Quartet of rookies entered for 2024 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season

By virtue of last year’s eNASCAR Road to Pro results, four rookies are set to take on the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series gauntlet in 2024. Seth DeMerchant, Jonathon Dulaney, Quami Scott, and Matthew Zwack all qualified through the 2023 eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series, each now signed to race for one of the 20 official teams in the series.

DeMerchant, the highest finisher of the group, signed with fgrAccel eRacing to drive the #14 Toyota in 2024. He’s affiliated with Altus Esports, which includes drivers such as Tucker Minter and Jordy Lopez. Dulaney carries the Coca-Cola colors this year, signing with Team Dillon eSports to drive the #3 Chevrolet. LockDown Racing is his affiliation, the same as his Team Dillon teammate Taylor Hurst, as well as Zack Novak, the 2019 Series Champion.

Scott is teamed up with Dylan Ault on both Letarte eSports and Nexxus eSports, the official and alliance teams, respectively. He’ll be driving the #36 Chevy in his rookie campaign. Zwack tied with Scott for the final transfer spots into the series. This season, he races for one of the newest teams on the grid, Nitro Circus Sim Racing, in the #99 Ford, with a backend affiliation to the team that took the 2023 title at Homestead-Miami, Norse Force Racing.

All four of these rookies come from different backgrounds, all proving their worth on their own paths. All of which are looking to become the next Ryan Luza, Bobby Zalenski, Tucker Minter, or better than anything seen before.

With the experience he’s gained over the last decade and a half, the tag ‘rookie’ doesn’t truly fit Seth DeMerchant. A sim racer since 2010, Merch has competed at a high level for years, competing and winning some of the biggest events on the platform. Since 2020, DeMerchant has been trying to add his name to the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series roster. There have been multiple instances of success, including a total of eight Road to Pro ladder victories and a Qualifying Round 1 championship last season.

Despite not being a driver in the series yet, DeMerchant’s dipped his feet in as a setup builder for the Altus Esports group, which included the standout rookies Minter and Jordy Lopez last year. In fact, Seth spent the 2023 season on the top of the virtual pit box for Lopez. When Lopez won at WWT Raceway, that was a double win for DeMerchant, as a setup builder and strategist.

The end of the 2023 Contender Series saw DeMerchant find himself in a position for a Coke debut in 2024 after four long seasons of waiting. He’ll be looking to not only stay in the series for years to come, but to prove he belongs as one of the front runners on a weekly basis. His first challenges in the series begin with fgrAccel eRacing, driving the #14 Camry in 2024.

In comparison, it only took two tries for Jonathon Dulaney to break into the series. Attempting the gauntlet that is the Road to Pro ladder for the first time in 2022, Dulaney scored a crucial victory at Pocono in the Qualifying Series that carried him to his first Contender Series later that year.

In one of the more competitive fields that year, it wasn’t meant to be for Jonathon. He would need to try again in 2023 at the bottom once more. While there were no victories to be had this time around, his point totals were enough to get him from round to round, eventually making the cut to be on the 2024 Coke roster.

A Commercial Electrician by day, Dulaney saw his early sim racing successes in leagues such as the 100% Cup Series on his way towards the Coke ranks. Dulaney is also a proud Eagle Scout, a prestigious honor earned by only six percent of all Boy Scouts. Dulaney will drive the iconic #3 Coca-Cola Chevrolet in his maiden season for Team Dillon Esports. It’s a ride previously driven by Blake Reynolds, Corey Vincent, and most recently, Jordy Lopez. His LockDown Racing ally, Taylor Hurst, also returns to Team Dillon this season in the #33.

A man of many talents, Quami Scott is a proud resident of the Bronx, right on the outskirts of New York City, an area not normally known for having many NASCAR fans. Scott attended the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College and produces music as a hobby, but since he was seven, his passion’s been racing, most notably in NASCAR.

Quami played the usual assortment of console NASCAR games growing up, but it wasn’t until 2020 that he got on iRacing to pursue a sim racing career. Joining Nexxus eSports in 2021, Scott’s been trying to make his way up the Road to Pro ladder with that group since the 2022 season. His 2023 attempt came close at the end. After gliding through the Qualifying Series and into Contender, the final race of the season almost saw him on the outside looking in of a three-way tie for the final spots. With former champion Michael Conti retiring, however, Scott didn’t have to worry about being on the losing end of the tie as all three drivers advanced.

Nearing 1,000 Twitch followers, Quami has gotten big into streaming and other social media platforms, such as TikTok and Instagram. He plans to stream all of his races this upcoming season, driving in the #36 Chevrolet for Steve Letarte and Letarte Esports, together with Sunoco Racing, in his Coke rookie campaign.

The youngest of the four, Matthew Zwack is still taking classes at the University of Michigan as he begins his eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series career in 2024. As a Sophomore currently seeking a degree in Industrial Engineering, Zwack is attempting to compliment his inaugural eNASCAR Coca-Cola journey with top ranks in the 2023-24 eNASCAR College iRacing Series.

In fact, Zwack finished second overall in the 2023 eNASCAR College iRacing Series Spring Semester, and just last week, he picked up his first career victory in the series at Darlington Raceway, increasing his chances at racing for the overall title again this calendar year. Like Quami, Matthew was a part of that three-way tie for the final transfer spots into the series. A long time community racer at leagues such as RODDCAR and FTF, Zwack has run with the best of them for years, joining up with the Norse Force Racing alliance for the 2023 season. This year will be his biggest challenge yet.

Unlike his three rookie competitors, Zwack is the only driver to find a home with one of the new teams in the series this season. Those familiar with Travis Pastrana are likely familiar with the Nitro Circus brand. This year, Nitro Circus has an eNASCAR team with Zwack and Dylan Duval on the squad. Zwack will contest his rookie year in the #99 Dark Horse Ford Mustang.

For all four, their next test will come at Las Vegas on Tuesday night. Two weeks ago at Daytona, each rookie had a rough welcome to the series as all four were caught up in one thing or another through the evening. Zwack brought home the best finish, in 22nd, while DeMerchant was 28th, Dulaney wound up 33rd, and after starting on the outside pole position, Scott ended up finishing 39th, out of the race.

The last rookie to win at Las Vegas was in 2017, when Ryan Luza scored the first of his four career wins at the track. Will any of these four new faces in the series find success in the virtual city that never sleeps? 

The quest for the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series championship, and the road to $500,000, continues tonight at 8:00 pm ET, live on eNASCAR.com/live. Tune in to the pre-race Countdown to Green starting at 7:30 pm ET.

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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