Nearly eight years ago, Dylan Duval scored his maiden eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during his rookie campaign in 2016. It took longer than he would have hoped, but on Tuesday night, Duval broke back into the virtual winner’s circle after triple eNASCAR Overtime ended under caution at Talladega Superspeedway. The win not only marked Duval’s second career victory, but also comes as Nitro Circus Sim Racing’s first win as an official eNASCAR team in just their seventh event.
On the final restart, Duval lined up on the outside of the front row, alongside RFK Racing’s Collin Bowden on the bottom. As the field rounded Turn 2, as it played out in the previous three cautions, the field fell apart, triggering a race-ending caution flag. Bowden was sent spinning in the fracas, while Duval was sent up into the outside wall. William Byron eSports’ Tucker Minter and BS+COMPETITION’s Garrett Lowe both got alongside Duval as the field wrecked behind. While both Minter and Lowe passed Duval, scoring at the time of the caution determined Duval remained ahead of them both.
“Man, it’s been a long time coming,” Duval said post-race. “Last year was a huge confidence boost for me. I felt like I could have, and maybe should have, won a couple of races last year, and it just didn’t happen. I’m happy that we were able to turn it around and win tonight. I don’t know if this puts us in the top 20, but it sure helps. I feel like I called my shot this week… Well, damn right, we did it.”
The victory does place Duval above the cut line, which makes his first victory in 2,841 days currently count for a spot in the 2024 eNASCAR Playoffs. He’s only eight points ahead of another winner on the season, Spire Motorsports’ Malik Ray, in 21st. To utilize a win towards playoff contention, drivers must finish the regular season above 20th. Duval is also the sixth different winner in seven races, so should there be more than 10 winners, he’d have to be ahead of a couple of them to also take a place in this year’s fight for the title.
Duval started in the 24th position, but if there was one constant through the night at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, it didn’t matter where you ran up until the very end. Malik Ray scored his first career pole position, but by the end of the first lap, he fell to seventh. The pack was volatile, with the running order in constant flux. As a result, a single-race record number of drivers led at least one lap, a total of 24 drivers. There were even a few drivers that made their way to the front of the field, but were unable to lead the lap. Virtual chess at 200 miles per hour.
The event went caution-free for the first 58 laps, which included a round of green flag pit stops around halfway in the scheduled 70-lap contest. Once the yellow rag came out, it didn’t stop. Treacherous Turn 2 turned into the hot spot for incidents, with the deck shuffling after every demolition derby. Ahead of the fray was Joe Gibbs Racing’s Daniel Faulkingham, who led right up until the final restart. Bowden and Duval both managed to sneak by before the second-to-last caution set the field up for a final attempt.
The third and final attempt at eNASCAR Overtime was not a guarantee that the race would finish under green flag conditions. Sure enough, the field exploded one final time on the backstretch, involving Bowden and many more. Duval was barely ahead when scoring was taken for the caution, and after a lap and a half of pacing under yellow, Duval crossed the line for his first win of the year.
eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Race 7 at Talladega Superspeedway results were as follows:
Fin.
St.
No.
Name
Team
Laps
Interval
Led
Best
Pts
1
24
41
Dylan Duval
Nitro Circus Sim Racing
80
0.000
2
47.688
40
2
28
97
Tucker Minter
William Byron eSports
80
-0.145
0
47.404
35
3
26
89
Garrett Lowe
BS+COMPETITION
80
-0.456
0
47.516
34
4
27
18
Bobby Zalenski
Joe Gibbs Racing
80
-0.713
0
47.995
33
5
29
54
Daniel Faulkingham
Joe Gibbs Racing
80
-0.850
14
48.290
32
6
1
7
Malik Ray
Spire Motorsports
80
-1.415
6
48.047
31
7
5
29
Jimmy Mullis
Kevin Harvick Inc.
80
-1.608
2
47.668
30
8
36
45
Michael Guest
23XI
80
-1.834
0
47.984
29
9
4
66
Kollin Keister
Kanaan Esports
80
-2.269
1
47.947
28
10
32
11
Vicente Salas
Kanaan Esports
80
-2.900
0
47.108
27
11
37
69
Ray Alfalla
eRacr
80
-3.224
1
47.816
26
12
35
8
Kaden Honeycutt
JR Motorsports
80
-3.519
0
47.342
25
13
14
53
Parker White
Williams Esports
80
-4.112
4
48.385
24
14
18
80
Ryan Luza
M80
80
-5.062
0
48.250
23
15
17
90
Jordy Lopez
BS+COMPETITION
80
-5.310
0
48.099
22
16
19
3
Jonathon Dulaney
Team Dillon Esports
80
-6.047
1
48.046
21
17
31
12
Garrett Manes
fgrAccel eRacing
80
-6.515
1
48.188
20
18
7
6
Timothy Holmes
RFK Racing
80
-7.282
1
48.463
19
19
20
42
Tyler Garey
eRacr
80
-7.635
1
47.882
18
20
21
33
Taylor Hurst
Team Dillon Esports
80
-8.717
0
48.114
17
21
9
20
Wyatt Tinsley
QuikTrip Pioneers Gaming
80
-9.056
2
48.086
16
22
3
99
Matthew Zwack
Nitro Circus Sim Racing
80
-9.873
2
48.255
15
23
16
25
Nick Ottinger
William Byron eSports
80
-10.559
0
48.364
14
24
10
88
Briar LaPradd
JR Motorsports
80
-10.963
3
47.381
13
25
22
62
Matt Bussa
Kevin Harvick Inc.
