University of Iowa’s Steven Wilson goes back-to-back, wins eNASCAR College iRacing Series at Watkins Glen

November 29th, 2023 by

The only road race on tap for the 2023-24 eNASCAR College iRacing Series powered by NACE Starleague season took place on Tuesday night at Watkins Glen International in upstate New York. Racing alongside the conclusion to the 2023 eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series finale at Texas, 40 of the top collegiate sim racers were qualified for a 31-lap battle around the 2.45-mile NASCAR Cup layout.

Once again, the University of Iowa’s Steven Wilson was victorious, but UNC at Charlotte’s Garrett Lowe gave fans a certified instant classic finish on the final lap as the pair traded the top spot multiple times through the final seven corners. The results will say that Wilson led every lap, wire-to-wire. The finish proved that it could have been either eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series veteran in victory lane.

Wilson took the pole position over Lowe, with Cal State Fullerton’s Logan Clampitt in third, Milwaukee Area TC’s Oumar Diallo in fourth, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Jack Coyne, sporting a firesuit on camera, starting in fifth. The opening laps saw a few casualties as the field settled in. Miami U’s Cody Reed and St. Clair College student Daniel Hunter were the first to retire after a big incident coming up the esses.

With no caution flags and enough fuel to make it the distance, it wound up a straight battle of speed with no shenanigans. At the start, Wilson and Lowe had company from Clampitt and Diallo. Coyne was holding strong in fifth, but a brush with the guardrail entering the bus stop in the middle of the event cost him a couple of spots, leaving the battle for fifth between Hopkinsville CC’s Nate Stewart and Palm Beach State’s Tyler Garey. As the leaders dealt with lapped traffic, the quartet at the front split with Wilson and Lowe leaving the rest behind. Lowe stayed in Wilson’s tire tracks, and on the final lap, he made his move.

Entering Turn 1, Lowe dove to the inside of Wilson. They made contact, followed by recovery, and Lowe was in front entering the esses. Wilson challenged on the unpreferred line, and coming to the backstretch, they were once again nose-to-tail as they raced towards the inner loop. Into the heavy braking zone, Wilson sent it slightly harder, and the two came together multiple times through the bus stop. Lowe hung on Wilson’s left rear through the outer loop, but the pass was completed exiting Turn 5. Lowe had two more shots in Turns 6 and 7, but Wilson hung on and scored the win.

eNASCAR College iRacing Series results from Watkins Glen International were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

