eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Race Preview: Talladega
April 17th, 2023 by Chris Leone
It’s been an intense and exciting eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season so far, and the action only gets more intense this week as Talladega Superspeedway hosts the second leg of the first back-to-back race weeks of the season. 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: eNASCAR’s king of road courses is back atop his throne after a dominant performance at Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Just two weeks after a similarly impressive performance at Richmond Raceway, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bobby Zalenski was back on top in the first non-American round in series history. Six of Zalenski’s first seven eNASCAR wins had come on road courses, although the Monza triumph marked his first of the kind since the playoff round at Charlotte in 2020.
The win allowed Zalenski to climb to third in points, as the top five are separated by just five points coming into Talladega. JR Motorsports’ Michael Conti holds the tiebreaker on Charlotte Phoenix’s Graham Bowlin for the lead thanks to a win in Milwaukee, with Zalenski one point back in third. Daytona winner Tucker Minter of Team Dillon eSports and 2020 series champion Nick Ottinger of William Byron eSports round out the top five.
Last Year: Funnily enough, it was also Zalenski who won here at Talladega last year. He took advantage of last-lap contact between eventual series champion Casey Kirwan of XSET and Collin Bowden of eRacr in the tri-oval, sneaking past both as Kirwan and Bowden slid across the finish line in one of the most thrilling finishes in series history.
The biggest difference between last year’s race and this year, though? For the first time in series history, all 40 drivers will be racing on the same fixed setup at Talladega. That means that, on a track already known for serving as a great equalizer of talent, the results might be shuffled even further.
Track Facts: Envisioned by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. to be even bigger and faster than Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway opened in 1969 and has hosted the NASCAR Cup Series ever since. Renowned for its high speeds, Buddy Baker became the first driver in NASCAR history to turn a 200 mile per hour lap at the track in 1970, and Bill Elliott set NASCAR’s all-time qualifying record at Talladega with a speed of 212.809 mph in 1987. Talladega is also known for producing many first-time winners, such as Richard Brickhouse in its inaugural race, and lead changes, sometimes with dozens of drivers leading laps.
Next Up: Following Talladega, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Tuesday, May 2 at 9 p.m. ET. Former series champion Michael Conti of JR Motorsports won last year’s Las Vegas visit after leading 75 of the race’s scheduled 100 laps.
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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