eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Race Preview: Nashville

The 2023 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoffs continue to inch closer, with drivers taking on the concrete Nashville Superspeedway in their latest stop of the campaign. 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: Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bobby Zalenski has long been known as eNASCAR’s premier road course racer, and he proved it with an impressive victory two weeks ago on the streets of Chicago. Just days before the real-world NASCAR Cup Series took over the city for the first time with a groundbreaking event on a track designed by iRacing, Zalenski foreshadowed the thrilling real-world race, won by Shane Van Gisbergen, with street course mastery of his own.

For Zalenski, the winning strategy came when he overcut Stewart-Haas eSports’ Steven Wilson and Tony Kanaan Esports’ Parker White on green flag pit stops. That trio had been the class of the field all day, with Wilson on pole but White leading the first 29 laps until he pit. Zalenski made the final stop of the trio, and between an extra lap of clean track, less fuel, and a better pit entry and exit, he got out ahead of White and Wilson to score the win.

Last Year: Four-time eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series champion Ray Alfalla won the inaugural points-paying round at Nashville last summer, coming from 37^th on the 39-car starting grid and even surviving eNASCAR overtime to earn his record 27^th career win in the series. Despite a late caution flying as he was pulling away in the lead, Alfalla got the jump on the field on the final restart and held off fellow former series champion Zack Novak of Rise eSports for the victory.

Track Facts: Nashville Superspeedway is one of multiple ovals that has gone from dormant to hosting NASCAR Cup Series action over the past decade. It boasts many of the most unique features among ovals on the calendar: at 1.333 miles, it’s shorter than most other tri-ovals, and its concrete surface adds yet another challenge for drivers. The track was initially closed in 2012 after failing to land a Cup date, but reopened for the 2021 season with all three national NASCAR series on the calendar.

Next Up: Following Nashville, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will head to New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Tuesday, July 25 at 9 p.m. ET. The closest real-world NASCAR Cup Series track to iRacing headquarters returns to the schedule after a year off; in its most recent event in 2021, Jimmy Mullis took the checkered flag.

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

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