Daniel Faulkingham holds off Steven Wilson for maiden eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series win at Indy

Daniel Faulkingham added his name to the 2024 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoff field in dramatic fashion at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday night.

With brick kissing back on the menu in 2024, the Joe Gibbs Racing sophomore opted to stay out on a late caution for coveted track position. After sneaking around the dominant Kollin Keister (Kanaan Esports) on the restart, Faulkingham drove up and snatched the lead from BS+COMPETITION’s Garrett Lowe before another caution bunched the field up again with under 10 laps to go.

M80’s Steven Wilson had fresh tires. Taking the white flag, he crossed the yard of bricks in third behind Faulkingham and Lowe. After disposing of Lowe by the exit of Turn 2, Wilson filled Faulkingham’s mirror as they entered Turn 3. A perfect block allowed Faulkingham to stave off a fourth Wilson win, scoring the first of his career in 31 starts, and second in a row for his team, two weeks removed from Bobby Zalenski’s win at Chicago.

Crossing the line, the excitement was visible on Faulkingham’s camera. “I can’t believe that pit strategy worked,” Faulkingham said post-race. “It worked out just in time, because Steven (Wilson) was right there on tires. I can’t believe we just won a Coke Series race. I’ve been on this service for seven or eight years now. I always thought about getting to this level, and to actually win at this level, I’m over the moon and lost for words. We’re going to celebrate that, for sure.”

In the Countdown to Green, Alan Cavanna mentioned that the average starting position for winners was around seventh place. Faulkingham started in ninth, and stayed in the conversation throughout the night. Keister was the dominant force early, leading from the pole position until about halfway. As the pit stop loomed, Wilson made his way to Keister’s back bumper from eighth, with a fourth win on the season, plus valuable playoff points, on his mind.

Some drivers, such as Lowe, opted to short pit with hopes of a well-timed yellow flag throwing a wrench in the running order. At Indianapolis, drivers can usually pit without losing a lap, and the strategy paid off when the yellow flew at Lap 27.

Seven drivers cycled ahead of Keister and Wilson by staying out. Keister’s car seemed more tuned for leading, and struggled to get through the traffic, but it didn’t take long for Wilson to be back in the conversation.

With 20 laps to go, Wilson found himself on the back bumper of Femi Olatunbosun (OXYGEN Esports), one of his Norse Force Racing setup alliance teammates. With a well-timed tandem, the two shot around Lowe for the top two spots, but almost right on queue, another caution befell the speedway, this time involving playoff hopeful Wyatt Tinsley (QuikTrip Pioneers Gaming).

The timing of the caution set up for an interesting split on strategy. All drivers had two extra sets of tires in the pits. Not everyone opted to take them. Lowe, on some of the oldest tires in the field, decided to stay out again, along with Keister, who needed to get that track position back. Faulkingham also stayed out and restarted third. Olatunbosun was relegated all the way back to 15th with Wilson alongside in 16th on the ensuing restart with 15 laps to go.

Faulkingham jumped Keister on the restart, and a lap later, was alongside for the lead entering Turn 3. The sophomore cleared the zebra with ease as Keister looked to capitalize as well. Keister, however, could not get by as Lowe held on. Meanwhile, Wilson was working his way up the order, getting back up to fifth before another caution flew as the field took 10 laps to go.

Anyone with a shot to win was done pitting by this point. Faulkingham had the ultimate advantage—clean air. Wilson had fresher tires, now on a heat cycle, and four cars to pass. The ensuing restart with seven laps to go saw another caution, giving Faulkingham three laps to hold on for the win.

The field managed to hold on until the white flag. Wilson was third and on the charge. Faulkingham watched his mirror in hopes that Lowe would fight Wilson harder, but Wilson made quick work of the move for second. Into Turn 3, Wilson got a slight breath of clean air and a run right before Turn 4. Faulkingham moved left and stopped the momentum. The move was enough, and Faulkingham can now say he’s an eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series winner.

