Wilson Adds Name to eNASCAR Road Course Elite With Road America Victory

Move over, Mitchell deJong and Bobby Zalenski: there’s a new road course ace in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series.

Stewart-Haas eSports driver Steven Wilson’s superb 2022 season continued on Tuesday night with a dominant victory over 25 laps at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin’s Road America, the longest track on the schedule. Wilson outqualified 23XI’s deJong, last year’s top eNASCAR road course racer and one of the best road iRacers in the world, by .007 seconds, and it proved to be all the difference as he led every single lap.

The increased competition was a far cry from previous years, where Zalenski scored some of the most dominant victories in series history and deJong managed to top even that pace as a rookie last year. That duo still scored a pair of top five finishes, but they also had to deal with challenges for position from Charlotte Phoenix driver Graham Bowlin—the most recent eNASCAR road course winner at Watkins Glen last year, then driving the car that Wilson currently runs—and XSET’s Casey Kirwan, who would post the fastest lap of the race at 2:06.794.

Wilson’s victory may have massive implications on this year’s playoff race. Not only was it his second win of the season after a triumph at Atlanta in March, but it also kept both Zalenski and deJong out of the playoff grid at 11th and 13th in points without wins, respectively. With August’s return to Watkins Glen the only remaining road course on the schedule, the duo may need to find the checkered flag on an oval to get in, as Zalenski did at Pocono last year. As it stands, eight different drivers have won the first 11 races of the season, with Kirwan and 2019 series champion Zack Novak of Rise eSports the two drivers on the playoff grid by points.

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from Road America were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Team

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts

1110Steven WilsonStewart Haas Racing250.000252:06.98840
2223Mitchell deJong23XI25-1.13902:06.85735
3695Casey KirwanXSET25-5.56302:06.79534
4348Graham A. BowlinCharlotte Phoenix25-5.88702:06.80333
5518Bobby ZalenskiJoe Gibbs Racing25-7.88802:07.07532
6419Vicente SalasWilliams eSports25-9.47102:06.85031
71431Garrett ManesElliot Sadler eSports25-20.42702:06.92530
81015Blake ReynoldsJim Beaver eSports25-21.69202:07.26529
9178Michael ContiJR Motorsports25-22.15502:07.02828
10825Nick OttingerWilliam Byron eSports25-26.95502:07.68027
112021Garrett LoweWood Brothers Racing25-33.04802:07.71826
121620Donovan StraussWilliams eSports25-36.73202:07.63425
131555Allen BoesSpace Station Gaming25-38.43202:07.88924
141846Jimmy MullisRise eSports25-38.96702:07.78823
152142Darik BourdeaueRacr25-39.24602:07.37722
163697Logan ClampittWilliam Byron eSports25-44.51002:07.85521
17224Ryan LuzaXSET25-44.74402:07.53620
18232Liam BrothertonElliot Sadler eSports25-47.82302:08.15419
191375Matt BussaMode Motorsports25-54.95302:07.99418
202433Taylor HurstTeam Dillon Esports25-55.80002:08.30817
212888Briar LaPraddJR Motorsports25-57.15602:08.39016
222636Brian MercurioLetarte Esports25-57.94202:08.33415
23295Zack NovakRise eSports25-1:00.01802:08.33114
24316Parker RetzlaffRoush Fenway Keselowski25-1:00.89602:08.18013
251924Cody ByusMode Motorsports25-1:01.48902:08.26312
262569Collin BowdeneRacr25-1:02.13702:08.35311
273979Femi OlatunbosunClint Bowyer Racing25-1:02.18302:08.26810
28337Malik RayiRacing Motorsports25-1:02.69302:08.3299
292717Kaden HoneycuttRoush Fenway Keselowski25-1:11.31402:08.4918
30113Corey VincentTeam Dillon Esports25-1:12.97402:07.4667
313016Blade WhittWood Brothers Racing25-1:16.09702:09.0856
32349Michael GuestJim Beaver eSports25-1:16.22102:09.0785
333243Kollin KeisterCharlotte Phoenix25-1:16.31502:08.8944
341240Dylan AultLetarte Esports25-1:50.53702:09.1793
353551Ray AlfallaJoe Gibbs Racing25-1:57.58702:09.9132
363812Derek JustisiRacing Motorsports24-1L02:10.2771
37741Dylan DuvalStewart Haas Racing20-5L02:08.0001
383714Nickolas SheltonClint Bowyer Racing17DNF02:10.6991
39945Keegan Leahy23XI4DNF02:10.2861

 

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoff grid through 11 rounds is as follows:

  1. Steven Wilson, 2 wins/312 points
  2. Nick Ottinger, 2 wins/279 points
  3. Michael Conti, 2 wins/246 points
  4. Matt Bussa, 1 win/296 points
  5. Graham Bowlin, 1 win/271 points
  6. Femi Olatunbosun, 1 win/245 points
  7. Garrett Lowe, 1 win/221 points
  8. Ray Alfalla, 1 win/196 points
  9. Casey Kirwan, 284 points
  10. Zack Novak, 249 points

The 2022 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season resumes in two weeks’ time at Pocono Raceway, a longtime staple of the schedule. Besides Zalenski, other past winners on the current Pocono track include Jimmy Mullis and Keegan Leahy. Broadcast coverage begins on Tuesday, May 31 at 8:30PM ET with Countdown to Green before the 9PM ET green flag. Live coverage of all the action can be seen at enascar.com/live.

For more information on the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, visit www.enascar.com or www.iracing.com/enascar. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

Images via Justin Melillo