Steven Wilson breaks through for elusive eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series victory at Daytona

A race victory that has eluded the 2023 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series champion, Steven Wilson, is finally his. In 2022, he was third. Last year, it was second. This year, to kick off the 2025 season, Wilson was able to break through at Daytona International Speedway on Tuesday night, sporting his new look in the #77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet to the checkered flag ahead of the field.

On the final lap, Wilson entered third, behind rookie Connor Yeroschak (LETARTE eSports) and Daniel Faulkingham (Six Karma). Into the first corner, Faulkingham, Wilson’s setup teammate, took the run and took the lead, with the field following through, leaving the rookie high and dry. Behind the two new leaders was Parker White (Williams Esports), the same guy who’s been winning everything lately, including the eNASCAR Daytona Clash two weeks ago.

STEVEN WILSON GETS IT DONE AT DAYTONA!!!

The 2023 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series champion @swilson3_ gets @SpireMotorsport their second win in the series, the first of his tenure with Spire, and the first win among all the #eCCiS drivers in 2025!@ENASCARGG | @CocaColaRacing pic.twitter.com/cV0fKlk9Am

— iRacing (@iRacing) February 12, 2025

As White closed in on Wilson’s back bumper, the #77 jumped to the top line and left Faulkingham out to dry. Faulkingham attempted to side draft them all back, clipping White in the process. After a spectacular save, White was too far back to make a run, and Wilson ran it across the line for his 10th career victory in the series. The win adds Wilson to an elusive list of eight drivers with double digit victories, tying him at seventh all-time with the 2015 series champion, Kenny Humpe.

“This is absolutely awesome,” Wilson exclaimed post-race. “I’m so pumped to win Daytona. This is not a place that I’m really fond of racing at usually, but I feel like it worked out really well. I’ve got to thank everybody at Spire, GGT for being on the car, Team Chevy, everybody who is behind the scenes, everybody at NFR… I was about to blow up going into three. I blocked Parker perfectly, and he just about wrecked, so that gave me plenty of room to calm down. I’m just so pumped to win at Daytona, and hopefully this leads me right into the playoffs.”

The win also marks Spire Motorsports’ second win in the series since joining the league last year. Their first came with Malik Ray at Atlanta Motor Speedway back in 2024. Ray, now with the new team at Vegas Inferno, finished third, right behind Wilson and White, barely edging Zack Novak (Channel 199 Sim Racing) for the spot. Tucker Minter (William Byron eSports) rounded out the top-five.

THE RACE

In his return to the series for the first time since 2022, eRacr’s Logan Clampitt led the field from the pole position to kick off the new year. Shuffling among the pack went crazy in the opening laps, with Clampitt only leading two of them, the first and the eighth. His teammate, Tyler Garey, was among the drivers to take the lead in the opening stint, sharing with Channel 199 Sim Racing’s Dylan Duval, RFK Racing’s Timothy Holmes, and the newest Kansas City Pioneer, Casey Kirwan.

Kirwan maintained the lead when the first caution of the night flew at Lap 19. A stack up in the front caused Clampitt, Duval, rookies Nate Stewart (Jim Beaver eSports) and Blaze Crawford (Team Dillon Esports), and more to compress entering Turn 3. This led to Collin Bowden (RFK Racing), Graham Bowlin (Kansas City Pioneers), and Seth DeMerchant (FGR Accel) collecting heavy damage further back. Only Bowlin was able to continue, but it took him the majority of the rest of the race to get the damages fixed.

Wilson took the lead for the first time following pit stops, but Faulkingham immediately moved into the top spot. Once again, the lead was like playing hot potato—nobody wanted to hold on to it for too long. That changed on Lap 28.

Briar LaPradd (JR Motorsports) took control and a solid line formed behind him. As the pack attempted to shuffle into order, a couple of cars went around on the backstretch. It wasn’t enough to throw a yellow, so the field continued on, fractured into multiple single lines around the 2.5-mile oval. This allowed LaPradd to lead the most laps, as the front pack stayed in line and worked together. The second pack and third pack merged and began to catch the leaders, but as they got close, it was time for pit stops, and the field got jumbled up once again.

A good chunk of the second pack, with Matt Bussa (Kevin Harvick Inc.), Vicente Salas (Kanaan Esports), rookie Blake McCandless (JR Motorsports), and Michael Cosey Jr (ERA eSports) continued to stay on the track. However, another stackup caused another spin, this time Cosey Jr going through the ballfield on the frontstretch, bringing out the second caution of the night at Lap 48.

