Guest wins first career eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series race at Pocono as 2023 Playoff field is set

August 2nd, 2023 by Justin Melillo

Pocono Raceway played host to the epic conclusion for the 2023 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series regular season. After 14 races, we’ve whittled it down to 10 playoff-eligible drivers with a chance at the 2023 championship.

Through a double dose of eNASCAR Overtime on Tuesday night, 23XI’s Michael Guest was victorious, claiming his first career series win in his 106th start. The victory would be two-fold, as combined with his position inside the top 20 in the regular season standings, it also means that it will be his first appearance in the eNASCAR playoffs in his sixth season.

Guest joins the seven previously locked-in drivers—Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bobby Zalenski, JR Motorsports’ Michael Conti, XSET’s Casey Kirwan, Team Dillon eSports rookies Tucker Minter and Jordy Lopez, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Steven Wilson and Jim Beaver eSports’ Garrett Lowe—as well as Rise eSports’ Jimmy Mullis, another winner who needed to get enough points for it to count towards a playoff berth, and William Byron eSports’ Nick Ottinger, who had more than enough points over the rest of the drivers that also did not win in 2023.

Drivers that ended the night on the outside looking in included Jim Beaver eSports’ Malik Ray, Charlotte Phoenix driver Graham Bowlin, William Byron eSports’ Matt Bussa, Tony Kanaan Esports’ Parker White, Front Row Motorsports’ Michael Cosey Jr., and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Dylan Duval, all of whom had a chance at getting in through the night either on wins or by points. Because Ottinger had a 27-point lead on any other winless driver entering the night, most of these drivers would have needed to win themselves, but Ray or Bowlin could have snuck in if there had either been a repeat winner or if Ottinger himself had won.

Ray wound up the first driver out of the playoffs on points after finishing second to Guest. Despite briefly falling out of the race and having to make up a lap, he would eventually charge his way back up from 39th place over the course of the night. As a result, he passed Bowlin, the driver who originally held the final ticket to the battle for the championship, for second among winless drivers by the end of the night.

The race itself was filled with tons of strategy. Ottinger took the pole, but his teammate Bussa took the lead by the end of the first lap and led the caution-filled first half of the race. During green flag pit stops, the trio of Guest, White, and eRacr’s Collin Bowden took two tires and leapfrogged ahead of the rest. Meanwhile, Cosey Jr. and Lowe were still out on the track, possibly looking to stretch their fuel to the distance.

A caution with 12 laps remaining changed all of that. Cosey Jr. and White would pit, but Lowe, Guest and Bowden would stay on track with about half of the four-tire getters from the cycle, including Bussa, Ottinger and Ray. After a few more incidents slowed the field, eventually it would be Guest on his own up front with three huge threats in his virtual mirror.

Taking the white flag, Ottinger managed to get alongside and lead the lap over Guest, but the 23XI driver had the preferred line on the outside, and neither could clear the other through most of the final lap. That battle allowed both Ray and Bussa to put themselves in position to challenge. Entering the final corner, Bussa gave a shot to Ottinger, allowing Guest to get the power off the corner to take the checkers for the first time.