80
-11.267
0
48.128
12
26
23
48
Graham A. Bowlin
QuikTrip Pioneers Gaming
80
-11.792
7
48.086
11
27
30
10
Steven Wilson
M80
80
-12.349
14
48.268
10
28
33
17
Collin Bowden
RFK Racing
80
-12.555
6
47.353
9
29
6
38
Michael Cosey Jr
Front Row Motorsports
80
-13.098
3
47.236
8
30
34
22
Femi Olatunbosun
OXYGEN Esports
80
-13.777
2
48.139
7
31
11
36
Quami Scott
Letarte eSports
80
-14.269
1
47.507
6
32
12
40
Dylan Ault
Letarte eSports
80
-14.660
0
48.317
5
33
8
27
Cody Byus
Pittsburgh Knights
80
-14.962
0
48.414
4
34
25
14
Seth DeMerchant
fgrAccel eRacing
79
-1L
0
48.168
3
35
39
51
Donovan Strauss
Williams Esports
77
-3L
0
48.323
2
36
15
5
Zack Novak
OXYGEN Esports
76
-4L
2
48.188
1
37
13
77
Casey Kirwan
Spire Motorsports
74
-6L
2
48.351
1
38
38
34
Darik Bourdeau
Front Row Motorsports
69
-11L
0
47.952
1
39
2
23
Keegan Leahy
23XI
63
-17L
1
48.143
1
40
40
55
Ryan Doucette
Pittsburgh Knights
57
-23L
1
48.013
1
eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Driver’s Standings through Round 7 are as follows:
Steven Wilson, 204 (2 WINS)
Vicente Salas, 198
Nick Ottinger, 194
Parker White, 183
Bobby Zalenski, 181 (1 WIN)
Tucker Minter, 177
Casey Kirwan, 177
Kaden Honeycutt, 160
Donovan Strauss, 151
Jimmy Mullis, 149
T-18. Wyatt Tinsley, 135 (1 WIN)
T-18. Dylan Duval, 135 (1 WIN)
eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Segment 2 Standings through Segment Race 3 are as follows:
Bobby Zalenski, 109
Tucker Minter, 107
Vicente Salas, 93
Parker White, 92
Steven Wilson, 86
Jordy Lopez, 83
Nick Ottinger, 78
Dylan Duval, 75
Ryan Luza, 74
Daniel Faulkingham, 70
eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Team Standings through Round 7 are as follows:
William Byron eSports (#25/#97), 371
Kanaan Esports (#11/#66), 341
Spire Motorsports (#7/#77), 338
Williams Esports (#51/#53), 334
Joe Gibbs Racing (#18/#54), 326
Talladega marked the final superspeedway-style event for 2024. From here on out, the series will visit a multitude of intermediates, such as Charlotte Motor Speedway and Darlington Raceway later this month.
M80’s Steven Wilson didn’t have the result he had hoped for, even after tying for leading the most laps at 14. Regardless, he maintains the overall points lead over Kanaan Esports’ Vicente Salas by six points. Salas, who spent most of the race lapped after serving a pit road start penalty due to a pit road infraction at Dover, made his way back to finish 10th.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bobby Zalenski wound up finishing fifth to keep his Segment 2 lead heading to Charlotte, but just barely. Minter, who is second in the segment points, is only two points behind after knocking off yet another podium finish. He was victorious at Charlotte last season, so the remaining two races there and at Darlington could be pivotal to a possible segment victory. Minter’s recent successes, along with teammate Nick Ottinger’s consistent pace, places the William Byron eSports outfit on top of the team standings halfway through the 2024 regular season.
The 40 top-rated eNASCAR drivers will return in two weeks for the eighth race of the 2024 season at Charlotte. A week after that, the series will visit Darlington to conclude the month of May, along with Segment 2.
Tune in on Tuesday, May 21st, at 7:30 p.m. ET for the Countdown to Green. Race coverage at Charlotte 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 www.enascar.com or www.iracing.com/enascar. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.