eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Race Preview: DBOX 100 at Milwaukee
February 27th, 2023 by Chris Leone
The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series branches out in a big way for its second round of the season, heading to the Milwaukee Mile for the DBOX 100 as the series goes to a non-NASCAR Cup Series track for the first time. As always, race coverage begins at 9 p.m. ET at eNASCAR.com/live and across iRacing social media channels, while Countdown to Green will kick off at 8:30 p.m. ET to preview the action.
Last Race: Team Dillon Esports rookie Tucker Minter shocked the eNASCAR establishment by winning his debut race in the season opener from Daytona International Speedway, making it through double eNASCAR Overtime and getting past defending series champion Casey Kirwan of XSET in the tri-oval to take the victory. While Minter had been running towards the front all race, leading 14 laps, it wasn’t until he made a late move and Kirwan’s defense came just a little too late that the lead changed hands for the final time.
Kirwan saved the car to finish fourth, also letting by Jim Beaver eSports driver Malik Ray—who clawed his way from 38th on the grid to second at race’s end—and Elliott Sadler eSports’ Darik Bourdeau. Fittingly, Bourdeau had been the most recent driver to win in his debut before Minter. The only other driver in that club? Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won the first-ever eNASCAR race, also from Daytona, in 2010.
Last Year: Not only is Milwaukee new to the eNASCAR schedule, it’s also not much like any of the tracks that were on the 2022 calendar. Its closest comparison as a flat mile-long oval is New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which saw Jimmy Mullis win its most recent race in July 2021—but that was before the Next Gen cars made their series debut.
Track Facts: One of the oldest active racetracks in the world, the Milwaukee Mile hosted at least one auto race every year from its opening in 1903 until 2015, and returned to active competition in 2021 with the ARCA Menards Series. The 1.015-mile oval has just nine degrees of banking in its corners, making it one of the flattest ovals on the schedule. The track will return to a national NASCAR schedule later this year when the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series visits the track in late August for a playoff round.
Next Up: Following the DBOX 100 at Milwaukee, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will visit Atlanta Motor Speedway on Tuesday, March 14 at 9 p.m. ET. Reconfigured into a higher-banked, narrower track for the 2022 season, the current Atlanta layout will become the second track to make its series debut in the first three races of the year. Stewart-Haas Esports driver Steven Wilson scored his first of four wins at Atlanta last year in the sendoff for its popular former configuration.
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.
Image via Justin Melillo