Vicente Salas dominates Logitech G Play 120 at Phoenix for third eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series win of 2025

Salas Advances to Championship 4 fight with Steven Wilson, Zack Novak, and Casey Kirwan

The 2025 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Championship 4 is officially set. After 121 laps around Phoenix Raceway in the Logitech G Play 120 on Tuesday night, Kanaan Esports’ Vicente Salas was nearly perfect, claiming the pole position and leading all but 14 laps enroute to his third victory of the season, and perhaps his most important one to-date. Two weeks removed from a swing of over 25 points on the last lap at Texas, Salas came into the Playoff finale with a points position in the Championship 4 still a reality. The win made it all irrelevant, as he qualifies into his first career Championship 4.

Salas will join Steven Wilson (Spire Motorsports), Zack Novak (Channel 199 Sim Racing), and the final driver in on points, Casey Kirwan (Kansas City Pioneers), at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on October 7th, to fight for the 2025 season championship. Wilson, Novak, and Kirwan all enter seeking their second-career championships. Salas, who has moonlighted on multiple occasions in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series over the last couple of seasons, will be looking to collect his first title.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP 4 IS SET!@Vicente_Salas14 will join @swilson3_, @znovak15, and @CaseyKirwan95 in the 2025 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Championship 4!@ENASCARGG | @CocaColaRacing pic.twitter.com/pxuG5xEda9

— iRacing (@iRacing) September 17, 2025

“I think this is probably the biggest win of my career on (iRacing),” Salas said post-race. His first win came in the 2021 season, where he led all 203 laps at Richmond Raceway, a perfect race and the most laps led in any eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series event in history. This one, however, means he will fight for a $100,000 prize. “This is only our third win on the year,” Salas continued. “I know we could have a lot more, but I’m glad we could come up clutch at the right time to get this one here.” This marks Vicente’s fifth-career win in the series. His next one could result in hoisting the Dale Earnhardt Jr Cup.

“Honestly, I feel like we’ve kind of been considered an underdog my whole time in this series,” Salas said. “We’ve really worked hard on the mindset and the mentality these last couple of years to get us to this point. We came up short last year, and I feel like we corrected those wrongs from the past couple of years. I think now we go in, maybe as an underdog, but realistically, I think we’re a favorite to win as we’ve been so fast at every racetrack… we’re going to go into this race really confident.”

THE EVENT

Coming into the evening, the two final spots in the Championship 4 were held by Casey Kirwan and the defending series champion, Parker White (Atlassian William Sim Racing). When qualifying came to a close, Vicente Salas topped the board, starting alongside another playoff hopeful in Jordy Lopez (BS+COMPETITION).

Almost immediately, drama filled the air in virtual Avondale, as hopefuls Bobby Zalenski (ERA eSports), Dylan Duval (Channel 199 Sim Racing), and White got caught up in an opening lap fracas that started around Zalenski and Taylor Hurst (Team Dillon Esports) exiting Turn 2. Zalenski and White would be forced to pit for damage repairs, while Duval opted to stay out and deal with the disadvantage. That would prove to be a detriment as on the ensuing restart, Duval plummeted well out of contention.

Tucker Minter (William Byron eSports) ran third behind Salas and Lopez for the first half, the trio staying close throughout. A caution around halfway set up the field for their only planned pit stop, and for the most part, the field all decided together that two tires would be the right call, plus the fuel needed to finish.

Lopez, however, would grab the lead during the pit cycle, leading the next 14 laps over three restarts. Salas managed to get back by on Lap 68, and led the entire rest of the way to claim the victory and advance to the Championship 4.

TRACK POSITION KEY

One of the key stats mentioned in the Countdown to Green was that all of the Phoenix winners came from inside the top-11, and six of the last races have all had winners start inside the top-six. Sure enough, the only two drivers to lead both started on the front row, with Lopez only leading his laps after gaining the lead through the pit road action.

Salas made the only on-track pass for the lead the entire night with just over 50 laps to go. Through multiple late race restarts, including one in eNASCAR Overtime, Salas was able to get the perfect jump each time to ensure his victory.

