Photo Credit: SimSnap iRacing Photography
For the second round in a row, Alexis Newsome has taken the checkered flag to win in the Lionheart Speedway Series Presented by DMLC Racing Channel.
Newsome won the DLMC Racing Channel Milwaukee 175 after several late-race cautions and incidents mixed up the running order.
Alexandr van de Sandt, Chris Stofer, Ken Hacker and Matt Taylor rounded out the top five.
“I feel great,” said Newsome from HyperX Victory Lane. “I was not confident at all entering this race.”
Taylor and Stofer had been the dominant cars in the field early in the 175-mile race. Taylor pulled away by as much as two seconds in clean air to lead 80 laps.
“You couldn’t pass the leader,” said Stofer. “When you’re further back, you can make some moves and I was surprised.”
That changed after the caution came out for contact between Marc Cohn and Charles Teed with 59 laps to go.
Taylor, Stofer, Barrett Rolph and several others elected to stay out under the ensuing caution period. Drivers were estimated to be able to make it 54 laps on a tank of fuel.
A couple laps later, the big one would strike after Chris Fowler, Nick DeGroot and Luis Gonzalez Nuñez made contact entering the apex of Turns 1-2.
Nuñez dived to the inside of Fowler and DeGroot in the corner, making contact with the left rear tire of Fowler. All three drivers would then spin in Turn 2, sliding across all lanes as the heart of the pack crashed into the group of crashing cars.
DeGroot would launch off the front nose of A.J. Musselman into the catch fence. He would flip in the air more than five times before landing back on the ground next to Dean Moll’s car.
At least six cars were involved in the incident.
That forced a majority of the drivers who had stayed out the previous caution to pit.
“I was worried about pitting, but had to pit,” said Stofer. “I was within the fuel window and just wanted to do the best that I could.”
With the caution flag, Newsome would cycle to the lead and never look back.
“When me and my new teammate Nick stayed out there, we were counting on a lot of cautions,” said Newsome. “It ended up working out.”
Next up, the Lionheart Speedway Series goes to iRacing’s virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway for the first triple crown race of the season, the GRAAFix Esports 300 at Miami on April 19th. Live coverage can be seen live on RaceSpot TV and ESTV at 10:35 p.m. ET.