The second half to the 2023-24 eNASCAR College iRacing Series powered by NACE Starleague began with truck racing action from the Irish Hills of Michigan International Speedway on Tuesday night.
65 laps were scheduled for the top-40 collegiate level sim racers that qualified into the show, but a trio of eNASCAR Overtime attempts extended the race to 74 laps. On the final attempt, University of Maine at Machias’ Daniel Faulkingham was able to hold off a three-wide battle to the line to win his second race of the season over Sacramento State’s Dylan Ault and the defending series champion, Cal State Fullerton’s Logan Clampitt.
Clampitt led the field to the green alongside Michigan’s Matthew Zwack. Faulkingham, back in the third starting spot, quickly moved into the lead and held the top spot while positions shuffled behind. University of Iowa’s Steven Wilson worked his way up from the 16th starting spot to lead the second most laps, 20.
Last year’s event went caution-free in the Xfinity Series cars, but with the Craftsman Trucks allowing for more close proximity racing, cautions were plentiful through this year’s event, the race slowed seven times for 23 laps. At times, drivers took it three or four wide, sometimes even five, but often, those instances resulted in incidents.
As the laps wound down, the yellows flew more frequently. One late race spin setup for eNASCAR Overtime, and immediately on that first attempt, the field was frozen again for a restart incident. The second attempt got close, but Wilson wound up on the wrecker after a massive crash in the front shook up the standings. Faulkingham continued to maintain the lead through each attempt, but Clampitt got close on a few occasions.
The final attempt would see the race finish under green. Clampitt looked outside of Faulkingham while Ault looked low. Faulkingham had just enough momentum to hang on for his second win of the season. Two Michigan drivers, Sean Peleg and Zwack, rounded out the top-5.
eNASCAR College iRacing Series results from Michigan International Speedway were as follows:
Fin.
St.
No.
Name
School
Laps
Interval
Led
Best
1
3
39
Daniel Faulkingham
Maine at Machias
74
43
39.359
2
9
40
Dylan Ault
Sacramento State
74
-0.044
0
39.297
3
1
44
Logan Clampitt
Cal State Fullerton
74
-0.052
6
39.375
4
22
17
Sean Peleg
Michigan
74
-0.220
0
39.297
5
2
18
Matthew Zwack
Michigan
74
-0.333
2
39.351
6
5
77
James Scioly
Eastern Washington
74
-0.465
0
39.444
7
10
4
Nate S Stewart
Hopkinsville CC
74
-0.497
3
39.174
8
25
75
Jose Solis Jr
Manchester CC
74
-0.508
0
39.380
9
7
3
John Forbes
Saddleback
74
-0.586
0
39.436
10
12
7
Layne Graves
Wichita State
74
-0.612
0
39.238
11
28
27
Elliot White
Maryland
74
-0.620
0
39.385
12
4
31
Matthew L Morton
Ohio State Newark
74
-0.838
0
39.379
13
38
1
Benjamin A. White
Pensacola State
74
-0.843
0
39.474
14
6
87
Austin Green
ERAU Daytona
74
-1.238
0
39.524
15
21
5
Abraham E Vela
San Jacinto College
74
-1.302
0
39.228
16
37
22
Joe M Armstrong
Reynolds CC
74
-1.333
0
39.286
17
18
12
Ar Muhammad Aleef
Ball State
74
-1.443
0
39.477
18
35
13
C.L. Smith
Auburn
74
-1.502
0
39.695
19
31
24
Alexander Heider
St Johns River
74
-1.531
0
39.399
20
33
72
Jeremy O. Burns
Longwood
74
-1.591
0
39.568
21
24
14
Aaron Mulrooney Jr
Kent State
74
-1.726
0
39.352
22
34
15
Garrett Viton
Arizona State
74
-2.712
0
39.602
23
15
70
Coleson Phelps
Iowa State
74
-2.716
0
39.428
24
29
76
Jason Walat
Drexel University
74
-2.796
0
39.778
25
32
88
Blake Kinkennon
Colorado Springs
74
-4.201
0
39.518
26
20
30
Daniel Nanney
Ball State
74
-4.452
0
39.365
27
11
37
Charles Wimbley
Guilford College
74
-7.220
0
39.634
28
17
71
Douglas Newbigging
King’s College
73
-1 L
0
39.406
29
36
25
Jack A Clemons
Virginia Tech
72
-2 L
0
39.647
30
13
28
Kaleb Bryan
Missouri S&T
71
-3 L
0
39.940
31
8
99
Mario Merenda
Oklahoma
70
-4 L
0
39.596
32
16
10
Steven Wilson
University of Iowa
69
-5 L
20
39.333
33
27
34
Andy Trupiano
Detroit Mercy
68
-6 L
0
39.417
34
23
54
Arron Brown
Eastern Shore CC
65
-9 L
0
39.672
35
30
86
Zach Sprouse
George Mason
61
-13 L
0
39.553
36
14
52
Jack Coyne
Rensselaer Poly.
61
-13 L
0
39.434
37
26
00
Kealoha Hankins
UNC at Charlotte
23
-51 L
0
39.873
38
19
26
Tyler Garey
Palm Beach State
11
-63 L
0
39.887
eNASCAR College iRacing Series racing will return next month, back in the NASCAR Xfinity cars, with the sixth round of the season from Darlington Raceway. Qualifying will run from January 31st to February 13th, and the main event is scheduled for Tuesday, February 20th, 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.