eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series mid-season report: Three races left to make the Top 30 cut

The eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series is past halfway for the 2024 season. In the seven-race contest, the first four have been filled with strategy, drama, incidents, and intense racing, with some familiar faces up front as well as some new ones that are beginning to take over the scene. So far, the series has battled at Las Vegas, Homestead-Miami, Phoenix, and Darlington. Each race has been unique, leaving the final three races up to anyone’s guess as to how it will all play out by the end of the season.

One of the faces looking to make the top level for the first time is Norse Force Racing’s Eddie Kerner, who currently leads the way, considering a drop, after scoring two wins and a runner-up finish in the first three races. Kerner is no newbie to the eNASCAR scene, having competed in the Contender ranks two times prior, including all the way back in 2020, as well as last season. Both times, he’s fallen short of making the cut to the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. This year, however, he’s gone toe-to-toe with some of the more seasoned veterans, even surpassing the majority of his teammates on multiple occasions.

Some of his 2024 Coke Series teammates, drivers like Wyatt Tinsley, Briar LaPradd, and Matthew Zwack, have all shown the same pace, but haven’t been able to find the same successes just yet. Norse Force has three drivers inside the top-five through the first stretch. As the backend team with the last two eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series championships in-hand, their prospects coming up or back up into the pool for 2025 could be just as potent at the top level.

On the side of the names you might know better, having been mainstay Coke Series drivers over the majority of the last decade, both LockDown Racing’s Taylor Hurst and Deadzone Racing’s Ryan Luza have scored wins on the bookend thus far, with Hurst taking the first flag at Las Vegas and Luza stealing one away from his teammate, Malik Ray, on the final lap at Darlington. History proves that race winners in Contender usually have no problem making the cut, and now with 30 drivers advancing to the 2025 driver pool, that notion is even more likely this time around.

Of the drivers relegated from the 2024 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series roster, Hurst leads that group, with Tinsley, Nexxus Esports’ Dylan Ault, and Luza in four of the top-six spots. Norse Force Racing’s Brian Mercurio is one of a few drivers looking to make it back to the series after missing out on it last year, and currently sits in fifth so far. A lot of the mainstays in the series, like Team Conti’s Matt Bussa and Legacy eSports’ Tyler Garey, are doing what it takes for them to get back into the series, both sitting nicely inside the top-15 so far.

Looking to trade his microphone in for a sim rig, one of the voices of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, Blake McCandless, is doing what he needs to so far to make that a reality. McCandless is in 18th, just three points behind his Norse Force Racing teammate Briar LaPradd in 17th. In previous years, that would be a precarious position, but with the cut line moving from 20th to 30th this year, there’s a little more breathing room for those guys in the mid-pack.

Down the order, on the outside looking in are two drivers from the 2024 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series roster. Quami Scott sits in 38th after some bad luck, but down in dead last is the most-decorated eNASCAR driver in history, 4-Time champion Ray Alfalla. 23 points shouldn’t be too difficult to pick up over three races, but through the first four, it’s been hit after hit, and he’s going to need that luck to change at some point.

Also down the order are two names most didn’t expect to see there either. The Qualifying Series saw Nexxus Esports’ Connor Yeroschak take the Round 2 title, the series that led into this current Contender round. While Yeroschak has proved to have speed in his qualifying efforts, his race results have not reflected that, finishing on the opposite end of the running order mostly so far this season.

Former eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series winner and championship contender Logan Clampitt is also sitting on the wrong side of the cut after four races. While he’s picking up scholarships in the eNASCAR College iRacing Series in preceding races on doubleheader nights, Clampitt has also struggled to finish where he should be, with two straight DNFs at Phoenix and Darlington.

Only three races remain on the calendar to place within the top-30—Richmond, Dover, and Texas. Richmond is next up, and will be the first and last short track event of the season, which could mean more aggression among the pack. Dover tends to throw wild parties from time to time, depending on how Miles the Monster is feeling on that particular day. As for Texas, that might be the most straight-forward race of the season, being as wide and fast as it is.

These drivers will also need to remember that merely making the top-30 gets them into the driver pool for next year. They’ll all be fighting for the 40 seats in the series, so just making it in won’t be enough—they’ll need to market themselves and prove why they deserve a ride at the top level of the series against the other drivers in the pool. For now, however, it’s all about making the cut.

2024 eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series points through Race #4 (including a drop) are as follows:

1. Eddie Kerner, 115
2. Taylor Hurst, 107
3. Wyatt Tinsley, 97
4. Dylan Ault, 96
5. Brian Mercurio, 94
6. Ryan Luza, 84
7. Quentin Warman, 84
8. Christopher M. Hill, 80
9. Kollin Keister, 74
10. Blaze Crawford, 74
11. Malik Ray, 74
12. Matt Bussa, 73
13. Alexander L Russell, 73
14. Tyler Garey, 72
15. Cody Byus, 72
16. Collin Bowden, 71
17. Briar LaPradd, 68
18. Blake McCandless, 65
19. Matthew L Morton, 63
20. Ethan Lane, 61
21. Agnel Philip, 61
22. Matthew Zwack, 61
23. Timothy Holmes, 58
24. Ryan Doucette, 56
25. Nate S Stewart, 55
26. Michael P Frisch, 52
27. Kevin Champagne, 51
28. Garrett Manes, 51
29. James Wenzel, 50
30. Brad Wright, 43
    ————————
31. Daltyn S. England, 43
32. Brandon Hauck, 42
33. Logan Clampitt, 39
34. Michael Venable, 39
35. Connor Yeroschak, 38
36. Dylan C Jones, 37
37. Michael Bumgarner, 32
38. Quami Scott, 27
39. Kabe McClenny, 25
40. Ray Alfalla, 20

The series includes a seven-race schedule with one drop week to be factored in, utilizing the NASCAR Xfinity Series Class B vehicles. It all concludes on November 19th at Texas Motor Speedway. All races start at 8:30 pm ET every Tuesday night, and will be broadcasted on eNASCAR.com/live as well as all of iRacing’s social channels. Round 7 will be on a doubleheader night, and will follow the eNASCAR College iRacing Series event.

The remaining 2024 eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series schedule is as follows:

• Nov 5, 2024 | Richmond Raceway | 130 laps
• Nov 12, 2024 | Dover Motor Speedway | 120 laps
• Nov 19, 2024 | Texas Motor Speedway | 100 laps

The eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series is the final step on the Road to Pro ladder before becoming eligible to race in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. For more information on this series, visit www.iracing.com/enascar/rtp/. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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