The drivers that got trapped in the back fought as hard as they could, but could barely make up spots under normal green flag conditions. Most of the passing happened on restarts, unsurprisingly, which kept some of the faster cars that put themselves back there, like Minter and White, trapped and unable to break into the fight for the win.

The biggest mover on the night was Hyak Motorsports’ Dylan Ault, who started 33rd and finished ninth. Ault ran about the most perfect race he could, staying incident free, picking up spots where he could, and gaining spots on the right pit strategy on that Lap 53 yellow. Garrett Lowe (BS+COMPETITION), Logan Clampitt (eRacr), and Michael Cosey Jr (ERA eSports) all had similar races, starting in the back, keeping the car straight, and ultimately finishing way better than they started.

CHAMPIONSHIP 4 CONFIRMED

Steven Wilson, Zack Novak, Vicente Salas, and Casey Kirwan all managed to claim a place in the 2025 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Championship 4. The four will fight against one another on stage at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Uptown Charlotte on October 7th, racing at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway, where the best finisher of the quartet will claim the title. Wilson, Novak, and Kirwan are all former champions, looking to become the first champions since Ray Alfalla to win multiple titles. Salas will be eyeing his first title in his first attempt. Both Salas and Novak are making their NASCAR Hall of Fame title race debuts. Kirwan qualifies for the second time in his career. Wilson will race for a fourth-straight time, a perfect record as there have only been the four times that the title fighters have raced from the Hall of Fame before.

#77 Steven Wilson | Spire Motorsports: Wilson was the first driver to punch his ticket into the Championship 4, despite an uncharacteristic round from the season wins record holder this year. At Michigan, Wilson was destined for a finish outside the top-30, which would have erased his huge advantage entering the playoffs to begin with. Instead, a late race yellow allowed him to restart up front and take advantage of the situation, claiming his seventh win on the season to advance onward. Had it not been for that win, tonight would have been a scary night for the 2023 series champion, who wound up 39th at the end of the night due to getting involved in an incident with Blake McCandless and Blaze Crawford just after halfway.

#2 Zack Novak | Channel 199 Sim Racing: The second driver to clinch a spot in this year’s Championship 4, Novak broke a 107-race winless streak at Texas Motor Speedway to not only claim his seventh career series win, but a ticket to the title dance. Novak’s opening round at Michigan was bleak, as he picked up damage early and floundered home to a 33rd place finish. At Texas, he started 31st, and the strategy for a normal race would have placed him in the bottom half of the field. A perfectly timed yellow put the 2019 series champion in the perfect spot to capitalize and claim the win. Novak will carry the momentum of that win and a fifth place effort at Phoenix into Homestead-Miami Speedway in three weeks time.

#11 Vicente Salas | Kanaan Esports: The third and final race winner with a ticket, Salas also had a tumultuous Playoff experience, going from a sure lock on points to way outside the line in the matter of a single lap at Texas. A 16-point gap wasn’t an impossible task to overcome, but why chance risking a points battle when a win jumps over any points based battles? Salas got the pole, lost the lead for a brief stint, and took it back in order to claim his third win of the season, but more importantly, the win that would earn his place in the 2025 eNASCAR title fight.

#24 Casey Kirwan | Kansas City Pioneers: The last time Kirwan won an eNASCAR event was in the 2023 season, at Darlington Raceway. Half of a season removed from his first and only title, Kirwan was poised to qualify for the Championship 4 for a second-straight season to defend his title. Kirwan didn’t make it, and the following season, he didn’t even qualify for the eNASCAR Playoffs. In his first year with the Kansas City Pioneers, the esports organization from the Midwest makes their return to the Championship 4 for the second-straight season with a new driver. Graham Bowlin came up short in the 2024 battle. Kirwan still has yet to win this year, but doesn’t need to in order to be the champion. Kirwan has the opportunity to become the first champion without a win on the season, should he finish ahead of the other three.

