2025 eNASCAR Champion’s Blog: Steven Wilson

Spire Motorsports’ Steven Wilson, now a two-time series champion, took some time after the 2025 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season to recap his record-breaking year, speak about his team swap and dynamic entering the season, discuss his mentality entering another chance at winning it all, and explain what he did after claiming his second Dale Earnhardt Jr Cup back in October.

2025 was a historic season for me, regarding what I was able to accomplish. After the heartbreaking finish to the season last year, I had one goal in mind: Get back to the top.

I knew that I had it in me to get a second championship with the success I showed in 2024, having four wins while being the championship leader most of the season.

What I didn’t know to start the year was just how many things would end up going my way. 

Wilson earned eight wins in the 2025 season, breaking the previous season high record of six wins back in the 2013 by Nick Ottinger.

Starting in 2025, I had a new beginning with Spire Motorsports, thanks to my friend and spotter David Schildhouse. I was coming off a rough situation in 2024, and I was looking for an environment that would be more supportive. I can confidently say I couldn’t have asked for any better circumstances for myself.

Spire has treated Femi (Olatunbosun) and I like a part of their racing family, and I am proud to be able to bring home a championship—not only as a driver—but the team title as well. Between going to races and media days, meeting so many great people that work for the team, and the connections with sponsor GGT Energy, the benefits have been aplenty. I am honored to be able to represent such a great group, this has been a great beginning to relationships that will last a lifetime. 

On the racetrack, my 2025 season got off to the best start possible. As noted, I was coming off the heartbreak to finish the 2024 season, and needed something good to happen quickly so I could focus forward. Right out of the gate I was able to secure the win at Daytona, and it was on from there.

That Daytona win was the most emotion I showed all season, solely because of what had happened the last time on track, and the reassurance that I would be back to fight for another title boosted my confidence right back to where it was going into that race to end 2024.

From there I went on to win three of the first four races of the season, with the fourth one being a race where I lagged out from the lead.

When you start a season that strong, you start thinking about making history, but quickly I got humbled a bit as I wouldn’t see victory lane again for the next two months. The speed, however, was there in every single race, I just needed to start executing just a little better, or, in the case of what ended up happening, which was everything sort of falling into my lap.

I won two-in-a-row at Kansas and Iowa to start off June. After that, it seemed like the luck wouldn’t end. A couple of races later at Indy, I stayed out late in the race, caught a bunch of yellows, and had the race ended under green, I was running out of gas. With the yellow ending the last overtime attempt, I ran out of fuel right after crossing the line.

The playoffs started at Michigan, and with 10 laps to go, I was running 30th, and my teammate Femi was back there with me as we made a bad strategy call… or so we thought. The yellow came out with three to go, and sent us to the front row for the ensuing restart, which I held on to win. That race singlehandedly kept me alive for a drivers title, and netted us about 70 extra points for the Team Championship.

From that point on, it was all about preparation for Homestead. 

Homestead, for me, has been a track where recently, I just have it figured out, but it wasn’t always that way. I considered it to be my worst 1.5-mile track for quite some time, but put some work in, got help from some friends on the service, and I now consider it to be my best racetrack. Going into the championship race, I had finished 1st, 2nd, and 2nd in the three races there in the Next Gen era, so along with having seven wins leading in, I was considered the heavy championship favorite.

That didn’t weigh on me really at all, considering it is just one race where you have to finish better than the three drivers you’re racing for a title, you never know how things can play out. What I was thinking about, though, was that race in 2024. There was never a point where I wasn’t in control of that championship last year, until the white flag. I drove off into turn 1 too deep and that move never shook my mind all year, especially considering my one goal this year when I talked to Justin Melillo at media day was to “make turn 1 at Homestead”.

I knew this year how that agony of defeat felt, which I think was good for me mentally. In 2024, I was on top of the world and never once thought I would lose that race, but this year I had a much better approach to the race. Endless effort from Jarrett Liebert and my teammates at NFR helped get me to this point of being a Two-Time champion. We finished 1-through-4 at Homestead, I hit the qualifying lap of my life to start on pole, and never looked back at the rest of the competition. Shoutout to the whole field for making my life easy and keeping it green through all 100 laps. 

After the race was over, the celebration got started with my family, team, and friends. I can’t thank everyone enough who supported me all season, the messages of support were all seen, and it’s an unbelievable honor to be in the position I am in.

Thank you to iRacing, NASCAR, and Coca-Cola for the chance to turn this hobby into a life-changing experience. Thank you to Spire Motorsports for the great hospitality this season. Justin and Vince, you guys are the GOATs.

Thank you GGT Energy for helping us bring the energy this season. Shoutout to Femi for being there all year. Thank you to Jarrett and NFR for the role you guys played in all of this, I could never do all of this by myself. Thank you Chick-fil-A for being the go-to lunch spot every Tuesday, I consider you to be the origin of my luck. 

Now, to finish it all off, I will say the two words that I can’t forget to mention… 

Go Hawks.

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