Each eNASCAR Playoff driver’s outlook entering Round 1 at Michigan
The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoffs begin on Tuesday night at Michigan International Speedway, where 10 drivers are set to compete for their share of $500,000, and more importantly, the coveted 2024 Dale Earnhardt Jr Cup.
Tonight’s race at Michigan is complemented by visits to Texas Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway in the three races to determine who will race for the title this year. The Championship round will once again take place at Homestead-Miami Speedway. This is pretty much the same as last season, except Dover Motor Speedway has been swapped out for Texas, which rejoins the eNASCAR schedule for the first time since it served as the Championship event in 2021.
Five drivers are returning playoff competitors from last year. Not surprisingly, four of them were part of last year’s Championship 4, and six of the 10 have made it to the Championship 4 in the last two seasons. There are no rookies this year, but there are three sophomores. There are also two drivers that have been active in the series since 2012 competing for this year’s title.
Here’s what each driver had to say after locking in two weeks ago at Pocono Raceway:
#10 SEED – #25 Nick Ottinger
“We made it, by the skin of our teeth for sure,” Ottinger said. “Not how we wanted to get in, obviously, we wanted to get in with a win. I think me and Parker (White) are the only ones without a win. So, we’re a little bit down on the eight ball here.
“[Pocono] was a tough night. There’s probably going to be another three races just like that coming up, as far as just trying to battle for clean air and racing the competition.
“It means the world for our 25 team, to represent with both William Byron eSports cars in there as well. I just need to go out there and win, you know?
“Michigan is somewhere that we can go out and win at… I’m ready to go to battle.”
#9 SEED – #53 Parker White
“I wasn’t sure if I was in or not,” White said. “Then, it was kind of clear that I was ahead of Ottinger, and then Wyatt (Tinsley) ended up missing by one point, so that’s kind of insane, over the whole season, that this came down to one point.
“But yeah, I honestly don’t really know what to think right now, I’ll probably settle in more tomorrow, but just to have an insanely good regular season, just to put all the finishes I’ve had together, all the top-10s… I’m just insanely happy with this.
“What’s crazy to me is, if I win one of these next three races, no matter where I’m in points, then I’m going to be in Charlotte racing for $100,000. That’s just crazy to me.
“I’ll focus for it now, just try to win a race, and get into the Championship 4.”
#8 SEED – #41 Dylan Duval
“Yeah, it is my first playoffs. Yeah, I’m excited about it,” Duval said. “I feel like I’m going in here being looked at as kind of an underdog, which honestly I love, because I feel like we’ve had the speed the last few races to really compete and have a real chance at this thing.
“I did the math last year, I would have missed Championship 4 by a handful of points. I feel like right now I’m running better than I did last year.
“I think our cars are even better. So, I’m definitely looking forward to it. Michigan’s the one I have circled. I pretty much dominated that race last year, led the most laps, felt like I should have won it.
“I feel like that’s my real opportunity to punch my ticket [to the Championship 4] and I’m all in for it.”
#7 SEED – #54 Daniel Faulkingham
“After how everything last season went, just how miserable of a rookie year I had, to come into this season with some higher expectations… now I’ve kind of had to raise those expectations a little bit now that we’re fighting for $100,000,” Faulkingham said.
“I just have got a lot more confidence in myself and what I can do on the racetrack. I feel like I’ve been growing with every single race this year. I‘m just grateful for just the great people we’ve got around us at NFR, that put so much work into these race cars each and every week.
“I feel grateful to be a part of this team, and hopefully I can still give them just a great result. Hopefully we can go far into the playoffs, and hopefully make it around to that Championship 4. We ain’t going down without a fight. We’re going to give it our all.
“Whatever happens, happens, but I’m just very grateful.”
#6 SEED – #48 Graham Bowlin
“One step at a time,” Bowlin said. “I try to focus on every moment, instead of just the Championship 4, which is far out, but that’s the ultimate goal, I sit there and think about winning the championship. But, I try to make it as simplistic as possible.
