2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series | Revisiting the 2025 Championship 4 | Feature #2

It’s been four-and-a-half months since Spire Motorsports’ Steven Wilson hoisted the Dale Earnhardt Jr Trophy in the foyer of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Uptown Charlotte. Watching from the sidelines were his three Championship competitors, Kansas City Pioneers’ Casey Kirwan, Kanaan Esports’ Vicente Salas, and Channel 199 Sim Racing’s Zack Novak. In the 100-lap feature race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Wilson took the pole, and led every single lap to collect his eighth win in 18 tries, the most in a single season, and the most important one for him as it clinched his second-career title.

Kirwan finished sixth, which was second-best of the Championship 4 contingent. Salas was two spots behind, in eighth, finishing third overall in the final standings. A few more spots back, in 12th, was Novak, who would follow up his second Championship 4 appearance on the opposite end, in last of the four competing.

From the stage, the four went their separate ways once more, back home for the holidays, potentially getting set for the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season. However, unlike the last 16 seasons, this Championship Series season won’t start until May. On display currently is the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series, the amuse-bouche to when the real battle for the 2026 title truly begins, with 40 of the best in the world competing for $100,000 and the rights to hoist the next Dale Earnhardt Jr Cup.

So, what have these four been up to since that fateful day? We asked them about the last four-and-a-half months, what they’re currently up to during the Qualifying Series section of the schedule, and what they’re looking forward to when they get back on track in May.

OCTOBER 7th, 2025

Four drivers took to the stage, but only one of them would be the champion by the end of the night. Going into the evening, Wilson was the favorite, and he proved everyone right in the caution-free event at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Wilson took the pole position and led 85 of the 100 laps, only missing out on 15 of those laps due to the pit cycle and alternate strategies in play. Novak was the second-highest qualifier of the group, starting from eighth, but wound up 12th, the last of the four. Kirwan made his way up to finish in sixth from the 18th starting spot. Crucially, Salas started all the way back in 37th, and with no caution, impressively moved up to finish in eighth. Had a caution flown, the championship fight might have been a lot different looking.

Sat in the front row, just a few feet away from his Sim Seats racing rig on the Hall of Fame stage, was the Wilson clan. Gigi Wilson, Steven’s Grandmother, buried her face in her hands as the laps clicked away. Then, when the white flag flew, and the race was all but official, the elation began. Cheering, arms in the air, and from Steven himself in the rig, a few fist pumps. Jumping out of the rig as the second-ever with more than one title, Steven’s dad was first on the scene to congratulate him, as he predicted the day before.

“I’ve thought about how special that night was, getting to go back and watch the broadcast, to see my family featured and what they do while I’m up there locked in on the race,” Wilson said.

Across the hall, there were three defeated drivers, their nights not going as they’d dreamed. Kirwan, the first of the three, has been to this point twice, and now has a title and runner-up to his name. “I haven’t thought too much about it, besides trying to figure out where we all lacked, to what Steven and Norse Force Racing had setup-wise,” Kirwan explained. “My main takeaway was just being able to maximize what I had, and I felt like I executed the last run perfectly to hold second.”

Making his way from the back, Salas certainly did everything he could to be in the conversation. Missing on the qualifying lap was his main downfall, but it taught him a lot that night. “I’ve not really thought about that championship race much,” Salas said. “I gave myself one minute on the stage to be frustrated, and then it was time to come back to reality. I think I learned a lot more from that race in many different perspectives than I would have if I won. I’m grateful for the people I have in my corner and the lessons I’ve taken from that night to continue building on success in the future.”

Like Kirwan, this was Novak’s second chance at a title, his first being a night of victory back in 2019. Unfortunately, his higher starting spot than both Kirwan and Salas didn’t matter, as he wound up last of the four. Despite this, Novak’s confidence is still high as the new season sits on the horizon. “I really haven’t thought about it too much,” Novak stated. “There were things that my crew and I talked about after the race that I need to work on if we’re in that position again. Huston (Hamer), Dylan (Duval), Vicente, Casey and all the guys at Deadzone put a ton of time into the car, we just missed it a little and didn’t have the pace the Norse Force Racing guys did. It wasn’t for a lack of effort, and that’s the same mentality I’m bringing into this year. If we work hard and put the time in, it’s really up to us if we run up front or not.”

WHAT’S BEEN UP SINCE THAT NIGHT?

With everyone moving on from the championship night looking forward, it’s been a good time for these four to get recharged and ready for another chance at a title in 2026 in their own ways. Some have traveled, others have been getting in reps on the sim or planning out their racing plans during the Qualifying Series season. All four are poised to get back to the Championship 4 Finale in 2026 and take home that Dale Earnhardt Jr Cup.

