Tucker Minter put together a dominant performance on Tuesday night, avoiding a sophomore slump with a victory at a virtual Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., as part of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series.
Minter won three races as a rookie in 2023 but had not yet landed in victory lane this season. He reached the Championship 4 last year and will be headed to the playoffs once again thanks to Tuesday’s win.
“Man, it’s definitely relief,” said Minter, who resides in Warrenton, Va. “Been so close all season long and just haven’t been able — haven’t had the luck I guess in some ways. … With how the playoff picture is, it was so tight, you know, sweating that, so it just feels really relieving going into the Chicago Street Course next week.
“Racing from the Navy Pier, I don’t have to worry about my playoff point standings.”
Parker White, racing in the No. 53 Chevrolet, came in second, 0.701 second behind Minter’s No. 97 Chevrolet.
But it was the battle for third that provided the most entertainment, with Seth DeMerchant (No. 14 Toyota), Michael Cosey Jr. (No. 38 Ford), Vicente Salas (No. 11 Toyota) and Collin Bowden (No. 17 Ford) going four wide down the stretch.
Ultimately it was DeMerchant who came in third, a whopping 3.042 seconds behind Minter.
“I think my tires just (were) able to prevail through the center and I was able to clear off,” said DeMerchant, who lives in Skowhegan, Maine. “Really happy, cause I didn’t think my strategy was gonna play out.”
Cosey, Salas and Bowden followed DeMerchant, in that order.
The series resumes next Tuesday at a virtual Chicago Street Course.
–Field Level Media