Kollin Keister earns second-career eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series win at Las Vegas

It’s been 1,750 days since Kollin Keister’s first career eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series victory, five years ago at Charlotte Motor Speedway in his rookie campaign, back when he drove for RFK Racing. On Tuesday night, now driving a plaid Ford Mustang for Jim Beaver eSports, Keister returned to eNASCAR Victory Lane for his second career win, going up against both the defending series champion, Parker White, and a driver looking for his first win in Michael Cosey Jr, in the final five laps at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

While running in 10th, Keister brought his #15 Misadventure Life machine down pit road for four fresh virtual tires on Lap 74. Restarting 23rd on Lap 77, Keister picked his way through the field, at points in the middle of five-wide action. After a few more cautions, the final restart came at Lap 91. Keister had managed to work his way up to sixth with just under 10 laps to go, and all five of the cars ahead had last pitted at halfway, giving Keister a 25-lap or so tire advantage, despite the numerous cycles.

With seven laps to go, Keister moved in between the Williams Esports duo of White and Donovan Strauss. In his mirror, following him through to the front, was ERA eSports’ Michael Cosey Jr, also with fresher tires. With five laps to go, Keister took the top spot away. Cosey Jr followed through into second. On the final lap, Cosey Jr gave Keister one last shot, connecting bumpers in Turn 4. Keister held on to the sideways car and took the checkered flag.

With the defending champion, Parker White ahead, and a hungry Michael Cosey Jr looking for his first win in the mirror, @KollinKeister makes the right moves to claim his second career @ENASCARGG Coca-Cola iRacing Series victory at Las Vegas!!!

Post Race: https://t.co/tOOewu5kqQ pic.twitter.com/hxUWtw84Hi

— iRacing (@iRacing) February 26, 2025

“I didn’t know how that was going to play out there at the end,” Keister said post-race. “Just glad to be here in victory lane. I was three and four wide the whole time, and luckily we made it through without getting wrecked.” During the post-race presser, Keister revealed that the call to pit was not when he ultimately did. “I actually was supposed to pit on the caution before, and my spotter was not thrilled about me staying out,” Keister chuckled. “We got lucky that caution came out a few laps later. Decided it was time to pit and see what we could do with it, and it worked out in our favor.”

Despite a first half that went caution-free, the second race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway saw six caution periods for 18 laps. The race went the full distance with no overtime period. There were five different leaders through the race, and Spire Motorsports’ Femi Olatunbosun led the most laps at 43. Parker White assumes the points lead as the series heads to Brazil next week.

THE RACE

For a good chunk of the event, it looked as though Spire Motorsports would continue their winning ways at Las Vegas. Kanaan Esports’ Vicente Salas put it on the pole position, but Spire’s Steven Wilson, the winner two weeks ago at Daytona, was able to get the upper hand early from the outside pole position, leading the opening six laps. In the middle of the backstretch on the seventh lap, Wilson suddenly disappeared. Unforeseen connection issues would end the 2023 champion’s bid at going two-for-two to start the season—by the time he returned, he was 14 laps down.

This gifted the lead to Donovan Strauss, who was running second. The fourth-year competitor, who earlier in the day announced his full-time real-world ride in the CARS Tour, led up until Lap 19, where Channel 199 Sim Racing’s Zack Novak took control for the moment. While Novak led, from the 10th starting position, the other Spire machine driven by Femi Olatunbosun had worked up to the top-five. On Lap 26, he was third. 10 laps later, Olatunbosun got two-in-one, moving from third to first around Novak and Salas.

Still a green flag event, Olatunbsoun controlled the field with pit stops looming. Just as pit road was set to become a busy place, the caution flew for the first time on Lap 50, right at halfway. This allowed for the entire field to pit for service, and allowed for Olatunbosun to continue leading the way. Unfortunately, the cautions continued to fall, and the race would get completely shaken for the second half of the night.

It’s like a switch was flipped, as the field went from single file to two-wide to constant three-to-five wide racing for the remainder of the night. This led to a multitude of cautions, which led to a number of strategies coming into play for the final stretch. Olatunbosun held on as long as he could, but Parker White was meticulously positioning himself as each lap ticked off. With 21 laps to go, White took the run on the outside and took the lead. Strauss followed through, and on the second-to-last caution, the Williams Esports duo found themselves in the top-two spots.

