An unlucky start to the season and a change to the track layout weren’t enough to stop Stewart-Haas Racing driver Steven Wilson from returning to the winner’s circle in Tuesday night’s eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series action from Atlanta Motor Speedway. Wilson, who scored his first career eNASCAR victory in the last race for Atlanta’s old configuration last spring, returned to the winner’s circle after surviving an eNASCAR Overtime finish.
Wilson and Stewart-Haas teammate Dylan Duval combined to lead more than half of the 105 laps on the night, with Duval out front for a race-high 35 and Wilson adding 27 of his own. Also leading double-digit laps on the night were the two front-row starters, former series champion Ryan Luza of XSET and incoming points leader Malik Ray of Jim Beaver eSports, as many of eNASCAR’s top superspeedway racers took full advantage of Atlanta’s reconfiguration to show off their pack racing skills.
Unfortunately for Luza and Ray, though, finishes that reflected their pace weren’t meant to be. The race remained green and mostly clean all the way through Lap 76, but Luza found himself under eRacr driver Collin Bowden’s hood in the first major wreck of the night and was relegated to 24th at race’s end. Ray was caught in the third caution of the night on Lap 86, a major incident that also caught up former series champions Casey Kirwan of XSET and Nick Ottinger of William Byron eSports and also set up the series of two-lap finishes.
On the first, fellow Jim Beaver eSports driver Garrett Lowe appeared set to avenge Ray’s incident by getting out to the lead, but he, too, would go around while trying to defend against Wilson and Williams Esports’ Vicente Salas, collecting multiple cars as he went hard into the outside wall. The next overtime attempt would get to the finish line, though, as Wilson kept his nose ahead of eRacr’s Kollin Keister—who recovered from being a part of the second caution on the night—across the finish line.
eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from Atlanta Motor Speedway were as follows:
Fin. | St. | No. | Name | Team | Laps | Interval | Led | Best | Pts |
| 1 | 14 | 10 | Steven Wilson | Stewart-Haas Racing | 105 | 0.000 | 27 | 29.090 | 40 |
| 2 | 35 | 42 | Kollin Keister | eRacr | 105 | -0.015 | 0 | 29.244 | 35 |
| 3 | 31 | 45 | Michael Guest | 23XI | 105 | -0.097 | 0 | 29.202 | 34 |
| 4 | 15 | 38 | Michael Cosey Jr | Front Row Motorsports | 105 | -0.146 | 0 | 29.026 | 33 |
| 5 | 9 | 48 | Graham A. Bowlin | Charlotte Phoenix | 105 | -0.176 | 0 | 29.183 | 32 |
| 6 | 33 | 66 | Tyler Garey | Tony Kanaan Esports | 105 | -0.156 | 0 | 28.980 | 31 |
| 7 | 20 | 20 | Wyatt Tinsley | Kansas City Pioneers | 105 | -0.228 | 1 | 29.119 | 30 |
| 8 | 23 | 41 | Dylan Duval | Stewart-Haas Racing | 105 | -0.230 | 35 | 29.221 | 29 |
| 9 | 25 | 11 | Parker White | Tony Kanaan Esports | 105 | -0.264 | 1 | 29.028 | 28 |
| 10 | 3 | 34 | Allen Boes | Front Row Motorsports | 105 | -0.345 | 3 | 28.947 | 27 |
