MONZA, Italy – On a night when NASCAR, IndyCar, dirt and drag racing stars convened for entertainment on iRacing at one of the service’s most historic tracks, a sim-specialist ended up outlasting them all.
Well-known iRacing Twitch streamer Justin Botelho, who was issued a special invitation to compete in Sunday’s Monza Madness at the virtual Autodrome Nazionale Monza oval, won Landon Cassill’s Monza Madness after assuming the race lead from Tommy Joe Martins following a mid-race set of pit stops.
From there, Botelho held command over the massive 62-car field all the way to the finish, taking the checkered flag .664 seconds ahead of runner-up Tommy Joe Martins, from the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
The event was organized by Cassill, who pulled together an all-star cast of professional drivers to take part, including stars from the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, NTT IndyCar Series, ARCA Menards Series, NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series and more.
Sunday night’s race was full of mayhem from start to finish, primarily due to the fact that it was 30 laps around the most chaotic track in iRacing with no damage and no cautions, but it rang different for Botelho.
He survived all the madness to pick up what he called arguably the biggest win of his sim racing career.
“I cannot believe it,” Botelho said. “I was shaking on that last lap. That was a heck of a race. I have no idea how I got through half of what we did; I just kept it up high for most of it.
“This is definitely one of, if not the biggest win, of my life in sim racing,” he added. “This is awesome and I don’t really know what to say. It all feels a bit surreal, to be honest.”
Martins chased Botelho’s No. 20 down on the final lap, but fell a little bit short in the end. He was trailed by eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series drivers Casey Kirwan and Ray Alfalla, who crossed third and fourth, respectively.
Those four drivers were the only four that finished on the lead lap. Chase Cabre, from the ARCA Menards Series East, was fifth and scored one lap down at the finish.
Cassill finished sixth, followed by Bayley Currey, Timmy Hill, Adam Gilliland and Garrett Smithley, who helped organize the Monza Madness event along with Cassill.
Sunday night’s race was streamed live on eNASCAR.com, with production from Podium eSports, and a replay of the event can be found by clicking here.
The finish:
1. Justin Botelho, 2. Tommy Joe Martins, 3. Casey Kirwan, 4. Ray Alfalla, 5. Chase Cabre, 6. Landon Cassill, 7. Bayley Currey, 8. Timmy Hill, 9. Adam Gilliland, 10. Garrett Smithley, 11. Jason Lofing, 12. Tyler Reddick, 13. Robby Lyons, 14. Parker Kligerman, 15. Aron MacEachern, 16. Ross Chastain, 17. Colton Herta, 18. Ryan Vargas, 19. Kurt Busch, 20. Stefan Wilson, 21. Dylan Goodin, 22. Corey LaJoie, 23. Anthony Alfredo, 24. Denny Hamlin, 25. Kevin Swindell, 26. Cody Ware, 27. Jordan Taylor, 28. Ryan Ellis, 29. Jagger Jones, 30. Josef Newgarden, 31. James Schofield, 32. Kevin Hamlin, 33. Rodney Childers, 34. Justin Allgaier, 35. Myatt Snider, 36. Kyle Putz, 37. Tony Kanaan, 38. Josh Bilicki, 39. Dalton Kellett, 40. Kyle Weatherman, 41. Will Rodgers, 42. Johnathon Caddell, 43. Conor Daly, 44. Branden Williams, 45. Tim Clark, 46. Joey Gase, 47. Logan Seavey, 48. Nelson Piquet Jr., 49. Chris Wheeler, 50. Danny Lehmkuhl, 51. Bobby Labonte, 52. Ron Capps, 53. Spencer Boyd, 54. Pato O’Ward, 55. Matt DiBenedetto, 56. Logan Clampitt, 57. Oliver Askew, 58. Justin Haley, 59. James Hinchcliffe, 60. Kyle Larson, 61. Max Papis, 62. Ryan Truex.
Lead Changes: Seven among eight drivers
Lap Leader(s): Adam Gilliland Grid, Chase Cabre 1-5, Josh Bilicki 6, Jason Lofing 7-9, Timmy Hill 10-11, Robby Lyons 12, Tommy Joe Martins 13-17, Justin Botelho 18-30.
Laps Led: Justin Botelho 13, Chase Cabre 5, Tommy Joe Martins 5, Jason Lofing 3, Timmy Hill 2, Josh Bilicki 1, Robby Lyons 1.
Caution Flags: None
Time of Race: 25 minutes, 10.826 seconds
Average Speed: 188.789 mph