Tucker Minter dominates in eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series’ Rockingham return

For the third-straight eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season, Tucker Minter is a winner in the top-level series.

The perennial favorite from William Byron eSports led exactly half of the 200-lap event at Rockingham Speedway to claim his fifth-career victory in 41 starts, and now all but locks into the 2025 eNASCAR Playoffs for a third-straight season as well.

It was Tucker Minter’s night at Rockingham Speedway! @TuckerMinter dominates, leading 100 of the 200 laps tonight en route to his first victory of the 2025 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season!@ENASCARGG | @CocaColaRacing pic.twitter.com/0NzhVWpjfp

— iRacing (@iRacing) April 9, 2025

Rockingham was last seen in the series in 2019 during an All-Star event on NBC Sports Network, a race won by Zack Novak. Tuesday night was the series’ first points-paying event at the North Carolinian venue, so Minter becomes the first to win a points-paying race at the track also known as The Rock.

The win was not enough, however, to boost Minter to the Segment 1 title. Second place finisher Zack Novak (Channel 199 Sim Racing), who came into the event three points down to Parker White (Atlassian Williams Sim Racing), wound up taking advantage of White’s first non-top-five finish since Pocono Raceway in the 2024 season. Three-time winner this season, Steven Wilson (Spire Motorsports), who also came into the race with a shot at the Segment victory, wound up on the wrong strategy and finished 18th, dashing his chances at an extra five bonus points towards the playoffs.

Minter joins Wilson and Kollin Keister (Jim Beaver eSports) as the only winners so far in 2025. Segment 2 begins at Talladega Superspeedway in two weeks, and only nine races remain until the 2025 eNASCAR Regular Season concludes.

THE EVENT

William Byron eSports managed to bookend the day with Nick Ottinger scoring the pole position. Ottinger’s day, unfortunately, didn’t get the start he had hoped for, as at the initial green flag, he seemed to spin the tires from the bottom of the front row.

Immediately, the first caution of the day flew, with the line behind Ottinger checking up and colliding, collecting Vicente Salas (Kanaan Esports), Ryan Luza (FGR Accel), Casey Kirwan (Kansas City Pioneers), and both Atlassian Williams drivers in Parker White and Donovan Strauss, among others.

This immediately shook up the running order and handed the lead over to Dylan Ault (HYAK Motorsports) for the ensuing restart. Being that the caution came out within one lap of a restart, the next one would be single-file, allowing Ault to establish himself the leader right away, giving him an opportunity to set the pace for the opening 57 laps.

Jordy Lopez (BS+COMPETITION) hopped up into second with Zack Novak in third and Steven Wilson fourth. The field paraded around, most drivers weary of the longer distance, understanding that tire wear and pit strategy would be a factor over the 200-lap affair.

Just after the one-quarter mark, Lopez began to make his move for the lead. Ault, despite hitting the tire wear cliff a bit sooner, was able to hang on with the grip from the extreme top, keeping Lopez at bay. A few laps later, Lopez gave it another go, but both ran out of grip, as Ault collected the wall and Lopez collected Ault’s left rear. It was a brilliant save, but Lopez fell back a few spots, and opted to pit early as a result of his slide.

Pit stops began around this time, with Christopher Hill (Apex Racing Team) striking first. Others such as Wilson, White, and Michael Cosey JR (ERA eSports) found themselves opting for the undercut.

Next to pit, on Lap 68, was the other Spire Motorsports machine of Femi Olatunbosun. After notifying the field of his intention to pit earlier in the lap, the fresh tires were three-wide behind him. On the bottom lane, Taylor Hurst (Team Dillon Esports) attempted to hang on the side of Wilson and Graham Bowlin (Kansas City Pioneers).

As Olatunbosun began to slow to make the pit commitment line, Hurst ran square into the back of the #7, bringing out the second caution of the night,

This trapped many hopefuls, such as Lopez and Wilson, forcing them into taking a wave around and running the next stint on older tires. This also trapped Cosey Jr and White two laps off the pace, which meant they would be fighting the next part of the race on older tires and off of the lead lap. As it turned out, this would be the last caution of the day, and the race would run nearly 130 laps green until the end.

Minter led the field to the green, but a few laps into the run, Collin Bowden (RFK Racing) showed up to the party. Bowden led for 23 circuits before the tires fell off and back into the favor of Minter. The strategies began to align from there.

Many of those who had to take the wave around opted to once again undercut, hoping for a full cycle and then an opportune caution later in the day. That caution did not come, and drivers like Wilson were forced to run the remainder of the way on the oldest tires.