For Steven, his off-season has been filled with family and a foundation for his future. “Since the Championship race, I’ve had a few things I’ve been up to,” said Wilson. “I got to go back to Iowa over the holidays and see the family, which was nice. On the racing side, I’ve been hired by Spire Motorsports to be their sim driver, which has been a great privilege. Getting to work with them through iRacing last year was a great experience and now I get to have a small part in their preparation for the season. I’d like to do more of the NASCAR iRacing Series races this year compared to the past couple years, just to stay in tune with everything driving-wise.”

Meanwhile, Vicente is locked in on being the best he can be in all facets for the start of the new year, having to balance his virtual racing expertise with his real-world racing aspirations. “Since the championship race, I’ve been really busy training and preparing for the upcoming season,” exclaimed Salas. “It’s hard to balance everything time-wise, but I’m so grateful for the opportunities ahead to do what I love. I’m not sure if I’ll be doing much racing, as I’ll be soaking in the break until everything ramps up again.”

As for Zack, he’s been using this time wisely, recharging the batteries for another run at a title in 2026. “I’ve been taking some time off of the sim to regroup ahead of this season’s Coca-Cola Championship Series,” said Novak. “I’ll be racing officials here and there, and as always, streaming them on twitch.tv/ZackNovak_. I’m hoping to get out to some races this year, but when and where is to be determined.”

Casey’s been to a few real-world races since that night, and has also competed in another iRacing World Championship, both of those things being in the world of the IMSA Sportscar Championship. “I’ve pretty much just been getting my off-season sportscar fix in,” Kirwan explained. “I competed in the IMSA Esports Global Championship series (from November to December in 2025) and went to Petit Le Mans (in October) and the Rolex 24 (in January) in real life. I’ll be racing in the NASCAR iRacing Series, and in SportsCar stuff to hold me over until the Championship Series begins.”

PLANS FOR 2026 SEASON

“I’ve been trying to keep busy with my dog, Goose, and my new job, but I do miss the competitiveness that the Coke Series brings,” says Wilson. All four of these drivers are in agreement, that the fact that the season has started, it’s very weird to not be the ones participating in the action right now.

With the Qualifying Series section of the schedule up now, each driver has varying levels of involvement with their backend teams as their teammates attempt to either qualify or re-qualify into Free Agency this Spring. Potentially the most involved right now, despite not doing any driving himself during the time, is the only non-champion on the list, that being Vicente. “I’ve ran a few laps and helped tune things for the Deadzone Racing fellas,” Salas stated. “The team has been working pretty hard for the upcoming races, so I’m excited to see how they do, and I hope they find success! I’ve been spotting for Garrison Hogan, and he’s done an incredible job so far with his top-five finish at Daytona. We’ll keep working hard to make sure the momentum stays with this group.”

Zack is also staying involved through the next few months, also working with Deadzone Racing again in 2026. “Not nearly as much this year as I have been in previous years,” Novak clarified. “I’ll still be helping the likes of Agnel Philip, Will Cooley, and Cody Harris among others with Deadzone, but not anything setup related.”

As for both Casey and Steven, they’ll get back into the swing of things later in the year. “Once we get to the NASCAR Cup Series portion of the schedule, I’ll be involved, also just to help get back in the swing of testing and things like that as well,” said Kirwan. “I’m not really involved with much of the work that goes into these Qualifying series races as of now,” Wilson added. “Once we get into the NASCAR Cup Series portion, I’ll try and help our Norse Force Racing guys out, while also preparing myself to get back into things before our season starts back up.”

Wilson, who drove the No. 77 with Spire Motorsports last season, might be the only one with a sure plan for 2026. “With Spire Motorsports hiring me, that would mean I’m locked in already with them for 2026. They’ve been great to work with this past year and I’m excited to keep representing them and all of our sponsors.” The other three drivers from last year’s Championship 4 Finale will likely have no trouble either re-signing with their teams from 2025, or signing with another team once Free Agency begins.

“I’m easygoing, and I will do everything needed of me to represent the series, team, sponsors, and everything else in a positive light, in an effort to grow this series as much as we can,” Novak, the driver of the No. 2 for Channel 199 Sim Racing in 2025, remarked. Salas, who drove the No. 11 for Kanaan Esports last year, added that he does “what it takes to win, regardless of people liking it or not,” which is truly indicative as he had the second-most wins in the 2025 season.