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

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Team

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts
1 32 45 Michael Guest 23XI 67 0.000 9 53.589 40
2 35 7 Malik Ray Jim Beaver eSports 67 -0.181 1 53.415 35
3 3 41 Dylan Duval Stewart-Haas Racing 67 -0.357 0 53.392 34
4 1 25 Nick Ottinger William Byron eSports 67 -0.366 1 53.618 33
5 4 97 Matt Bussa William Byron eSports 67 -0.394 34 53.617 32
6 17 1 Darik Bourdeau Elliott Sadler eSports 67 -0.492 0 53.696 31
7 15 11 Parker White Tony Kanaan Esports 67 -0.612 0 53.644 30
8 29 69 Collin Bowden eRacr 67 -0.664 0 53.551 29
9 23 77 Ryan Doucette Pittsburgh Knights 67 -1.075 0 53.500 28
10 21 95 Casey Kirwan XSET 67 -1.503 0 53.867 27
11 13 23 Keegan Leahy 23XI 67 -1.537 0 54.002 26
12 34 38 Michael Cosey Jr Front Row Motorsports 67 -1.600 14 53.612 25
13 36 51 Donovan Strauss Williams eSports 67 -1.680 0 53.490 24
14 39 66 Tyler Garey Tony Kanaan Esports 67 -1.712 0 53.692 23
15 10 40 Dylan Ault LETARTE eSports 67 -1.741 0 53.580 22
16 7 46 Jimmy Mullis Rise eSports 67 -1.832 0 53.566 21
17 37 43 Femi Olatunbosun Charlotte Phoenix 67 -1.806 0 53.664 20
18 11 8 Michael Conti JR Motorsports 67 -1.905 0 53.540 19
19 2 15 Garrett Lowe Jim Beaver eSports 67 -2.293 8 53.595 18
20 20 3 Jordy Lopez Team Dillon eSports 67 -2.738 0 53.618 17
21 25 75 Zack Novak Rise eSports 67 -2.993 0 53.469 16
22 24 88 Kevin King JR Motorsports 67 -3.154 0 53.507 15
23 18 10 Steven Wilson Stewart-Haas Racing 67 -3.175 0 53.613 14
24 30 4 Ryan Luza XSET 67 -3.194 0 53.600 13
25 14 36 Brandon McKissic LETARTE eSports 67 -3.522 0 53.585 12
26 5 18 Bobby Zalenski Joe Gibbs Racing 67 -3.773 0 53.616 11
27 26 2 Corey Vincent Pittsburgh Knights 67 -7.018 0 53.455 10
28 16 6 Timmy Holmes RFK Racing 67 -9.874 0 53.751 9
29 8 48 Graham A. Bowlin Charlotte Phoenix 67 -10.460 0 53.438 8
30 6 20 Wyatt Tinsley Kansas City Pioneers 67 -11.867 0 53.554 7
31 27 17 Kaden Honeycutt RFK Racing 67 -17.616 0 53.574 6
32 28 54 Daniel Faulkingham Joe Gibbs Racing 67 -32.245 0 54.048 5
33 31 12 Garrett Manes fgrAccel 65 -2L 0 53.936 4
34 38 34 Allen Boes Front Row Motorsports 65 -2L 0 53.705 3
35 22 31 Derek Justis Kansas City Pioneers 62 -5L 0 53.736 2
36 12 33 Tucker Minter Team Dillon eSports 60 -7L 0 53.960 1
37 33 42 Kollin Keister eRacr 35 -32L 0 53.687 1
38 19 27 Cody Byus Elliott Sadler eSports 14 DNF 0 54.068 1
39 9 14 Joey Brown fgrAccel 8 DNF 0 54.271 1

 

The unofficial 2023 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoff grid is as follows:

  1. Bobby Zalenski, 3 wins/296 points
  2. Michael Conti, 2 wins/394 points
  3. Casey Kirwan, 2 wins/339 points
  4. Tucker Minter, 2 wins/317 points
  5. Jordy Lopez, 1 win/339 points
  6. Steven Wilson, 1 win/304 points
  7. Garrett Lowe, 1 win/296 points
  8. Michael Guest, 1 win/276 points
  9. Jimmy Mullis, 1 win/244 points
  10. Nick Ottinger, 368 points

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series field regroups for the 2023 playoffs, which start in two weeks’ time on August 15 at Michigan International Speedway. The 10 playoff drivers can earn an automatic Championship 4 berth with a win in any of the next three events, while the rest of the field will be looking to lock into the top 20 in points over the final rounds to secure their spot on the 2024 grid.

Race coverage for Michigan will start on Tuesday, August 15 at 9 p.m. ET at eNASCAR.com/live. The Countdown to Green, presented by Wendy’s, will kick things off at 8:30 p.m. ET.

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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