JOSEPH SMITH GETS HIS SECOND CONSECUTIVE WIN AT CHICAGOLAND

After capturing the victory last week at Texas Motor Speedway, Smith backed it up in dominant fashion at Chicagoland Speedway, securing his second consecutive win after leading 128 of the race’s 150 laps in Saturday night's race in the Redemption iRacing Series.

The event unfolded under uninterrupted green-flag conditions from start to finish, placing an even greater emphasis on long-run pace, tire management, and strategy.

Smith proved untouchable throughout the night, executing nearly every aspect of the race flawlessly.

While Chicagoland is traditionally known for offering multiple racing grooves, competitors relied heavily on the bottom lane for most of the event, with the upper lanes finally coming alive late in the run.

We usually move around a lot, and you can see on the broadcast that the bottom lane is literally blacked in with rubber.

Smith said in his post-race interview.

There wasn’t as much moving around as I expected early on, but toward the end, everybody started migrating toward the middle and top lanes.” The race took on an additional layer of drama as the lengthy green-flag run transformed the event into a fuel-mileage battle during the closing laps. “I didn’t realize this was going to become a fuel-mileage race.

Smith explained.

At a certain point, I had to start clutching it, shutting the engine off, and saving as much fuel as possible. I’m just happy I made it to the checkered because I completely ran out of fuel after the burnout.

After the final cycle of green-flag pit stops with approximately 40 laps remaining, John Crosby emerged in the runner-up position and maintained second place through the closing laps of the race.

Xavier Regelbrugge completed the podium in third while also recording the fastest lap of the race with a blistering 30.669-second lap on Lap 2.

With back-to-back victories now under his belt, Smith continues to build momentum as the season progresses, further establishing himself as one of the drivers to beat in the championship battle.