School

Laps

Interval

Led

Best
1 1 10 Steven Wilson University of Iowa 31 0 31 1:12.044
2 2 49 Garrett Lowe UNC at Charlotte 31 -0.193 0 1:12.163
3 3 44 Logan Clampitt Cal State Fullerton 31 -7.102 0 1:12.273
4 4 23 Oumar Diallo Milwaukee Area TC 31 -7.641 0 1:12.358
5 9 26 Tyler Garey Palm Beach State 31 -14.364 0 1:12.562
6 7 4 Nate S Stewart Hopkinsville CC 31 -14.364 0 1:12.679
7 5 52 Jack Coyne Rensselaer Poly. 31 -17.377 0 1:12.704
8 11 99 Mario Merenda Oklahoma 31 -23.053 0 1:12.458
9 14 31 Matthew L Morton Ohio State Newark 31 -24.422 0 1:13.180
10 15 12 Ar Muhammad Aleef Ball State 31 -25.242 0 1:12.749
11 10 75 Jose Solis Jr Manchester CC 31 -29.051 0 1:13.299
12 13 07 Clint Halterman UNC at Charlotte 31 -32.2 0 1:13.093
13 16 59 Austin G Johnson Cal State Fresno 31 -34.587 0 1:13.205
14 19 27 Elliot White Maryland 31 -34.713 0 1:13.395
15 8 14 Isaac Beekman Auburn University 31 -42.38 0 1:13.309
16 18 34 Andy Trupiano Detroit Mercy 31 -42.642 0 1:13.390
17 21 72 Jeremy O. Burns Longwood 31 -42.985 0 1:13.732
18 6 7 James Scioly Eastern Washington 31 -43.971 0 1:12.556
19 20 5 Dyllan Clark Big Bend CC 31 -46.93 0 1:13.211
20 17 17 Sean Peleg Michigan 31 -49.166 0 1:13.300
21 27 03 Joe Burgy CC Allegheny County 31 -50.912 0 1:13.959
22 23 36 Noel Fougere St. Francis Xavier 31 -52.954 0 1:13.219
23 38 11 John Forbes Saddleback College 31 -56.443 0 1:13.807
24 32 42 Garrett Viton Arizona State 31 -57.805 0 1:13.842
25 28 48 Alexander Heider St Johns River 31 -58.525 0 1:13.972
26 33 21 Layne Graves Wichita State 31 -59.178 0 1:13.926
27 26 1 Reece Baham Auburn University 31 -59.512 0 1:13.640
28 12 69 Drew Jewah Chattahoochee TC 31 -1:00.691 0 1:13.253
29 30 61 Athena Leclerc St. Clair College 31 -1:02.267 0 1:14.116
30 34 28 Kaleb Bryan Missouri S&T 31 -1:03.184 0 1:13.781
31 25 86 Zach Sprouse George Mason 31 -1:09.593 0 1:13.660
32 29 30 Daniel Nanney Macomb CC 30 -1 L 0 1:13.775
33 31 37 Charles Wimbley Guilford College 30 -1 L 0 1:13.710
34 39 45 Jacob Fifield Onondaga CC 29 -2 L 0 1:15.108
35 24 54 Arron Brown Eastern Shore CC 26 -5 L 0 1:13.671
36 35 50 Chris Treppa Lawrence Tech 19 -12 L 0 1:13.783
37 22 24 Christian Charbonneau Dallas Baptist 18 -13 L 0 1:13.372
38 37 70 Coleson Phelps Iowa State 10 -21 L 0 1:13.902
39 36 16 Daniel Hunter St. Clair College 2 -29 L 0
40 40 25 Cody Reed Miami University 1 -30 L 0

2023-24 eNASCAR College iRacing Series points following Round 4 are as follows:

  1. Logan Clampitt, Cal State Fullerton, 135
  2. Garrett Lowe, UNC at Charlotte, 127
  3. Steven Wilson, University of Iowa, 110
  4. Matthew L Morton, Ohio State Newark, 107
  5. Jose Solis Jr, Manchester CC, 104
  6. Mario Merenda, Oklahoma, 97
  7. Tyler Garey, Palm Beach State, 93
  8. Austin Farr, Liberty University, 92
  9. Alexander Heider, St Johns River, 87
  10. Nate S Stewart, Hopkinsville CC, 83

The fall semester for the 2023-24 eNASCAR College iRacing Series season is concluded, but this year, the schedule continues into the spring and into a championship finale in 2024. Through four races, Clampitt is on top, right where he left off in the last iteration of the series as the 2023 Spring champion. Lowe sits eight points behind in second while Wilson, who did not race at Daytona, is third following his second win of the season. There will be drop weeks to account for, but those won’t start to take effect until it kicks back up in the spring.

When the series returns in January of 2024, the fifth race will utilize the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series vehicles at Michigan International Raceway. Qualifying will run from January 3rd to January 16th, and the main event is scheduled for Tuesday, January 23rd, live at 8 p.m. ET on eNASCAR.com/live and across iRacing social media channels.

The eNASCAR College iRacing Series Powered by NACE Starleague is supported by Coca-Cola, Logitech G, and DBOX. For more information on the series and how to compete, visit https://playfly.com/enascar-college-iracing-series/. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

About the Series: The eNASCAR College iRacing Series gives college students from the United States and Canada the opportunity to compete for their share of $60,000 in scholarships. Using machines from the NASCAR Xfinity Series or NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 40 drivers qualify for the event by registering here and posting their fastest lap times in a two-week Time Attack through the iRacing UI. With hundreds of colleges and universities represented in each Time Attack and only one representative per school, drivers are competing not only against the greater iRacing community, but also their own classmates, for a spot on the prestigious grid.

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