Vicente Salas earned a spot in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series’ Championship 4 by taking the checkered flag on Tuesday at a virtual Phoenix Raceway.
It was his third win in the series’ past seven races. Salas will compete for the season title in the finale for the first time in his career.
Steven Wilson and Zack Novak had already sealed their berths in the Championship 4 by winning the previous two playoff races. The last slot went to Casey Kirwan, who had the top points total among the other seven playoff drivers.
Novak was the series champion in 2019. Kirwan took the title in 2022, and Wilson was the victor in 2023.
The title will be decided at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte on Oct. 7, where the drivers will be competing at a virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Salas, in the No. 11 Toyota, wound up 0.438 seconds ahead of the runner-up finisher, Connor Yeroschak in the No. 40 Chevrolet. Jordy Lopez came in third in the No. 89 Chevrolet. Kirwan was fourth in the No. 24 Chevrolet, and Novak rounded out the top five in the No. 2 Toyota.
“I think this is probably the biggest win of my career,” said Salas, a Temecula, Calif., resident. “This is only our third win on the year. I know we could have a lot more, but I’m glad we could come up clutch at the right time to get us one here.”
Asked about his place heading into the title-decider, Salas said, “Honestly, I feel like we’ve kind of been considered an underdog my whole time in this series.
“We’ve really worked hard on the mindset and the mentality the last couple years to get us to this point because we came up short last year and I feel like we corrected those wrongs from the past couple years. And I think now we go in, maybe as an underdog, but … realistically I feel like we’re a favorite to win.”
Kirwan, a Matthews, N.C., resident, acknowledged watching his race position in relation to Parker White, who was the driver just behind him in the point standings.
“We had a big gap on Parker,” Kirwan said. “Unfortunately for him, he got some damage early and was kind of behind the 8-ball all night. I knew he was kind of back there. …
“I was enjoying the single-file restarts because it kept us very far apart. But then once we went to double file, at any point, with how much we fan out here, there could just be (multiple) cars take each other out and he’d be right back with us.”
Kirwan added, “It’s been a really stressful last five or six races, trying to make the playoffs on points. … Thankfully it all worked out and I’ve got another shot at (a title). So the stress is over. Now we can just go and have fun and see what happens in three weeks.”
eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoff standings
Rank. Name, Points
1. Steven Wilson, 2115*
2. Casey Kirwan, 2096^
T3. Vicente Salas, 2087*
T3. Parker White, 2087
5. Zack Novak, 2081*
6. Bobby Zalenski, 2080
7. Tucker Minter, 2078
8. Jordy Lopez, 2056
9. Dylan Duval, 2053
10. Kollin Keister, 2049
*-Qualified for Championship 4 with race win
^-Qualified for Championship 4 on points
–Field Level Media
