May 10 (UPI) -- Denny Hamlin closed the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series with a bump-and-run victory Saturday in the North Wilkesboro 160 at the virtual North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Hamlin bumped Ross Chastain's car and held off iRacing star Timmy Hill in the final laps to take the checkered flag. Hamlin, who races barefoot on a high-end simulator, edged Hill by 0.914 seconds to join William Byron as the only multi-time race winners in the online series.
"Talk about a bump-and-run, it's a textbook way to do it, move him out of the groove, but you don't wreck him," Hamlin told reporters about his battle with Chastain, who spun Hamlin in retaliation on the cool-down lap.
Hill came in second, while NASCAR Cup Series rookie Tyler Reddick finished third. Chastain rallied to finish fourth, and Austin Dillon edged Garrett Smithley for fifth. Smithley, Brennan Poole, Parker Kligerman, Kevin Harvick and Landon Cassill rounded out the top 10.
Hamlin, the Daytona 500 winner, was instrumental in organizing his fellow NASCAR Cup Series drivers for the iRacing series, which began after NASCAR halted its season because of the coronavirus pandemic. He won the opening race on March 22 at virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The virtual race at North Wilkesboro Speedway was the final in NASCAR's iRacing series before its real-life competition resumes next weekend at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. The Cup Series will compete without spectators.
