UNC at Charlotte’s Garrett Lowe scores first eNASCAR College iRacing Series win at Talladega

For the first time in 13 attempts, UNC at Charlotte’s Garrett Lowe is finally an eNASCAR College iRacing Series powered by NACE Starleague winner. Lowe had to do it on a track type he’s not normally known for winning over in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series—pack racing with nearly 40 other trucks, wide open on the high banks at Talladega Superspeedway. 

On the final restart in eNASCAR Overtime, Lowe led the field back to the green with his UNC at Charlotte classmate Kealoha Hankins tucked up right behind in third. On the outside of the front row, University of Maine at Machias’ Daniel Faulkingham led the charge with two last trips around the 2.66-mile oval.

Right as they crossed the line to take the white flag, Hankins gave Lowe a huge shot. It turned the leading truck slightly sideways, but Lowe was able to correct his course. Hankins and the rest of the field behind were not so lucky. Only Lowe, Faulkingham and University of Maryland’s Elliot White escaped with a shot at victory.

On the backstretch, Faulkingham led, but Lowe backed up to White and got a run. Faulkingham did his best to block. By Turn 3, they were alongside, and by the frontstretch, Lowe was clear. The trio went three-wide, but Lowe was able to hang on over White by 0.028 seconds as Faulkingham took home third.

“Kealoha was doing a great job pushing,” Lowe said post-race. “I have class with him tomorrow, so I owe him a big handshake for the push. He did a great job… Coming to the checkered was just a matter of timing the run and being at the front when it mattered.”

Baruch College student Edward Sanchez took the pole position and led the field to the green. Sanchez led six laps sporadically through the evening, trading the top spot with drivers such as Embry-Riddle’s Austin Green, Pensacola State’s Benjamin White, and Saddleback’s John Forbes.

The first caution flew on Lap 13, and it involved Lowe and the truck in front of him, Eastern Washington’s James Scioly. Lowe would drive away unscathed, but Scioly would be faced with race altering damages after collecting others in the fracas, such as Wichita State’s Layne Graves, Oklahoma’s Mario Merenda, and Hopkinsville CC’s Nate Stewart.

After a long green flag run that saw a cycle of green flag pit stops, the field combined on Lap 38 for a near-caution that involved Eastern Shore CC’s Arron Brown. The field was fractured, with about four different packs forming as a result. The top two packs got back together, and that’s when the intensity turned up to 11.

Abraham Vela from San Jacinto College and Benjamin White were involved in an incident with 15 laps remaining to bunch the field back together. The third and final caution flew on Lap 57 when Ohio State Newark’s Matthew Morton and University of Michigan’s Matthew Zwack came together off of Turn 2. The largest wreck of the night to that point shook up the running order and gave the field one last shot in eNASCAR Overtime.

With the huge one happening past the line, after the white flag was displayed, Lowe worked his magic to get by Faulkingham and hold off Elliot White in the closing moments.

eNASCAR College iRacing Series results from Talladega Superspeedway were as follows:

Through seven races and with drops factored in, Faulkingham now leads the way by six points over Lowe. Clampitt falls to third, despite his points total staying the same. Most of the drivers in the top 10 entering will drop Talladega from their point total. One driver who will use Dega towards total is runner-up White, who jumps into the top 10, now sixth with one more race left in the regular season.

eNASCAR College iRacing Series standings through Round 7 are as follows:

1. Daniel Faulkingham, 149
2. Garrett Lowe, 143
3. Logan Clampitt, 136
4. Jose Solis Jr, 122
5. Austin Farr, 121
6. Elliot White, 120
7. Nate S Stewart, 119
8. Steven Wilson, 115
9. John Forbes Jr, 112
10. Matthew L Morton, 111

The 2023-24 eNASCAR College iRacing Series concludes the regular season in April, back in the NASCAR XFINITY Series machines, with the eighth round of the season from Nashville Superspeedway. Qualifying will run from March 27th to April 9th, and the main event is scheduled for Tuesday, April 16th, live at 8 p.m. ET on eNASCAR.com/live and across iRacing social media channels. 

The eNASCAR College iRacing Series Powered by NACE Starleague is supported by Coca-Cola, Logitech G, and DBOX. For more information on the series and how to compete, visit https://playfly.com/enascar-college-iracing-series/. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

About the Series: The eNASCAR College iRacing Series gives college students from the United States and Canada the opportunity to compete for their share of $60,000 in scholarships. Using machines from the NASCAR Xfinity Series or NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 40 drivers qualify for the event by registering here and posting their fastest lap times in a two-week Time Attack through the iRacing UI. With hundreds of colleges and universities represented in each Time Attack and only one representative per school, drivers are competing not only against the greater iRacing community, but also their own classmates, for a spot on the prestigious grid.

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