For the first time in 13 attempts, UNC at Charlotte’s Garrett Lowe is finally an eNASCAR College iRacing Series powered by NACE Starleague winner. Lowe had to do it on a track type he’s not normally known for winning over in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series—pack racing with nearly 40 other trucks, wide open on the high banks at Talladega Superspeedway.
On the final restart in eNASCAR Overtime, Lowe led the field back to the green with his UNC at Charlotte classmate Kealoha Hankins tucked up right behind in third. On the outside of the front row, University of Maine at Machias’ Daniel Faulkingham led the charge with two last trips around the 2.66-mile oval.
Right as they crossed the line to take the white flag, Hankins gave Lowe a huge shot. It turned the leading truck slightly sideways, but Lowe was able to correct his course. Hankins and the rest of the field behind were not so lucky. Only Lowe, Faulkingham and University of Maryland’s Elliot White escaped with a shot at victory.
On the backstretch, Faulkingham led, but Lowe backed up to White and got a run. Faulkingham did his best to block. By Turn 3, they were alongside, and by the frontstretch, Lowe was clear. The trio went three-wide, but Lowe was able to hang on over White by 0.028 seconds as Faulkingham took home third.
“Kealoha was doing a great job pushing,” Lowe said post-race. “I have class with him tomorrow, so I owe him a big handshake for the push. He did a great job… Coming to the checkered was just a matter of timing the run and being at the front when it mattered.”
Baruch College student Edward Sanchez took the pole position and led the field to the green. Sanchez led six laps sporadically through the evening, trading the top spot with drivers such as Embry-Riddle’s Austin Green, Pensacola State’s Benjamin White, and Saddleback’s John Forbes.
The first caution flew on Lap 13, and it involved Lowe and the truck in front of him, Eastern Washington’s James Scioly. Lowe would drive away unscathed, but Scioly would be faced with race altering damages after collecting others in the fracas, such as Wichita State’s Layne Graves, Oklahoma’s Mario Merenda, and Hopkinsville CC’s Nate Stewart.
After a long green flag run that saw a cycle of green flag pit stops, the field combined on Lap 38 for a near-caution that involved Eastern Shore CC’s Arron Brown. The field was fractured, with about four different packs forming as a result. The top two packs got back together, and that’s when the intensity turned up to 11.
Abraham Vela from San Jacinto College and Benjamin White were involved in an incident with 15 laps remaining to bunch the field back together. The third and final caution flew on Lap 57 when Ohio State Newark’s Matthew Morton and University of Michigan’s Matthew Zwack came together off of Turn 2. The largest wreck of the night to that point shook up the running order and gave the field one last shot in eNASCAR Overtime.
With the huge one happening past the line, after the white flag was displayed, Lowe worked his magic to get by Faulkingham and hold off Elliot White in the closing moments.
eNASCAR College iRacing Series results from Talladega Superspeedway were as follows:
Fin.
St.
No.
Name
School
Laps
Interval
Led
Best
1
28
49
Garrett Lowe
UNC at Charlotte
62
0
15
50.664
2
34
19
Elliot White
Maryland
62
-0.028
0
50.612
3
35
54
Daniel Faulkingham
Maine at Machias
62
-0.043
3
50.622
4
1
26
Edward Sanchez
Baruch College
62
-1.155
6
50.68
5
26
7
Brandon Shulenberger
Wingate
62
-1.198
0
50.843
6
3
42
Garrett Viton
Arizona State
62
-1.260
0
50.719
7
21
28
Kelton Quick
Ball State
62
-1.269
0
50.84
8
11
24
Alexander Heider
St Johns River
62
-1.383
0
50.397
9
33
37
Charles Wimbley
Guilford College
62
-2.596
0
50.607
10
22
44
Logan Clampitt
Cal State Fullerton
62
-2.902
1
50.807
11
6
11
John Forbes Jr
Saddleback
62
-3.694
4
50.712
12
8
17
Layne Graves
Wichita State
62
-8.442
0
50.354
13
16
99
Mario Merenda
Oklahoma
62
-11.246
1
50.831
14
19
2
Reece Baham
Auburn
62
-12.538
0
50.623
15
5
79
Austin Farr
Liberty University
62
-13.548
0
50.312
16
9
40
Dylan Ault
Sacramento State
62
-14.019
0
50.68
17
20
72
Kealoha Hankins
UNC at Charlotte
62
-14.120
0
50.705
18
12
13
C.L. Smith
Auburn
62
-15.065
0
50.516
19
31
9
Jeremy O. Burns
Longwood
62
-15.143
0
50.603
20
2
31
Matthew L Morton
Ohio State Newark
62
-16.936
3
49.785
21
25
21
Anthony Burroughs
St. Charles CC
62
-17.532
0
50.677
22
27
14
Aaron Mulrooney Jr
Kent State
62
-17.990
0
50.782
23
14
12
Jonathan W Evans
Western Connecticut
62
-18.415
0
50.622
24
38
75
Jose Solis Jr
Manchester CC
62
-19.465
0
50.843
25
36
18
Matthew Zwack
Michigan
62
-22.479
2
49.79
26
30
10
Arron Brown
Eastern Shore CC
62
-24.038
0
50.109
27
17
5
Abraham E Vela
San Jacinto College
62
-25.425
0
49.771
28
15
87
Austin Green
ERAU Daytona
62
-29.172
10
50.671
29
10
4
Nate S Stewart
Hopkinsville CC
62
-29.657
0
50.624
30
29
62
Landon Veleke
Auburn
62
-30.211
0
50.504
31
23
23
Chris H. Bryant
Methodist
62
-31.310
0
50.243
32
7
30
Daniel Nanney
Ball State
62
-33.027
1
50.979
33
39
70
Coleson Phelps
Iowa State
62
-46.029
0
49.976
34
18
1
Benjamin A. White
Pensacola State
61
-1 L
13
50.706
35
37
91
Colton Salek
ERAU Daytona
61
-1 L
0
50.678
36
13
86
Zach Sprouse
George Mason
61
-1 L
1
50.289
37
32
82
Kaleb Bryan
Missouri S&T
61
-1 L
0
50.364
38
24
25
Jack A Clemons
Virginia Tech
61
-1 L
0
50.398
39
4
27
James Scioly
Eastern Washington
31
-31 L
2
51.115
Through seven races and with drops factored in, Faulkingham now leads the way by six points over Lowe. Clampitt falls to third, despite his points total staying the same. Most of the drivers in the top 10 entering will drop Talladega from their point total. One driver who will use Dega towards total is runner-up White, who jumps into the top 10, now sixth with one more race left in the regular season.
eNASCAR College iRacing Series standings through Round 7 are as follows:
Daniel Faulkingham, 149
Garrett Lowe, 143
Logan Clampitt, 136
Jose Solis Jr, 122
Austin Farr, 121
Elliot White, 120
Nate S Stewart, 119
Steven Wilson, 115
John Forbes Jr, 112
Matthew L Morton, 111
The 2023-24 eNASCAR College iRacing Series concludes the regular season in April, back in the NASCAR XFINITY Series machines, with the eighth round of the season from Nashville Superspeedway. Qualifying will run from March 27th to April 9th, and the main event is scheduled for Tuesday, April 16th, 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.