ELIMINATED DRIVERS

#89 Jordy Lopez | BS+COMPETITION: The last man to make the Playoff field wound up as the last man with a chance to steal a spot at the Championship 4 entering Phoenix. A mathematical must-win, Lopez put it all on the line in qualifying, placing second to Salas. Lopez chased for the lead in the opening 53 laps. When the caution flew for trouble between Michael Cosey Jr and Collin Bowden around halfway, the entire field came down to pit. Lopez wound up with the advantage, and led the field back to the green flag on the next couple of restarts. Unfortunately for Lopez, Salas was hooked up all night long, and passed back for the lead on Lap 68. Lopez just couldn’t get the restarts down for the remainder of the night, and wound up finishing third, missing the Championship 4 by 40 points.

#22 Bobby Zalenski | ERA eSports: Everything went haywire for Zalenski almost immediately at Phoenix. Coming off of some late race issues at Texas two weeks ago, Zalenski needed 13 points to point back inside the Championship 4. His night was almost immediately over as he sat backwards in the middle of the field before the end of the first lap. Zalenski would again find trouble with fill-in driver Michael Frisch, substituting for Eddie Kerner this week. Zalenski did everything in his power to gain track position, but it was too little, too late, as the best he could recover to was seventh by the end of the night. Zalenski misses out on the Championship 4 by just 16 points.

#95 Parker White | Atlassian Williams Sim Racing: The defending champion of the series, White, came into Phoenix in the third position, 14 points ahead of the cut, but only three points ahead of rival Casey Kirwan for the spot should there be a potential new winner. When the green flag dropped, White was on the outside, with Salas leading and Kirwan more than 10 spots ahead. His night took a turn on the opening lap as he was collected in the same chaos as Zalenski, as well as Dylan Duval. Playing catch up all night long, was never higher than 15th after that opening lap, ultimately finishing 16th. With Salas taking a spot for the win, it was between himself and Kirwan for the final points transfer. With Kirwan finishing fourth, White would have needed to recover to sixth. He wound up 16th instead, missing the transfer by nine points.

#199 Dylan Duval | Channel 199 Sim Racing: It’s been an up-and-down three races for the second of the two Channel 199 Sim Racing drivers in the 2025 playoff field. After a 19th at Michigan, Duval led the field to the final restart at Texas on the oldest tires in the field. He wasn’t able to hang on, and wound up fifth, 13 points back entering Phoenix. Unfortunately, his woes continued as Duval was collected in the opening lap crash, collecting left front damage. It continued to deteriorate, with the Canadian driver having issues with both eRacr competitors through the night. The further damages sustained in the conflicts resulted in a 34th place finish by the end of the night, which meant missing the Championship 4 field by 43 points.

#15 Kollin Keister | Jim Beaver eSports: After racking up enough incident points through Texas, Keister was issued a start-from-pitlane penalty at the start of the Phoenix event. With there being an immediate caution, Keister was back in the fold immediately, and continued to climb throughout the night. Keister settled in around 13th for most of the night, but being 30 points below the cut entering the night, a win would be his only shot. He marched as high as seventh with just over 10 laps to go, but his chances ended there as contact with Donovan Strauss forced Keister out of contention. With a best finish of 10th on the round at Texas two weeks ago, combined with a DNF at Michigan, a 21st by the end of the night at Phoenix meant Keister would miss out on the title fight by 47 points.

#97 Tucker Minter | William Byron eSports: From the fifth starting spot, it was clear early on that Minter had a fast piece underneath of him. The 2023 Phoenix winner ran in third from Lap 7 to Lap 53, when the caution flag flew for trouble between Michael Cosey Jr and Collin Bowden. It immediately went downhill for the driver of the #97. Not only did he opt to take four tires where the majority of the field opted for two, Minter was one of four drivers caught speeding on pit road, forcing him to restart back in 35th with just over half of the race to go. Minter could only recover to finish 11th. Due to this, only getting second at Texas, and the last lap at Michigan mishap, Minter missed the cutoff for the final spot by 18 points.

RELEGATION LINE, ROOKIE TITLE, TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP STILL TO BE DETERMINED AT HOMESTEAD

While the main focus of the finale will be on the title fight, there are still many other battles to be determined in three week’s time.

