2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series | Race Preview | Round 3 at Rockingham

The 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series continues its Qualifying Series section of the schedule with the third round of the season at Rockingham Speedway on Tuesday night. Last week, over 800 drivers took part in 23 splits, the Top Split won by Sebastian Marin. NASCAR Cup Series competitor Carson Hocevar also found his way to victory lane in the second split, while Joe Armstrong brought home the win in the third split.

In the new eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season as a whole, the total schedule expands to a 24-races The first 11 races will be as a part of the newly reconfigured eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series from February to April. The remaining 13 races will be in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series, which starts in May, that part of the schedule previously being the entirety of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series.

22 iRacing members are already locked into the Free Agency round before the Championship Series begins in May. 30 more drivers will be added to that Free Agency pool by finishing within the top-30 in the final standings by the Qualifying Series section’s end. Any iRacing member with a Class A license can take on the Qualifying Series, and splits and the Strength of Field (SoF) will be determined by each entered member’s iRating. Points will be awarded throughout each split based on the SoF.

Sebastian Marin among 23 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series split winners at Las Vegas

While the focus will be on the top split, splits below that may also get screen time tonight and through the season. Coverage for Rockingham 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.

LAST RACE: 2026 ROUND 2 AT LAS VEGAS

A week ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a couple of cautions at pertinent moments shook the status quo in the Top Split. After Ray Alfalla and Sebastian Marin held control in the first half, after both made their way to pit road under green flag conditions, the caution flew, miring both drivers further down the order for the restart. Marin was able to get some back, while Alfalla struggled to return to the top half of the field.

Andrew Navarro and Daniel Faulkingham became the two in control, but as Faulkingham’s tires began to fade, Wyatt Tinsley made his presence known, moving up to second behind Navarro just before another timely caution flew with just over 10 laps to go. Marin, in an attempt to reclaim track position, opted for a two-tire pit call, which put him back in control. Through a couple of cautions and eNASCAR Overtime, Marin held on for the victory over Tinsley.

Carson Hocevar took the win in Split 2, while Split 3 was the other split on display during the show. On the final restart, Joe Armstrong was able to hold on for the victory.

LAST YEAR: 2025 CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES ROUND 5 AT ROCKINGHAM

The Rock made its debut in the top level of eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series competition in 2025, a 200-lap event, the most laps scheduled at any track during the entire season. Technically, Charlotte had more miles, at 240, but the lap count there was only 160. Nick Ottinger took the pole, but a botched start handed the lead to Dylan Ault instead as the field wrecked behind, forcing a restart right away.

Ault led for a while, but got together with Jordy Lopez at one point racing for the lead. This handed the lead over to Tucker Minter, who went on to lead 100 of the 200 laps to claim his first win of the 2025 season.

NEW SERIES FORMAT

A Qualifying Series is not a new concept, but the way these 11 races will play out are vastly different in the sense that there will be multiple different vehicles throughout.

The NASCAR Craftsman Trucks are back in Qualifying, but only for four races. Daytona, Las Vegas, Rockingham, and Phoenix will be the four truck races to kick off the season, but in the fifth race, these hopefuls will graduate to the next step on the NASCAR ladder, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series cars. At Homestead-Miami, Fontana, Darlington, and Bristol, the NORAPS car will be their chariot. The final three races will put these hopefuls into the last step, the top level machine, the NASCAR Cup Series Gen 7 for the races at Chicagoland, Michigan, and Texas.

While there is no official roster, as anyone can truly participate minus those already locked into Free Agency, names such as Ray Alfalla, Michael Cosey Jr, Graham Bowlin, and many more relegated drivers from previous eNASCAR seasons will be looking to make their way back to the top level. eNASCAR College iRacing Series competitor Adam Garza is among those taking part, lining up with the Kansas City Pioneers, one of the official teams in the series, to race for their Price Chopper seat. Bowlin and Michael P Frisch are also a part of that program and will wear Price Chopper colors. Another official team, eRacr, has their own race for the seat program, the Money Lap Challenge, open to all where the top drivers wearing their logo at the end of the season will have a chance to sign with them during Free Agency.

TOP 10 STANDINGS ENTERING ROUND 3 AT ROCKINGHAM SPEEDWAY

A unique part of the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series season is the inclusion of a drop week during the 11-race section of the season. If a driver participates in all 11 of the races, their lowest point total will be dropped from their total. If a driver misses a race at any point, they will use that missed race as their drop instead. A driver’s best 10 results, whether they ran all the races or not, will be scored for their final point total at the end of the season.

Points are calculated per split based on the Strength of Field (SoF). Higher SoF races, such as Top Split races, will yield more points to the top finishers than the other splits, but drivers in second, third, fourth, or even fifth split may still have a chance at finishing inside the top-30. An easy way to think about the drop is that after the 10th race, all of the entered drivers will have the minimum amount of points that they will have all season. If they didn’t race in one of those races, or they out-point their projected drop week, their point total will increase. If they don’t race in the 11th and final race, or they fail to out-point their previously projected drop week, that week will become the drop week instead.

As shown above, both Daniel Faulkingham and Sebastian Marin have scored the same amount of points over two races. However, if a drop were to be applied now, both of their lower finishes would be dropped, which means Faulkingham, who won a higher SoF race than Marin, would be the points leader. It also means someone like Carson Hocevar, who was busy in Daytona Beach during the opening round but won the second round in Second Split, would essentially have already utilized his drop week, and could still contend for the top-30 should he continue to pursue racing in the Qualifying Series section of the season. On the flip side, drivers like Tyler Latterell and Joe Armstrong, who scored points in Split 3 this week, can’t afford to have more than one bad week, as a drop week currently knocks them both outside of the top-10.

TRACK FACTS: ROCKINGHAM SPEEDWAY

Call it Rockingham Speedway, North Carolina Motor Speedway or just “The Rock,” Rockingham is among stock car racing’s most historic race tracks. Opened in October, 1965, Rockingham hosted two NASCAR weekends annually until 2004 when it was dropped from the schedule of NASCAR’s premier series. The venue returned for a brief NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series stint back in 2012 and 2013. In 2025, both the Trucks and what is now the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series were hosted at The Rock for points-paying events once more. Both series return again in 2026.

Opened as a flat, one-mile oval, Rockingham underwent a major overhaul in 1969 when it was reconfigured to a D-shaped, high banked track measuring just over a mile, with an infield road course added for good measure. The track surface has proven to be particularly abrasive, adding tire conservation to the track’s already daunting challenges. The Rock was repaved most recently at the end of 2022.

NEXT RACE: TRUCK SEGMENT CONCLUDES IN PHOENIX

After Rockingham, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series once again virtually travels cross-country for the fourth round of the season at Phoenix Raceway on March 3rd. The Championship Series race at Phoenix was won by Vicente Salas last season. Coverage for the racing in the virtual desert 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.

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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