CONCORD, N.C. – Robbie Kendall finally took an elusive victory in Tuesday night’s World of Outlaws iRacing Invitational at the virtual iteration of his home track, Williams Grove Speedway, after six previous tries at other simulated venues went unrewarded.
A victory at his home track Williams Grove Speedway. A victory in front of thousands of fans on DIRTVision presented by Drydene. And a redeeming victory after six previous attempts slipping through his fingers in the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car iRacing Invitationals.
However, his grip looked to be slipping with two laps to go. He found himself trapped in the middle of a three-wide battle for the lead with eSports phenom Logan Seavey to his outside and two-time World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model iRacing Invitational winner Mike McKinney to his inside.
While worry set in, Kendall kept his poise. With his right foot easing on the throttle with caution as if it would break under too much pressure, he propelled his virtual #55k ahead of his competitors and earned the victory and $1,000 prize he’s been after for the past month.
“I’m happy to get the win for the PA Posse and defend the home turf,” said Kendall, who has lived in Pennsylvania for the past two years and regularly runs local 410 Sprint Car races in the state. “I’m glad for that.”
Before the start of the Tuesday night 35-lap NOS Energy Drink Feature, Kendall didn’t have much confidence in his car. While he’s turned several laps at Williams Grove Speedway in real life, he said he couldn’t get his car to stick in Turn 3 like he could in reality. And while he had a respectable third-place Racing Electronics qualifying run, Kendall was disappointed that he was still about three tenths of a second off from Quick Time.
He went on to win the Comp Cams Heat Race and then methodically worked his way forward in the 35-lap NOS Energy Drink Feature.
Polesitter Logan Seavey darted to the early lead and Kendall worked on Tony Gualda for second. It took Kendall less than 10 laps to best Gualda for the position. He then crept his way to Seavey’s bumper every lap.
Behind the top three, drivers were racing two-wide and three-wide all over the slick half-mile track. Full-time World of Outlaws driver Logan Schuchart – in his home built iRacing simulator, made out of his Ironman 55 winning car – was on the move in his Drydene #1s car, fighting his way into the top five in the early stage of the race.
Up front, Kendall was wearing Seavey down. While Seavey ran the middle and high side of the track, Kendall kept to the bottom, easing his way around every corner – the previous missing ingredient to his speed.
“I just focused on trying to get better in the slick,” Kendall said. “In the practice race I learned I was way too free. So, I just tightened it up just enough. I was actually really good there in the middle of the race. Logan (Seavey) slid up there just enough and I found the bottom before he did.”
His finesse around the bottom of the track – inches away from the inside fence – helped him sneak by Seavey with 15 laps to go. Seavey blamed a benefit in the simulation that he normally wouldn’t have in real life for losing the lead.
“Unfortunately for me these things (virtual Sprint Cars) have mirrors,” Seavey said. “I saw, I think (Tony) Gualda running the top and I didn’t want to get drove by on the top, so I tried to move up. It just took me way too long to get comfortable up there. That’s what ended it for me.”
A late caution with six laps to go put Seavey and a hard charging McKinney – who made his way from 14th to third – on Kendall’s bumper. The two drivers tested Kendall’s stamina, poking their nose to his inside and outside each corner. And while they battled, Schuchart lurked behind them in fourth, waiting for the prey to fall to him.
With a gentle touch to the throttle and finite movements of the steering wheel through each corner, Kendall withstood every attack. He was finally victorious with the World of Outlaws.
“I was a little worried,” Kendall said. “I saw McKinney was coming on the bottom there at the end. I was too tight to rotate it like he could. I’m just happy it held off there. Happy for my Fatheadz Eyewear guys and try again next week.”
McKinney, a DIRTcar UMP Modified driver in real racing who has won a couple of World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model iRacing events, ended up second, earning himself the KSE Hard Charger award by coming from 14th. NASCAR star William Byron had a similar impressive charge, driving from 19th to seventh.
“I run these Sprint Car races for fun to try and get away from all the pressure I put on myself on the Late Model side,” McKinney said. “Didn’t know what we had there starting 14th. I was just able to run that thing straight and smooth how I like it. … As soon as I got up to third or second there and realized I had a shot to win this thing, I’m not going to lie, I started shaking pretty bad and started hitting my marks. It was a lot of fun. Glad we could get this NOS Energy Drink Stenhouse (Jr.-Marshall Racing) car to the front.”
Seavey ended the night third and not far behind him in fourth was Schuchart, who was happy to get a good finish, again.
“While we’re lined up there for the four wide I said, ‘I feel like we’re lining up for the National Open or something,’ because my nerves are going and all of that,” Schuchart said. “But it was a little better than the last couple of weeks. We were a little dangerous the last couple weeks. But it’s fun. It’s cool to be able to do this.”
The finish:
NOS Energy Drink Feature (35 laps) — 1. 55-Robbie Kendall [3][$1,000]; 2. 117-Mike McKinney [14]; 3. 19-Logan Seavey [1]; 4. 1-Logan Schuchart [6]; 5. 19-Troy Wagaman Jr. [5]; 6. 73-Brett Michalski [10]; 7. 25-William Byron [19]; 8. 39-Kevin Swindell [16]; 9. 5-Chase Briscoe [7]; 10. 37-Mitchell Faccinto [17]; 11. 43-Seth Bergman [8]; 12. 46-Michael Bauer [21]; 13. 3-Cale Conley [15]; 14. 47-Eric Riggins [18]; 15. 6-Juan Pablo Montoya [22]; 16. 66-Matt Cosner [24]; 17. 21-Christopher Bell [4]; 18. 99-Tony Gualda [2]; 19. 10-Joe Kata [23]; 20. 1-Randy Hannagan [13]; 21. 21-Brian Brown [9]; 22. 17-Austin McCarl [20]; 23. 11-Zeb Wise [11]; 24. 17-Max McLaughlin [12].
Lap Leaders: Logan Seavey 1-19; Robbie Kendall 20-35.
KSE Hard Charger: Mike McKinney +12.