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 |
| 1 | 1 | 10 | Steven Wilson | Stewart Haas Racing | 25 | 0.000 | 25 | 2:06.988 | 40 |
| 2 | 2 | 23 | Mitchell deJong | 23XI | 25 | -1.139 | 0 | 2:06.857 | 35 |
| 3 | 6 | 95 | Casey Kirwan | XSET | 25 | -5.563 | 0 | 2:06.795 | 34 |
| 4 | 3 | 48 | Graham A. Bowlin | Charlotte Phoenix | 25 | -5.887 | 0 | 2:06.803 | 33 |
| 5 | 5 | 18 | Bobby Zalenski | Joe Gibbs Racing | 25 | -7.888 | 0 | 2:07.075 | 32 |
| 6 | 4 | 19 | Vicente Salas | Williams eSports | 25 | -9.471 | 0 | 2:06.850 | 31 |
| 7 | 14 | 31 | Garrett Manes | Elliot Sadler eSports | 25 | -20.427 | 0 | 2:06.925 | 30 |
| 8 | 10 | 15 | Blake Reynolds | Jim Beaver eSports | 25 | -21.692 | 0 | 2:07.265 | 29 |
| 9 | 17 | 8 | Michael Conti | JR Motorsports | 25 | -22.155 | 0 | 2:07.028 | 28 |
| 10 | 8 | 25 | Nick Ottinger | William Byron eSports | 25 | -26.955 | 0 | 2:07.680 | 27 |
| 11 | 20 | 21 | Garrett Lowe | Wood Brothers Racing | 25 | -33.048 | 0 | 2:07.718 | 26 |
| 12 | 16 | 20 | Donovan Strauss | Williams eSports | 25 | -36.732 | 0 | 2:07.634 | 25 |
| 13 | 15 | 55 | Allen Boes | Space Station Gaming | 25 | -38.432 | 0 | 2:07.889 | 24 |
| 14 | 18 | 46 | Jimmy Mullis | Rise eSports | 25 | -38.967 | 0 | 2:07.788 | 23 |
| 15 | 21 | 42 | Darik Bourdeau | eRacr | 25 | -39.246 | 0 | 2:07.377 | 22 |
| 16 | 36 | 97 | Logan Clampitt | William Byron eSports | 25 | -44.510 | 0 | 2:07.855 | 21 |
| 17 | 22 | 4 | Ryan Luza | XSET | 25 | -44.744 | 0 | 2:07.536 | 20 |
| 18 | 23 | 2 | Liam Brotherton | Elliot Sadler eSports | 25 | -47.823 | 0 | 2:08.154 | 19 |
| 19 | 13 | 75 | Matt Bussa | Mode Motorsports | 25 | -54.953 | 0 | 2:07.994 | 18 |
| 20 | 24 | 33 | Taylor Hurst | Team Dillon Esports | 25 | -55.800 | 0 | 2:08.308 | 17 |
| 21 | 28 | 88 | Briar LaPradd | JR Motorsports | 25 | -57.156 | 0 | 2:08.390 | 16 |
| 22 | 26 | 36 | Brian Mercurio | Letarte Esports | 25 | -57.942 | 0 | 2:08.334 | 15 |
| 23 | 29 | 5 | Zack Novak | Rise eSports | 25 | -1:00.018 | 0 | 2:08.331 | 14 |
| 24 | 31 | 6 | Parker Retzlaff | Roush Fenway Keselowski | 25 | -1:00.896 | 0 | 2:08.180 | 13 |
| 25 | 19 | 24 | Cody Byus | Mode Motorsports | 25 | -1:01.489 | 0 | 2:08.263 | 12 |
| 26 | 25 | 69 | Collin Bowden | eRacr | 25 | -1:02.137 | 0 | 2:08.353 | 11 |
| 27 | 39 | 79 | Femi Olatunbosun | Clint Bowyer Racing | 25 | -1:02.183 | 0 | 2:08.268 | 10 |
| 28 | 33 | 7 | Malik Ray | iRacing Motorsports | 25 | -1:02.693 | 0 | 2:08.329 | 9 |
| 29 | 27 | 17 | Kaden Honeycutt | Roush Fenway Keselowski | 25 | -1:11.314 | 0 | 2:08.491 | 8 |
| 30 | 11 | 3 | Corey Vincent | Team Dillon Esports | 25 | -1:12.974 | 0 | 2:07.466 | 7 |
| 31 | 30 | 16 | Blade Whitt | Wood Brothers Racing | 25 | -1:16.097 | 0 | 2:09.085 | 6 |
| 32 | 34 | 9 | Michael Guest | Jim Beaver eSports | 25 | -1:16.221 | 0 | 2:09.078 | 5 |
| 33 | 32 | 43 | Kollin Keister | Charlotte Phoenix | 25 | -1:16.315 | 0 | 2:08.894 | 4 |
| 34 | 12 | 40 | Dylan Ault | Letarte Esports | 25 | -1:50.537 | 0 | 2:09.179 | 3 |
| 35 | 35 | 51 | Ray Alfalla | Joe Gibbs Racing | 25 | -1:57.587 | 0 | 2:09.913 | 2 |
| 36 | 38 | 12 | Derek Justis | iRacing Motorsports | 24 | -1L | 0 | 2:10.277 | 1 |
| 37 | 7 | 41 | Dylan Duval | Stewart Haas Racing | 20 | -5L | 0 | 2:08.000 | 1 |
| 38 | 37 | 14 | Nickolas Shelton | Clint Bowyer Racing | 17 | DNF | 0 | 2:10.699 | 1 |
| 39 | 9 | 45 | Keegan Leahy | 23XI | 4 | DNF | 0 | 2:10.286 | 1 |
The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoff grid through 11 rounds is as follows:
- Steven Wilson, 2 wins/312 points
- Nick Ottinger, 2 wins/279 points
- Michael Conti, 2 wins/246 points
- Matt Bussa, 1 win/296 points
- Graham Bowlin, 1 win/271 points
- Femi Olatunbosun, 1 win/245 points
- Garrett Lowe, 1 win/221 points
- Ray Alfalla, 1 win/196 points
- Casey Kirwan, 284 points
- 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
