2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series | Preview | Race 11 at Texas Motor Speedway
September 15th, 2026 by Justin Melillo
There are only three stops left on the road to $500,000. Last year’s champion, Steven Wilson, has his seat at the Championship 4 finale. Nine drivers are still fighting for those final three tickets to Uptown Charlotte. Next up for the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series Playoffs is a trip to Texas Motor Speedway for the 11th round of the 2026 season, the second race in the 2026 postseason.
Two of the other Championship 4 competitors from last year find themselves on the backfoot leaving Michigan, as both Casey Kirwan and Vicente Salas near must-win territory to make it back to the NASCAR Hall of fame. Same goes for the 2024 series champion, Parker White, and a 2023 Championship 4 Finale competitor, Garrett Lowe. Tucker Minter and the rookie, Shawn Conklin, are right outside the cut, but Bobby Zalenski, Connor Yeroschak, and Wyatt Tinsley are the trio holding the keys to a potential Dale Earnhardt Jr Cup run next month.
Coverage for the 11th round of the Championship Series season begins at 8 p.m. ET at eNASCAR.com/live and across iRacing social media channels. Tune in 15 minutes earlier to catch the Countdown to Green at 7:45 p.m. ET.
PREVIOUS RACE: STEVEN WILSON REMINDS THE FIELD WHY HE’S THE DEFENDING CHAMPION
For the second-straight season, Steven Wilson’s task of qualifying for the eNASCAR Championship 4 Finale ended in his first try, winning the opening round of the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series Playoffs at Michigan once more. Last year, it was more about the timing of pit stops and cautions that allowed the eventual champion to punch his ticket. This year, it was about his dominance and ability to hold on to the lead despite adversity surrounding him.
Wilson had the oldest tires in the field in the second half, and at the end as well. Track position was most important, and even though he had to fend off both Kollin Keister and Connor Yeroschak on fresher tires, Wilson still managed to grab the lead back and take home the win, his third of the season, and the one that locks him into another trip to North Carolina in October.
LAST YEAR: ZACK NOVAK BREAKS WINLESS STREAK, BREAKS INTO CHAMPIONSHIP 4 FINALE
Following a standout Regular Season, Zack Novak’s 2025 eNASCAR Playoffs did not start the way he had hoped, finding issues at Michigan that left him in a precarious spot with just two races left in the postseason before the Championship 4 Finale. At Texas, Novak managed to do something he hadn’t done since his title victory in 2019—win an eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series event. Novak had to fight against his teammate at the time, Dylan Duval, and hold off Steven Wilson, Tucker Minter, and Parker White to do so.
The win elevated him into a lock for the Championship 4 Finale, where he would finish in fourth of the four competitors in the final race at Homestead-Miami. This year, Novak wasn’t able to make the Playoffs, but will be fighting to defend his win and confirm his place in the 2027 Free Agency pool by being the “best of the rest” in the fight for 11th in the final standings.
PLAYOFF STANDINGS ENTERING TEXAS
| POS | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | POINTS | + / – | WINS | POLES | TOP 5’S | TOP 10’S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 77 | Steven Wilson | Spire Motorsports | 2055 | Adv. | 3 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| 2 | 22 | Bobby Zalenski | ERA eSports Team | 2047 | +21 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| 3 | 40 | Connor Yeroschak | Letarte eSports | 2034 | +8 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 4 | 20 | Wyatt Tinsley | Kansas City Pioneers | 2033 | +7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| —————————————————————CHAMPIONSHIP CUTOFF————————————————————— | |||||||||
| 5 | 17 | Shawn Conklin [R] | RFK Racing | 2026 | -7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | 97 | Tucker Minter | William Byron eSports | 2025 | -8 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| T-7 | 99 | Garrett Lowe | BS+COMPETITION | 2019 | -14 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| T-7 | 24 | Casey Kirwan | Kansas City Pioneers | 2019 | -14 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | 95 | Parker White | Williams F1 Team Gaming | 2016 | -17 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 10 | 11 | Vicente Salas | Kanaan Esports | 2013 | -20 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
TOP-20 RELEGATION WATCH ENTERING TEXAS
| POS | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | POINTS | + / – | WINS | POLES | TOP 5’S | TOP 10’S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 8 | Zack Novak | JR Motorsports | 235 | +53 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 12 | 50 | Quentin Warman | Hyak Motorsports | 216 | +34 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 13 | 25 | Christopher Hill | William Byron eSports | 209 | +27 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 14 | 7 | Femi Olatunbosun | Spire Motorsports | 207 | +25 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 15 | 4 | Donovan Strauss | Williams F1 Team Gaming | 206 | +24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 | 55 | Daniel Faulkingham | Rick Ware Racing | 196 | +14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 17 | 199 | Dylan Duval | Channel 199 Sim Racing | 190 | +8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| T-18 | 14 | Seth DeMerchant | fgrAccel eRacing | 186 | +4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| T-18 | 89 | Jordy Lopez | BS+COMPETITION | 186 | +4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| T-18 | 35 | Matthew Morton [R] | TC Esports | 186 | +4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| —————————————————————RELEGATION CUTOFF————————————————————— | |||||||||
| 21 | 66 | Sebastian Marin [R] | Kanaan Esports | 182 | -4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 22 | 3 | Blaze Crawford | Team Dillon Esports | 160 | -26 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 23 | 51 | Garrett Manes | Rick Ware Racing | 156 | -30 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 24 | 34 | Michael Cosey Jr | ERA eSports Team | 151 | -35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | 36 | Thomas Lloyd [R] | Letarte eSports | 147 | -39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 26 | 33 | Kenny Brady [R] | Team Dillon Esports | 144 | -42 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 27 | 86 | Blake Reynolds | Channel 199 Sim Racing | 141 | -45 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 28 | 88 | Malik Ray | JR Motorsports | 135 | -51 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 29 | 98 | Cody Byus | Apex Racing Team | 128 | -58 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 30 | 73 | Jake Nichols | TC Esports | 125 | -61 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
The season isn’t quite over for everyone else outside the 2026 Playoff field. For the remaining 30 drivers, their goal over the next four races is to be 20th or better by the season’s end. Zack Novak is the only driver that has more than a race’s worth amount of points above that 20th place relegation line, and is sitting in a great spot. The heat is on for everyone from 22nd on back, as Blaze Crawford is more than half a race back from the cut line, and more drivers down the order, like Malik Ray in 28th, have more than a race to make up with just three races to go.