Minter was able to pit comfortably many laps later, which allowed him to zoom past Wilson before the cycle even completed. Novak managed to jump Bowden for the second spot, but could not keep up with the pace from Minter, who went on to take the victory, ending Wilson’s winning streak. Bowden maintained to get his best finish of the season, in third. Ault, who dominated early, fell back to finish eighth.

“It’s just huge to be able to get a win,” Minter said post-race. “The relief, for the rest of the season, to know you’re in the playoffs and not have to worry about points as much, to be able to take a little more risk, that’s going to be huge.”

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from Race #5 at Rockingham were as follows:

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Driver’s Standings after Race #5 at Rockingham are as follows:

1. #77 Steven Wilson | Spire Motorsports, 3 WINS
2. #97 Tucker Minter | William Byron eSports, 1 WIN
3. #15 Kollin Keister | Jim Beaver eSports, 1 WIN
4. #2 Zack Novak | Channel 199 Sim Racing, 170 points
5. #47 Dylan Ault | HYAK Motorsports, 141 points
6. #95 Parker White | Atlassian Williams, 140 points
7. #7 Femi Olatunbosun | Spire Motorsports, 128 points
8. #11 Vicente Salas | Kanaan Esports, 127 points
9. #1 Malik Ray | Vegas Inferno, 119 points
10. #24 Casey Kirwan | Kansas City Pioneers, 105 points

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series SEGMENT 1 Final Standings after Race #5 at Rockingham are as follows:

1. #2 Zack Novak | Channel 199 Sim Racing, 170 points
2. #97 Tucker Minter | William Byron eSports, -7
3. #77 Steven Wilson | Spire Motorsports, -18
4. #47 Dylan Ault | HYAK Motorsports, -29
5. #95 Parker White | Atlassian Williams, -30
6. #7 Femi Olatunbosun | Spire Motorsports, -42
7. #11 Vicente Salas | Kanaan Esports, -43
8. #15 Kollin Keister | Jim Beaver eSports, -51
9. #1 Malik Ray | Vegas Inferno, -51
10. #24 Casey Kirwan | Kansas City Pioneers, -65

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Team Standings after Race #5 at Rockingham are as follows:

1. Spire Motorsports (#7/#77), 280 points
2. Channel 199 Sim Racing (#2/#199), -9
3. Atlassian Williams (#4/#95), -46
4. William Byron eSports (#25/#97), -56
5. Vegas Inferno (#1/#21), -73

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Rookie Standings after Race #5 at Rockingham are as follows:

1. #3 Blaze Crawford | Team Dillon Esports, 94 points
2. #40 Connor Yeroschak | LETARTE eSports, -2
3. #8 Blake McCandless | JR Motorsports, -11
4. #66 Alexander L Russell | Kanaan Esports, -28
5. #50 Quentin Warman | HYAK Motorsports, -30
6. #96 Christopher M. Hill | Apex Racing Team, -31
7. #5 Nate Stewart | Jim Beaver eSports, -50
8. #19 Eddie Kerner | Six Karma, -55

Zack Novak claims the Segment 1 title and earns five points towards the 2025 eNASCAR Playoffs. Wilson continues to lead that Playoff Bracket with three wins over Kollin Keister and Tucker Minter, both at one apiece. Parker White falls from first in the Segment down to fifth after finishing 35th, his first finish outside the top-five since Pocono in 2024.

Spire Motorsports does hold on to the Team Championship for the moment, now only nine points ahead of Channel 199 Sim Racing with Novak and Dylan Duval, the latter of which finished seventh. Atlassian Williams only scored a collective three points as Donovan Strauss was the only driver to not make it to the end of the race, and falls to third, 46 points back.

The 2025 Rookie of the Year battle tightened up with Connor Yeroschak (Letarte Esports) scoring his first-career top-10 finish. Yeroschak sits only two points behind Blaze Crawford (Team Dillon Esports) after five rounds. The early favorite, Quentin Warman (HYAK Motorsports), had another rough outing and falls to fifth. He’s usurped by both Blake McCandless (JR Motorsports), who finished his career-best of 11th, and Alexander Russell (Kanaan Esports) who was the last car on the lead lap, in 24th.

In two weeks, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will be back in action with another superspeedway on the menu as the 40-best eNASCAR competitors head to Talladega Superspeedway. Last season, it was Dylan Duval who scored the victory at the 2.66-mile oval.

The sixth round on the calendar is scheduled for Tuesday, April 22nd. 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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