Meanwhile, Kirwan simply stated “I drive car” when asked what the teams should know about him entering Free Agency. Surely one of the biggest streamers on iRacing, a former champion, and the driver of the Coca-Cola car in 2025 won’t have to worry about either re-signing with the Pioneers or finding a new home next year.

Wilson will have the stigma of being the driver that everyone has to, and wants to beat to take the title from his grasp in 2026. Is he worried that he will be raced differently as the reigning champion of the series, and the first multi-time champion since Ray Alfalla? “I don’t want to speak for others, but I do think it’ll depend on the situation,” Wilson rationalized. “When I run a normal official race, there are some people who pull over, and then there are some people who put it right on my door. I think the aggressive nature that I have in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series races makes people race me hard anyway, along with the fact that track position is the No. 1 key to doing well, so nobody wants to just hand you a spot.”

Speaking of multi-time champions, for the first 16 years of the series, only Alfalla had managed to collect more than one. With Wilson grabbing his second, Novak and Kirwan now both know it can be done, but does that change anything for either of them? “It certainly gives me hope, but I wouldn’t say it changes my drive or thought process on trying to get another one,” Kirwan stated. “It’s nice to know it can be done.” For Novak, that was something he was chasing already. “It still would be an incredible honor to be one of only a few names to do it, so I’m looking forward to another opportunity to achieve that this year.”

The only one of the group that came into last year’s title bout without a title already was Salas. “In regard to racing three former champions, it didn’t put any pressure on me,” Salas affirmed. “It was fun being the outlier, no one really knew what to expect from us, and we ended up putting the best drive together of the whole field that night. I expect myself to be successful in the variables I can control, and not let myself be dragged down by the ones I can’t control. When I win, it’s normally not because of luck, it’s because I deserved it on that day. Hopefully I can make it back to the Championship 4 and finish the job I started.”

Speaking of drivers that came into the Championship 4 Finale without something, Casey was in position to win the title without a win to his name last year. “Thanks for the reminder,” Kirwan laughed. “It doesn’t weigh on me a ton, mainly because I’ve still ran really well and been in the mix. I feel like there’s just been a lot of missed opportunities for wins, from things outside of my control, especially looking back at a race like Michigan last year. We have the speed, and just need to keep executing, and it will happen.”

Novak did come into the Championship fight with a win, a win he’d been waiting for since 2019 when he won his title. “Not winning in that long was a big mental barrier for me, and I struggled to convince myself from time to time that I was good enough to be in this series in the first place,” Novak admitted. “Success in this series is a lot about confidence. Also, a lot changed for me behind the scenes in the offseason before 2025. I switched from racing on a desk for over 10 years, to racing on a rig, which is a bigger adjustment than it seems. I joined Deadzone Racing after being with LockDown Racing for close to 10 years at that point, on top of some personal life things. These were all good changes, but nonetheless, they were changes. Embracing this change has given me more confidence behind the wheel than I’ve maybe ever had.”

The gap between the first and second win for Salas was not as large, but that was a weight he was able to get off his back last season. This year, he tied for the second-most wins in the series. “The gap from the first to the second win was a pretty big drought,” Salas explained. I can’t thank Huston Hamer and everyone at Deadzone Racing enough for welcoming in myself and Dave Siltman at the end of 2023. They made the series fun for me again with the comradery and genuine intentions to succeed.

“Last year I didn’t really focus on winning a lot of races. I tried to remain grounded in building my mentality and improving every race. This change gave us more opportunities to win, and we honestly should’ve won more. That being said, I’m so grateful to have won three times and especially that race at Phoenix. I feel that with our success there in the Contender Series, the track owed us one in the Coke Series! Dave and I had been hunting that one for a few years, so I give him a lot of the credit for the speed we had that night. We went into the race knowing for certain we had the best car, not just assuming it. With our season at a do-or-die point, our motto that week was assumptions kill.”

As for the defending champion, Wilson had more wins than anyone else had ever had at that point in the year. Then he went on and added another win to that tally. “It certainly won’t be easy to beat my record,” Wilson stated. “I won’t say it’s impossible, but there’d have to be a lot of things that go someone’s way to win nine out of 13 races. I said last season, after winning Daytona, that to win them all, you have to win the first one. I’ll take it one race at a time, but I’d say being in contention to win them all is definitely possible.”

Next week, in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Feature series, we’ll chat with some of the drivers who made the 2025 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoffs, who came close to racing at the NASCAR Hall of Fame but just came up short last year. 

READ MORE

FEATURE #1: Where are the Top Drivers from the 2025 season?

For more information on the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, visit eNASCAR.com or iRacing.com/eNASCAR.
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