TEAM STANDINGS ENTERING ROUND NO. 11 AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
| POS | NOS. | TEAM | POINTS | + / – | WINS | POLES | TOP 5’S | TOP 10’S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | 77 | Spire Motorsports | 520 | Ldr. | 3 | 0 | 9 | 10 |
| 2 | 25 | 97 | William Byron eSports | 486 | -34 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 9 |
| 3 | 20 | 24 | Kansas City Pioneers | 473 | -47 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| 4 | 4 | 95 | Williams F1 Team Gaming | 463 | -57 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 5 | 11 | 66 | Kanaan Esports | 419 | -101 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| 6 | 36 | 40 | Letarte eSports | 413 | -107 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| 7 | 22 | 34 | ERA eSports Team | 387 | -133 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 8 | 6 | 17 | RFK Racing | 384 | -136 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 9 | 89 | 99 | BS+COMPETITION | 378 | -142 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 10 | 8 | 88 | JR Motorsports | 370 | -150 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
ROOKIE STANDINGS ENTERING ROUND NO. 11 AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
| POS | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | POINTS | + / – | WINS | POLES | TOP 5’S | TOP 10’S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 | Shawn Conklin | RFK Racing | 260 | Ldr. | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | 35 | Matthew Morton | TC Esports | 186 | -74 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 66 | Sebastian Marin | Kanaan Esports | 182 | -78 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | 36 | Thomas Lloyd | Letarte eSports | 147 | -113 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | 33 | Kenny Brady | Team Dillon Esports | 144 | -116 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | 6 | Dylan Basen | RFK Racing | 124 | -136 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 69 | Seth Noell | eRacr | 118 | -142 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 01 | Tommy Gossett | Vegas Inferno | 93 | -167 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 42 | Logan Helton | eRacr | 56 | -204 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY TRACK FACTS
Everything is bigger in Texas – and that includes race tracks. The 1.5-mile oval of Texas Motor Speedway is home to everything from NASCAR’s top three classes and the open-wheelers of the IndyCar Series to Legends Cars.
Located on the north side of Fort Worth, the construction of Texas Motor Speedway began in spring of 1995 and required the movement of more than four million cubic yards of earth before it was completed the following year. The oval originally featured unique dual-angle banking and its first major race, a NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event in April, 1997, was won by Mark Martin. Jeff Burton captured the first NASCAR Cup Series race the following day, in front of a sell-out crowd of over 200,000. Two months later, Kenny Irwin won the first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race held at TMS. The track has been good to Dale Earnhardt, Jr.; he won his first ever NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race there in 1998, and then two years later, won his first NASCAR Cup Series race. Shortly after Earnhardt’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win, the oval was reconfigured, eliminating the eight-degree section of the dual-angle banking.
The oval originally featured unique dual-angle banking, but was reconfigured in the early 2000s, eliminating the eight-degree section of the dual-angle banking. It was repaved again in 2017, this time where Turns 1 and 2 were completely reprofiled, going from 24 degrees of banking and 60 feet of track width to 20 degrees of banking and 80 feet of racing surface. Texas hosts NASCAR events, and used to host INDYCAR racing up until 2023.
NEXT RACE: PLAYOFF SEASON CONCLUDES AT KANSAS
Following Texas, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series will race next at Kansas Speedway for the third and final round of the 2026 eNASCAR Playoffs. Last year, Steven Wilson claimed victory, but the race did not exist in the eNASCAR Playoffs and was just another win to his record-breaking win total on the season. This year, it will determine who races for $100,000 and the Dale Earnhardt Jr Cup.
The action from Kansas starts on September 22nd with the Countdown to Green pre-race show at 7:45 p.m. ET.
For more information on the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, visit eNASCAR.com or iRacing.com/eNASCAR.
For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit iRacing.com.
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