One race, four drivers, one goal. To be the champion. The 2024 Belly Up Sports Cup Series is quickly approaching but before that, the end of the 2023 happened and it happened in a big way with the Elite Racing League Season Finale.
Last week the battle between Ethan Birrel, Tyler Foti, Jonathan Cutlip and Ethan Stanley was something to be applauded. All four drivers at times running 1st-4th, even in the closing laps.
Early on, it was Grand National Champion Scott Crump taking command of the lead until Birrel and Foti became the front runners with Stanley and Cutlip close behind. The race started slow as a new build (updates within iRacing) caused some concern from the drivers and it reigned true as multiple drivers were involved in incidents.
As the race progressed it became clear we wouldn’t know who was going to be the champion until the checkered flag flew. Pit strategy played a part as Birrel, Foti & Stanley stayed on the same strategy, give or take a few laps but it was Jonathan Cutlip who took the gamble and ran as long as he could during the final stretch of the race in hopes that he’d catch a caution as the others were chasing him down.
That time would come with under 10 laps to go. Josh Clark would collide with Ethan Stanley as Stanley and Birrel battled for 3rd. Clark and Stanley slammed the outside wall ending Stanley’s shot at a championship.
A sprint to the finish but first a critical pit stop. With fresher tires, Foti & Birrel took 2 fresh tires while Cutlip took 4. The race was on for the championship. Foti fired off quick and put a gap between himself and Birrel. Cutlip mirrored back in traffic could not make any ground up and wound up finishing 3rd in the championship race. A fast car and clean air was Tyler Foti’s best friend as he came off turn 4 and captured his first ever Elite Cup Series championship.
We caught up with Ethan Birrel after the race to get his thoughts on the season, the race and what’s in store for 2024.
Birrel:
“Well it’s bittersweet. This was by far the best season I’ve had in the cup series. I had so many high notes this season with 3 wins and winning 2 of the 3 races in the round of 9. But man as a competitor to see the championship be that close and slip away is painful but it also fuels the fire for next season.”
“I had some amazing battles throughout the race. Biggest shout out goes to Stanley. Him and I raced hard every lap and never made contact. It felt like we were the 2 favorites all race until it got turned upside down at the end. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t frustrated with the 90 car though. I felt like I had Stanley and Foti covered on pace and strategy there in the 2nd half of the race but the 90 held me up for so long and costed me multiple seconds on the track. In hindsight I guess I should’ve gave him the bumper but in the moment it just didn’t feel right and I wouldn’t have been proud of it.”
“Next season I look to build off what I accomplished this year and get that championship. I’ll be partnering with DuGood Motorsports and i’ll be driving a Chevy for the first time in Elite cup. I can’t wait to run with those guys and i’m going to try my hardest to bring them some hardware because they deserve it more than any team. I also accepted this change of scenery as a challenge to help spread some of my knowledge and adjustments to these guys because they have tons of potential and I think I can help bring it out of them next season and make this whole organization better as a whole. Lets go get us a Championship and go DuGood!”
After the championship honors were over we sat down with the 2023 champ, Tyler Foti, as well.
Foti:
“It’s incredible, something I’ve been going at for so long. I’ve been close to it many times and found a way to lose it just about every way you can think of. To finally win just cements all the time and effort that’s been going into the league, something I can look back on and be proud of. It’s also an honor to join such an exclusive club of past Cup Champions, not many have had this privilege, and to now be included whenever the Cup is mentioned is something I will cherish.”
“There have been a ton of battles to overcome, not only this season, but in my entire Elite career to even get to this point and opportunity. I’ve been fortunate enough to win races and compete at the highest level in this league, and with that has come multiple titles in Truck and Xfinity, as well as a couple summer series’. But with that success comes an equal amount of failure. Prior to this season I had competed in 5 Cup series final 4’s and found a way to lose them 5 different ways, it gets to a point where you wonder if it will ever go your way. I definitely considered more than a few times if I should just take the wins I had and call it a successful career, I honestly didn’t even know if I was coming back for this season. In hindsight, I’m glad we gave it another shot and made a run at it. The season couldn’t have started any better. Becoming the first driver to win 2 Daytona 500s, but for the rest of the season it seemed like we were either missing speed or would be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Through all that though, we held onto the points we needed and I got into my 6th Cup final 4. I knew this season was gonna be my best shot at it purely because we were at Charlotte which has always been good to me, and with that, we ran our race, bided our time and with a little strategy was finally able to come out with Championship.”
We also asked Tyler about his thoughts going into 2024:
“I’m more excited than ever for 2024, looking forward to the competition and excited to see how new drivers and teams fare in this league that can be so ruthless at times. My main goal is to defend the Cup, but I’m also looking forward to helping my father in his new career just as he’s helped me in mine. I’m going to enjoy this off-season, and I look forward to sharing the track with friends and competitors in the new year.”
The 2023 season has come to a close. In just a few short weeks the Elite Cup Series will be back! Belly Up Sports will be joining the party too.
