Mitchum Snatches Victory in 0.005-Second Photo Finish at Chicagoland

Joliet, IL — The ISRA Sim Gaming Expo Open Wheel Series returned to full-throttle oval combat in Round 5, and Chicagoland Speedway delivered a draft-fueled thriller that ended in a blink. When the checkered flag waved, Mason Mitchum edged Ryan O’Donoghue by 0.005 seconds to claim his first career ISRA victory, completing an 18-position climb from the back of the field.

Points leader Kyle Klendworth set the early tempo with a pole lap of 25.252 seconds, but in Chicagoland’s 18-degree banking, clean air is a rumor and the draft is king. The 19-car field quickly formed a high-speed carousel, three-wide and inches apart. Garry Lovern and Richard Hearn surged forward in the opening stint, while tire wear quietly began writing the second half of the script.

By Lap 20, right-front degradation forced drivers to rethink their lines. Some hunted for grip higher up the track, chasing clean air to preserve their Firestones. The hybrid systems added another layer to the chessboard, with regenerative braking and fuel strategy shaping pit windows and track position.

O’Donoghue, an open-wheel newcomer with stock car roots, became the surprise metronome of the race. Calm and precise, he led a significant portion of the first half, anchoring the bottom lane as veterans like Mark Murphy and Hearn circled the outside groove, probing for weakness.

The race’s defining moment arrived near Lap 76. A tense battle on the backstretch between Hearn, Matt Taylor, and Murphy unraveled in an instant when contact sent the pack scattering. The resulting multi-car crash eliminated nearly a third of the field. Jim Herrick endured the most violent sequence, his car performing a corkscrew into the catch fencing in a dramatic display that brought out a lengthy caution.

What followed was a reset and a sprint.

A late yellow with 11 laps remaining, triggered when David Sirois spun and collected Lovern, forced teams into a final decision. Most leaders opted for fresh tires. Sirois gambled and stayed out to inherit the lead. The strategy dissolved almost immediately on the restart as cars on new rubber swallowed him whole.

The final laps were a three-wide fever dream featuring Mitchum, O’Donoghue, and Klendworth. Then heartbreak struck the championship leader. On the penultimate lap, contact between Klendworth and Murphy sent Klendworth into the outside wall, ending his night within sight of the stripe.

That left two cars, two lanes, and one breath of asphalt.

Mitchum hugged the white line entering Turn 3 on the final lap, daring anyone to pry him off it. O’Donoghue launched a last surge on the outside, the two streaking toward the finish side-by-side in a blur of horsepower and nerve. At the line, timing and scoring separated them by 0.005 seconds, the closest margin of the Winter 2026 season.

Mitchum called it a matter of commitment, knowing the only way to lose was at the stripe. O’Donoghue, celebrating his first series podium, said he simply found rhythm and kept trucking. Murphy, despite finishing third, offered a public apology for the late contact with Klendworth, acknowledging the sting of a teammate’s ruined night.

Even with the DNF, Klendworth maintains the points lead as the series heads next to the tight, high-banked bullring of Iowa Speedway, where the racing feels less like a draft and more like fighter jets ricocheting inside a steel drum.