The one that affects the most drivers is the Relegation line. The 20th and final spot above relegation currently belongs to Vegas Inferno’s Malik Ray. Blaze Crawford is the first driver on the outside looking in, only four points back. With both Connor Yeroschak (Letarte Esports) and Donovan Strauss (Atlassian Williams Sim Racing) ahead of 21st by more than 4o points, they will stave off relegation this season. From 13th in the standings to 24th, any of those positions could change, and only the top-20 will potentially keep their licenses.

There will also be a Rookie of the Year fight to keep an eye on. Yeroschak leads that by 24 points over Christopher Hill (Apex Racing Team). Yeroschak can clinch with a finish of 20th or better at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Finally, there is a tight Team Championship battle to keep some focus on, with Spire Motorsports leading Channel 199 Sim Racing by only 16 points with one race to go.

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from Race #17 at Phoenix were as follows:

Playoff Standings following Race #17 at Phoenix:

1. #77 Steven Wilson | Spire Motorsports, ADVANCED VIA WIN AT MICHIGAN
2. #2 Zack Novak | Channel 199 Sim Racing, ADVANCED VIA WIN AT TEXAS
3. #11 Vicente Salas | Kanaan Esports, ADVANCED VIA WIN AT PHOENIX
4. #24 Casey Kirwan | Kansas City Pioneers, +9 (ADVANCED VIA POINTS)
   ———————————————————
5. #95 Parker White | Atlassian Williams, -9
6. #22 Bobby Zalenski | ERA eSports, -16
7. #97 Tucker Minter | William Byron eSports, -18
8. #89 Jordy Lopez | BS+COMPETITION, -40
9. #199 Dylan Duval | Channel 199 Sim Racing, -43
10. #15 Kollin Keister | Jim Beaver eSports, -47

Team Standings following Race #17 at Phoenix:

1. Spire Motorsports (#7/#77), 859 points
2. Channel 199 Sim Racing (#2/#199), -16
3. Atlassian Williams Sim Racing (#4/#95), -86
4. ERA eSports (#22, #34), -116
5. Kansas City Pioneers (#24, #48), -142

Rookie Standings following Race #17 at Phoenix:

1. #40 Connor Yeroschak | LETARTE eSports, 343 points
2. #96 Christopher M. Hill | Apex Racing Team, -24
3. #3 Blaze Crawford | Team Dillon Esports, -47
4. #50 Quentin Warman | HYAK Motorsports, -60
5. #8 Blake McCandless | JR Motorsports, -136
6. #5 Nate Stewart | Jim Beaver eSports, -177
7. #19 Eddie Kerner | Six Karma, -178
8. #66 Alexander L Russell | Kanaan Esports, -180

Relegation Line standings following Race #17 at Phoenix:

11. #40 Connor Yeroschak | Letarte Esports, +47
12. #4 Donovan Strauss | Atlassian Williams, +42
13. #12 Ryan Luza | fgrAccel, +39
14. #7 Femi Olatunbosun | Spire Motorsports, +38
15. #21 Michael Guest | Vegas Inferno, +29
16. #47 Dylan Ault | Hyak Motorsports, +25
17. #96 Christopher Hill | Apex Racing Team, +23
18. #34 Michael Cosey Jr | ERA eSports, +11
19. #14 Seth DeMerchant | fgrAccel, +10
20. #1 Malik Ray | Vegas Inferno, +4
——————————————————-
21. #3 Blaze Crawford | Team Dillon Esports, -4
22. #99 Garrett Lowe | BS+COMPETITION, -10
23. #50 Quentin Warman | Hyak Motorsports, -17
24. #48 Graham Bowlin | Kansas City Pioneers, -27

NOTE: All Drivers 25th and below cannot mathematically get enough points to break above 20th and will be relegated.

The 2025 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series schedule concludes with the 18th and final round, slated for Tuesday, October 7th, at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Tune in at 7:30 p.m. ET for the Countdown to Green. Race coverage begins at 8 p.m. ET at eNASCAR.com/live and across iRacing social media channels.

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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