iRacing Expert Ty Majeski Dominates at Chicagoland Speedway

Ty Majeski didn’t just have his own zip code, he had his own time zone. By the halfway point of the race, he had built a lead of 12 seconds. The final restart came with under 20 laps to go and Majeski went on to win the Bounty 150 by almost 10 seconds over NASCAR Truck Series driver Harrison Burton. This is Majeski’s 3rd ARCA Menards Series win in just 5 races in his part-time 2019 season.

It’s no secret that Majeski has a close relationship with online sim racing website iRacing, where he stands as the #1 rated driver based on his iRating. When asked post-race how important the service has been to his career, Majeski stated that it was “crucial”.

“I know I wouldn’t be the race car driver that i am today without getting on (iRacing) and actually racing.” Majeski said, “I’ve opened up a lot of avenues in my racing career in real life through the people I’ve met on iRacing.”

Bret Holmes tied his career-best finish coming home 3rd, the first among the many championship contenders this season has to offer. He was in a heated battle late with Burton and Riley Herbst, that helped Majeski pull out to his large margin of a lead.

Michael Self finished 4th, but it almost should have been a better finish if had not been for two pit road mishaps that relegated him to the rear of the lead lap cars at two crucial restarts in the second half of the race. Travis Braden rounded out the Top-5 after starting from the rear of the field.

The race started with limited green flag racing after about an hour long rain delay. Five laps into the race, the first caution came out for a stalled Morgen Baird on the apron. On the next restart, another caution came out quickly with a blown tire for Jason Miles. Before many green laps could be counted, the caution came out for a third time for a spin on the frontstretch, a solo spin by Eric Caudell.

Self had started on the Pole but his night went downhill after that. After DGR-Crosley driver Tanner Gray got in the wall bringing out the 4th caution of the night, Self stalled his car leaving pit road and had to be pushed by his pit crew, losing his 2nd place running spot. Before the final restart, Self had an error on pit road when he went off the jack before his left rear tire was on.

Christian Eckes led at the restart but quickly fell through the field where his left rear tire eventually went flat and brought out another caution. In a mirror image, Joe Graf Jr. spun slowly with a flat tire, just like Eckes, to bring out the 6th and final caution of the night.

Michael Self leaves Chicago with his point lead intact, 30 points ahead of Bret Holmes and 55 points ahead of Travis Braden. Christian Eckes is 4th, 80 points behind, and Joe Graf Jr. sits in 5th, 200 points back.

The next race for the ARCA Menards Series will be July 13th at Elko Speedway.