove no different. Thus Alfalla, starting sixth, had his work cut out.

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Week Eleven took the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for some flat track online racing action. Fresh off wins at Pocono and Michigan, Steve Sheehan grabbed the pole at The Magic Mile but fell just short in his quest for three wins in a row as JR Motorsports teammate Derek Wood claimed a hotly-contested battle for the victory.

Qualifying saw Wood join Sheehan on the front row and, right from the drop of the green flag, the two teammates battled for the top spot.  Racing throughout the whole field was intense from the get-go as dirty air made it very difficult for anyone to make a pass even if they had the faster car. The first 46 laps went caution-free with Sheehan pacing the field and building a lead of nearly two seconds until he caught the slower traffic at back of the field.

When the yellow finally did fly the leaders all ducked to pit road for some much needed tires and fuel. On the restart, disaster struck as series point leader Thomas Hazard couldn’t avoid Richard Towler and spun into the Turn Three wall, ending his chances of contending for the win and knocking him from the points lead. This opened the door for Ray Alfalla to seize the point lead if he could stay out of trouble as well . . . but it would not be easy.

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