| 11 | 16 | 77 | Ryan Doucette | Pittsburgh Knights | 105 | -0.353 | 0 | 29.173 | 26 |
| 12 | 4 | 23 | Keegan Leahy | 23XI | 105 | -0.370 | 0 | 29.214 | 25 |
| 13 | 11 | 6 | Timmy Holmes | RFK Racing | 105 | -0.372 | 0 | 28.893 | 24 |
| 14 | 34 | 25 | Nick Ottinger | William Byron eSports | 105 | -0.384 | 3 | 28.967 | 23 |
| 15 | 29 | 3 | Jordy Lopez Jr | Team Dillon eSports | 105 | -0.405 | 0 | 29.164 | 22 |
| 16 | 21 | 51 | Donovan Strauss | Williams eSports | 105 | -0.440 | 0 | 29.195 | 21 |
| 17 | 13 | 18 | Bobby Zalenski | Joe Gibbs Racing | 105 | -0.491 | 1 | 28.982 | 20 |
| 18 | 7 | 8 | Michael Conti | JR Motorsports | 105 | -0.498 | 0 | 29.136 | 19 |
| 19 | 10 | 33 | Tucker Minter | Team Dillon eSports | 105 | -0.549 | 0 | 29.016 | 18 |
| 20 | 36 | 97 | Matt Bussa | William Byron eSports | 105 | -0.590 | 0 | 29.234 | 17 |
| 21 | 5 | 27 | Cody Byus | Elliott Sadler eSports | 105 | -0.646 | 0 | 28.921 | 16 |
| 22 | 12 | 88 | Kevin King | JR Motorsports | 105 | -0.671 | 0 | 29.115 | 15 |
| 23 | 30 | 54 | Daniel Faulkingham | Joe Gibbs Racing | 105 | -0.657 | 0 | 29.214 | 14 |
| 24 | 1 | 4 | Ryan Luza | XSET | 105 | -0.826 | 11 | 29.292 | 13 |
| 25 | 22 | 31 | Derek Justis | Kansas City Pioneers | 105 | -1.142 | 0 | 29.302 | 12 |
| 26 | 32 | 17 | Kaden Honeycutt | RFK Racing | 105 | -1.227 | 0 | 28.942 | 11 |
| 27 | 27 | 55 | Vicente Salas | Williams eSports | 105 | -1.741 | 1 | 29.267 | 10 |
| 28 | 8 | 15 | Garrett Lowe | Jim Beaver eSports | 105 | -1.814 | 1 | 29.205 | 9 |
| 29 | 18 | 36 | Brandon McKissic | LETARTE eSports | 105 | -1.981 | 0 | 28.985 | 8 |
| 30 | 24 | 40 | Dylan Ault | LETARTE eSports | 105 | -2.838 | 0 | 29.605 | 7 |
| 31 | 19 | 69 | Collin Bowden | eRacr | 98 | Disqualified | 2 | 29.046 | 6 |
| 32 | 39 | 2 | Corey Vincent | Pittsburgh Knights | 97 | -8L | 0 | 29.200 | 5 |
| 33 | 28 | 43 | Femi Olatunbosun | Charlotte Phoenix | 96 | -9L | 0 | 29.085 | 4 |
| 34 | 26 | 12 | Garrett Manes | fgrAccel | 96 | -9L | 5 | 29.075 | 3 |
| 35 | 2 | 7 | Malik Ray | Jim Beaver eSports | 95 | -10L | 13 | 29.079 | 2 |
| 36 | 17 | 95 | Casey Kirwan | XSET | 95 | -10L | 1 | 29.046 | 1 |
| 37 | 37 | 75 | Zack Novak | Rise eSports | 95 | -10L | 0 | 28.683 | 1 |
| 38 | 38 | 46 | Jimmy Mullis | Rise eSports | 94 | -11L | 0 | 29.143 | 1 |
| 39 | 6 | 14 | Joey Brown | fgrAccel | 87 | -18L | 0 | 28.697 | 1 |
eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series points through two rounds are as follows:
- Graham Bowlin, 93
- Nick Ottinger, 89
- Michael Conti, 84
- Michael Cosey Jr. 81
- Tyler Garey, 81
- Tucker Minter, 79
- Dylan Duval, 78
- Allen Boes, 78
- Malik Ray, 70
- Michael Guest, 68
Following Atlanta, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series heads back to Richmond Raceway, a staple of the calendar, for its fourth round of the 2023 season. Race coverage begins on Tuesday, March 28 at 9 p.m. ET at eNASCAR.com/live, with Countdown to Green kicking off at 8:30 to set the stage for the action.
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
