In a season rooted in parity, Steven Wilson may have just established himself as the championship favorite in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series.
The driver of the No. 10 Smithfield/Stewart-Haas eSports Ford captured his third checkered flag of 2022, the most of any driver, winning at the virtual Darlington Raceway on Tuesday night (Aug. 30).
“Yeah, it’s a little boost of the ego,” Wilson said. “I do have a lot of confidence this year. I’ve been pretty good at every track this season, and I was good at Bristol last year.”
Wilson’s win left one final spot available in the playoffs on points, and it was Bobby Zalenski that snagged that last position on the playoff grid with a third-place finish in his No. 18 Interstate Batteries/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Zalenski led 69 of the race’s 120 laps, the most of any driver.
“I’m actually pretty mad I didn’t win that race,” Zalenski said. “But I’m relieved that everything else went my way tonight and to be in the playoffs.”
.@bobbyzalenski lead a race-high 69 laps en route to a 3rd place finish, just enough to points his way into the @NASCAR @CocaColaRacing @iRacing Series Playoffs as the 10 seed.
Zalenski is the only driver to advance to the Playoffs without a win in 2022. pic.twitter.com/3DtM4HwlVL
— Evan Posocco🎙️ (@evanposocco) August 31, 2022
With only 10 playoff spots, someone good had to be the first driver out, and that dubious distinction went to Blake Reynolds, who came up just short of racing his way into the playoffs with a runner-up finish in his No. 15 Jim Beaver eSports Ford.
“Crazy night,” Reynolds said. “I did my best. I didn’t get the last spot on points, but congrats to Bobby [Zalenski].”
It was a tale of two Toyotas during the first half of the race. Defending series champion Keegan Leahy put his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota on the pole for the 15th time in his Coke Series career. He took advantage of the top starting spot to get a good jump on the start and lead the opening laps, with Zalenski right on his tail. Zalenski pressured Leahy and eventually passed him for the lead on lap 30.
Zalenski then pulled away from Leahy and Matt Bussa as green-flag pit stops got underway, with some teams trying an alternate pit strategy to gain track position. In the middle of that pit cycle, the first caution came out on lap 58 for an incident involving Dylan Ault in the No. 40 Chevrolet and Jimmy Mullis in the No. 46 Rise eSports/Sonoco Chevrolet.
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