Timmy Hill was victorious in the second event of the NASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, which was held at the virtual Texas Motor Speedway.
Hill, who normally drives the No. 66 Toyota Camry in NASCAR Cup Series competition, pulled off an expert bump-and-run maneuver to move the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 of William Byron out of the way with just three laps to go in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 125. Hill then had to fend off a hard-charging Ryan Preece following a green-white-checker restart, crossing the finish line just inches ahead of Preece’s No. 37 Camaro.
The 27-year old Maryland native now sits atop the NASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series standings are finishing second in the season-opening Dixie Vodka 150 from Miami Homestead last weekend.
Hill’s strong back-to-back performances on the iRacing platform have helped give the young 27-year-old some much-needed notoriety as he looks to further his NASCAR Cup Series career.
“I couldn’t be more excited,” Hill told NASCAR post-race. “Very exciting times for us because we just don’t get the recognition on a normal basis. To be on an even playing field is excellent. To be on this platform, the Cup platform, is exciting. The amount of folks that reached out to me has just been tremendous.”
Texas Motor Speedway also plans to sned Hill a winner’s circle cowboy hat for his big victory, despite this event being a virtual race only. That’s a big deal for Hill, who, like many other NASCAR drivers, has always dreamt of wearing the cowboy hat and shooting the pistols in the Texas winners’ circle.
Drivers tell me it is their favorite Victory Lane celebration in the sport. Everybody loves the fire, music, six-shooters and cowboy hats! We will certainly have a cowboy hat for @TimmyHillRacer when we race on ___________________. (Almost slipped!) https://t.co/5GxcoNTU2j
— Eddie Gossage (@eddiegossage) March 29, 2020
Ryan Preece, Garrett Smithley, Landon Cassil and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five in the online event. William Byron and Dale Earnhardt Jr. also finished sixth and seventh, while Kyle Larson and Kurt Busch crossed the finish in ninth and tenth – giving the Bowtie Brand eight of the top ten spots.
Check out the complete highlights from the virtual O’Reilly Auto Parts 125 from Texas Motor Speedway in the video embedded below.
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Comments
The drivers of these virtual races can take more chances as it’s like watching a computer game as a slight error will have 2-3 cars in a wreck or flying; but unlike real racing, everyone gets to walk away without physical injuries and only some pride that might get hurt.
It’s almost funny how wild the “minor” wrecks get.