“You can’t overthink. If you overthink, you usually just have so much anxiety in these races. I’m happy I got the first step done. Now we get a second step, and then that third step, win the championship.
“I’m excited for the challenge. I love racing at the front, because a lot of the ways you work the air, and play little mind games, we’re all looking in our mirrors now, because air matters so much.
“I’ve been racing a lot more recently, and I’ve kind of learned to enjoy the a car a little bit more.”
#5 SEED – #89 Garrett Lowe
“I’m excited to go for it again,” Lowe said.
“I’m going to try to get that first title. Hopefully things are a little bit better this year.
“Hopefully the races are not like [Pocono], and hopefully everybody has their heads screwed on straight.
“Other than that, I’m just excited to have the 89 car in the playoffs. That was the goal from the get-go.
“We got the first part done.
“Now it’s time to go make the Championship 4.”
#4 SEED – #97 Tucker Minter
“We’ve absolutely got good momentum,” Minter said. “It feels good to extend the gap for the Team Championship as well, because that got a little bit close last race after Nick (Ottinger) and I both had some problems.
“It definitely would have been better to have the bonus points, but I didn’t want to get the incident points… You’re going to have to finish top-three pretty much in every playoff race to have a shot at making it on points, and that’s even harder this year with Steven (Wilson) having such a points lead.
“A win is definitely the priority. Anything you can do to win is going to be paramount to making sure you make it to the Championship 4. If you’re not winning, you better be in the top-five or top-three. At Michigan, we were pretty strong last year…
“Hopefully we can win, and then we can take a little break for a couple weeks.”
#3 SEED – #11 Vicente Salas
“I think our game plan is going to be pretty similar to what it’s been throughout this year,” Salas said. “We’ve stayed fairly consistent, aside from the last two races.
“We’ve been consistent. We’ve qualified up front. We’ve had good speed in races. We’ve worked really, really well with teammates like Dylan Duval, Kollin Keister, all my Deadzone Racing guys.
“We’ve done a good job of setting up our races and finishing them.
“We just need to go into these next three races before the Championship 4, and put ourselves in position to win, and if not for a win, take those top-fives and top-10s as they come to keep ourselves in the hunt.”
#2 SEED – #18 Bobby Zalenski
“I’m just happy to be in it again,” Zalenski said. “I knew I had to try to win one of the road courses. It’s just my best chance, because it’s so much less random than what you saw [at Pocono].
“Even when you’re really good on the oval, like Casey Kirwan, or even Parker White, they didn’t end up with wins in the regular season.
“So, I’m just really grateful to have won, and yeah, I’m looking forward to the playoffs. I’m sure we’re going to have some crazy, late race stuff in all three of the races, but we’ll be fast and we’re going to be on our A-game.
“We’re going to be better than we were in the Regular Season, and we’re going to go try to win this thing.”
#1 SEED – #10 Steven Wilson
“I’ve got like, I think, 10 points on the guys who are in second, so that’s 10 spots on the track, which is a lot,” Wilson said.
“Those guys with one win, I’ve got 15 points on them, 15 spots, so I’ll take anything I can get.
“Obviously, it’s a little less valuable than the 80-point lead that I have right now in the Regular Season. Not that that matters anymore.
“I just have to keep finishing good, keep running well.
“I got really lucky through some of those wrecks, so just to keep running well and keep getting lucky through some of those wrecks, that’s really all it comes down to, and I hope things can keep falling my way.”
2024 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Playoff drivers historical stats in upcoming playoff races:
PREVIOUS MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY WINNERS
- 2010 (1) – Richard Towler
- 2010 (2) – Derek Wood
- 2011 – Steve Sheehan
- 2012 – Jason Karlavige
- 2013 – Ray Alfalla (1)
- 2014 – Chad J Laughton
- 2015 – Kenny Humpe
- 2016 – Ray Alfalla (2)
- 2017 – Michael Conti
- 2018 – Ryan Luza
- 2019 – Garrett Lowe (1)
- 2020 – Casey Kirwan
- 2021 – Matt Bussa
- 2023 – Garrett Lowe (2)
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.