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

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Driver’s Standings through Round 13 are as follows:

1. Steven Wilson, 417 (3 WINS)
2. Parker White, 368
3. Vicente Salas, 361 (1 WIN)
4. Nick Ottinger, 3337
5. Bobby Zalenski, 336 (2 WINS)
6. Casey Kirwan, 320
7. Tucker Minter, 308 (1 WIN)
8. Garrett Lowe, 302 (1 WIN)
9. Kaden Honeycutt, 302
10. Graham A. Bowlin, 286
11. Daniel Faulkingham, 285 (1 WIN)
12. Dylan Duval, 278 (1 WIN)

20. Wyatt Tinsley, 219 (1 WIN)
————————————-
22. Malik Ray, 217 (1 WIN)

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Segment 3 Standings after Round 4 of 5 are as follows:

1. Steven Wilson, 151
2. Graham A. Bowlin, 128
3. Parker White, 126
4. Garrett Lowe, 118
5. Michael Cosey Jr, 115
6. Bobby Zalenski, 112
   ——————————
7. Daniel Faulkingham, 105
8. Vicente Salas, 101
9. Dylan Duval, 100
10. Tucker Minter, 100

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Team Standings through Round 13 are as follows:

1. William Byron eSports (#25/#97), 645
2. M80 (#10/#80), 631
3. Williams Esports (#51/#53), 630
4. Joe Gibbs Racing (#18/#54), 621
5. Kanaan Esports (#11/#66), 604

With only one race left in the regular season, the playoff grid has three spots up for grabs.

Locked in are Wilson, Vicente Salas (Kanaan Esports), Zalenski, Tucker Minter (William Byron eSports), Lowe, Faulkingham, and Dylan Duval (Nitro Circus Sim Racing). Currently in the three open spots are Tinsley with his Daytona win, then Parker White (Williams Esports) and Nick Ottinger (William Byron eSports) on points. Wilson also maintains the lead in the third Segment by 23 points.

It could play out a number of ways in two weeks. Sitting just outside the top 20 is Malik Ray, winner at Atlanta, still feeling the effects of a Daytona disqualification which resulted in more than 30 points lost. Ray is two points behind Tinsley, who is in 20th place. Both could make the Playoffs, but that would require some bad luck from the drivers around them, specifically Keister and Seth DeMerchant (fgrAccel eRacing), both 24 points ahead of the top 20 cut.

It’s more mathematically likely that neither Tinsley or Ray make it, but you never know. If they both do make it, and there’s no new winner at Pocono, that leaves just one spot on points, which currently belongs to White by 31 points over Ottinger. If only one driver makes it from the two, as it currently stands, Ottinger holds the final spot by 17 points over Casey Kirwan. If neither of them make it, and there’s no new winner, Kirwan moves in, as he holds an 18 point lead over Kaden Honeycutt (JR Motorsports).

Of course, if both Ray and Tinsley get in, and we get a new eligible winner, all 10 spots will be filled by winners, and there will be no room for points positions. There was a caveat in the rules for the regular season champion to have a spot in the playoffs, namely the “top regular season point scorer”, but Wilson locked up the de facto regular season title on Tuesday night with his runner-up finish, and White can no longer catch him from 49 points back.

Drivers that can win and get in still include White, Ottinger, Kirwan, Honeycutt, Graham Bowlin (QuikTrip Pioneers Gaming), Jordy Lopez (BS+COMPETITION), Michael Cosey Jr (Front Row Motorsports), Zack Novak (OXYGEN Esports), Donovan Strauss (Williams Esports), Jimmy Mullis (Kevin Harvick Inc.), Keister, DeMerchant, Michael Guest (23XI), Ryan Luza (M80), Olatunbosun, Garrett Manes (fgrAccel eRacing), Briar LaPradd (JR Motorsports), and Matt Bussa (Kevin Harvick, Inc.). The drivers outside the top 20 will also need to point into the top 20 to be eligible.

The 40 top-rated eNASCAR drivers will all visit the Tricky Triangle, Pocono Raceway in two weeks for the conclusion to the 2024 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Regular Season. Tune in on Tuesday, July 30th, at 7:30 p.m. ET for the Countdown to Green. Race coverage for the event begins at 8 p.m. ET at eNASCAR.com/live and across iRacing social media channels.

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.

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