Dylan Ault (HYAK Motorsports) led the field back to green, but this next act would be dominated by the Norse Force Racing backend alliance. On lap 54, Wilson reclaimed the lead. He shared it with Faulkingham and the other Six Karma driver Eddie Kerner until Lap 69. Kirwan was back, with help from his Deadzone alliance members Zack Novak, Malik Ray, and Michael Guest (Vegan Inferno). He moved low but Novak did not, allowing him to lead at the line, but also handing the momentum back to Wilson and the NFR line on top.

A third and final caution, on Lap 77 involving Crawford and the JR Motorsports duo of LaPradd and McCandless, set the opening round up for eNASCAR Overtime. Kirwan managed to get the lead back from Faulkingham moments earlier, but he had little to no help up front. On the restart, Kirwan did what he could to hold a front of a line, but coming to the white flag, he got squirrely. Kirwan somehow hung on, but was ultimately out of contention. Out front, pushed by a line of Norse Force, was rookie competitor Connor Yeroschak, a Nexxus eSports backend driver.

Into Turn 1, Yeroschak was shuffled out. Faulkingham led Wilson, the two tandemed together. The next two-car tango was White and Novak. As they entered Turn 3, the rest of the pack was too far behind. Wilson, with the temperature lights blinking, moved up at the exact moment he needed to, allowing him to break Faulkingham’s ankles while stopping White’s momentum. White was in the catbird seat, but suddenly he was sideways with his own spectacular save. That was all Wilson needed, as he crossed the line to take the win.

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from Race #1 at Daytona were as follows:

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Driver’s Standings after Race #1 at Daytona are as follows:

1. #77 Steven Wilson | Spire Motorsports, 40 points
2. #95 Parker White | Williams Esports, -5
3. #1 Malik Ray | Vegas Inferno, -6
4. #2 Zack Novak | Channel 199 Sim Racing, -7
5. #97 Tucker Minter | William Byron eSports, -8
6. #24 Casey Kirwan | Kansas City Pioneers, -9
7. #7 Femi Olatunbosun | Spire Motorsports, -10
8. #89 Jordy Lopez | BS+COMPETITION, -11
9. #47 Dylan Ault | HYAK Motorsports, -12
10. #29 Jimmy Mullis | Kevin Harvick Inc, -13

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

1. #77 Steven Wilson | Spire Motorsports, 40 points
2. #95 Parker White | Williams Esports, -5
3. #1 Malik Ray | Vegas Inferno, -6
4. #2 Zack Novak | Channel 199 Sim Racing, -7
5. #97 Tucker Minter | William Byron eSports, -8
6. #24 Casey Kirwan | Kansas City Pioneers, -9
7. #7 Femi Olatunbosun | Spire Motorsports, -10
8. #89 Jordy Lopez | BS+COMPETITION, -11
9. #47 Dylan Ault | HYAK Motorsports, -12
10. #29 Jimmy Mullis | Kevin Harvick Inc, -13

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Team Standings after Race #1 at Daytona are as follows:

1. Spire Motorsports (#7/#77), 70 points
2. Vegas Inferno (#1/#21), -15
3. Williams Esports (#51/#95), -17
4. Kansas City Pioneers (#24/#48), -20
5. LETARTE eSports (#36/#40), -28
   Kevin Harvick Inc. (#29/#62), -28

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Rookie Standings after Race #1 at Daytona are as follows:

1. #40 Connor Yeroschak | LETARTE eSports, 26 points
2. #66 Alexander L Russell | Kanaan Esports, -4
3. #3 Blaze Crawford | Team Dillon Esports, -14
4. #8 Blake McCandless | JR Motorsports, -16
5. #96 Christopher M. Hill | Apex Racing Team, -17
6. #50 Quentin Warman | HYAK Motorsports, -19
7. #5 Nate Stewart | Jim Beaver eSports, -25
   #19 Eddie Kerner | Six Karma, -25

Wilson leaves Daytona the points leader, the first time in his career that he’s led from the get-go. Wilson also leads the Segment 1 standings, which will mirror the total points through the fifth race of the season. Spire Motorsports, with Femi Olatunbosun finishing seventh to complement Wilson’s win, leads the Team Standings by 15 points over the newly-added Vegas Inferno.

In the rookie category, Yeroschak was the highest-finishing newcomer, hanging on for 11th after being shuffled from the top spot on the final lap. He leads Kanaan Esports’ Alexander Russell by four points heading out of Daytona Beach.

Next up for the top-level oval series is a trip to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The second round of the series is scheduled for Tuesday, February 25th. Last season, Keegan Leahy scored the final win of his career in dramatic fashion, on fuel strategy and in a photo finish with Nick Ottinger.

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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