Those multiple strategies were about to show up, however. After the final caution just before 10 laps to go, Keister, who ran around 15th for the majority of the day, had gambled his tires strategy perfectly. Up to sixth with nine laps to go, Keister ran the fastest lap of the night three laps later as he moved into second place. No bonus points for that in this series, but the tire advantage was prevalent, and if the race were to stay green, it was looking to play into his favor.

The race did stay green, and despite Michael Cosey Jr’s best attempts to snatch it away, Keister held on and claimed his first win in five years.

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from Race #2 at Las Vegas were as follows:

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Driver’s Standings after Race #2 at Las Vegas are as follows:

1. #15 Kollin Keister | Jim Beaver eSports, 1 WIN
2. #77 Steven Wilson | Spire Motorsports, 1 WIN
3. #95 Parker White | Williams Esports, 69 points
4. #1 Malik Ray | Vegas Inferno, 61 points
5. #97 Tucker Minter | William Byron eSports, 58 points
6. #7 Femi Olatunbosun | Spire Motorsports, 58 points
7. #2 Zack Novak | Channel 199 Sim Racing, 56 points
8. #24 Casey Kirwan | Kansas City Pioneers, 56 points
9. #39 Daniel Faulkingham | Six Karma, 54 points
10. #51 Donovan Strauss | Williams Esports, 51 points

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series SEGMENT 1 Standings after Race #2 at Las Vegas are as follows:

1. #95 Parker White | Williams Esports, 69 points
2. #15 Kollin Keister | Jim Beaver eSports, -5
3. #1 Malik Ray | Vegas Inferno, -8
4. #97 Tucker Minter | William Byron eSports, -11
5. #7 Femi Olatunbosun | Spire Motorsports, -11
6. #2 Zack Novak | Channel 199 Sim Racing, -13
7. #24 Casey Kirwan | Kansas City Pioneers, -13
8. #39 Daniel Faulkingham | Six Karma, -15
9. #51 Donovan Strauss | Williams Esports, -18
10. #34 Michael Cosey Jr |ERA eSports, -20

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Team Standings after Race #2 at Las Vegas are as follows:

1. Williams Esports (#51/#95), 120 points
2. Spire Motorsports (#7/#77), -21
3. Vegas Inferno (#1/#21), -30
4. Channel 199 Sim Racing (#2/#199), -39
5. HYAK Motorsports (#47/#50), -40

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Rookie Standings after Race #2 at Las Vegas are as follows:

1. #3 Blaze Crawford | Team Dillon Esports, 41 points
2. #40 Connor Yeroschak | LETARTE eSports, -3
3. #50 Quentin Warman | HYAK Motorsports, -4
4. #96 Christopher M. Hill | Apex Racing Team, -12
5. #8 Blake McCandless | JR Motorsports, -12
6. #66 Alexander L Russell | Kanaan Esports, -15
7. #5 Nate Stewart | Jim Beaver eSports, -39
   #19 Eddie Kerner | Six Karma, -39

With a second place at Daytona and third at Las Vegas, Parker White takes over the points lead with a nice 69 points so far. Keister jumps to second with 64 points, but he and Steven Wilson have their tickets to the eNASCAR Playoffs punched, which places them at the top of the standings should they stay in the top-20 by the end of the Regular Season with less than 10 total winners. Wins don’t matter for the Segment points, which White holds the advantage with three races remaining.

Wilson’s connection woes move him down to 14th in the physical points for the time being, and take Spire Motorsports from first to second in the Team Standings, now trailing Williams Esports by 21. In the Rookie battle, Blaze Crawford earned his first-career top-10 finish, and was the rookie of the race. That propels him to the top of the Rookie Standings, leading Connor Yeroschak by three as the series exits Las Vegas.

Next week, the top-level oval stock car sim racers will head to Brazil for the first time as the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series takes on Interlagos for the first time. Last year, the international trip took the field to Brands Hatch where Bobby Zalenski was able to score the win. The third round on the calendar is scheduled for Tuesday, March 4th.

Tune in at 7:30 p.m. ET for the Countdown to Green. Race coverage 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 eNASCAR.com or iRacing.com/eNASCAR.
For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit iRacing.com.­­

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