2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series | Pushing past just making the Playoffs | Feature #4

March 6th, 2026 by

In the world of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series, making the eNASCAR Playoffs is a guarantee of many things. First, it means that in the three last races before the Championship Finale, those 10 Playoff Drivers have a shot to fight for the Dale Earnhardt Jr Cup. It also ensures a finish of at least 10th in the final standings, which also mathematically places that driver in the top-25 percent of the 40 best eNASCAR drivers in the world.

It’s not easy to make these eNASCAR Playoffs. There are two avenues to qualifying, the first including having more points than anyone else through the entire Regular Season, or at least more points than enough drivers without wins, or the second is to get a win, making sure to be inside the top-20 by the Regular Season end, and if there are more than 10 different winners already, to be ahead of at least one or a couple of those winners.

With Steven Wilson hogging nearly half of the wins on the 2025 season, that left more room this year for drivers to make the eNASCAR Playoffs on points. Two of those drivers included BS+COMPETITION’s Jordy Lopez and Channel 199 Sim Racing’s Dylan Duval. Jim Beaver eSports’ Kollin Keister was four points away from finishing the Regular Season inside the top-10, but thankfully, he had a win at Las Vegas from earlier in the season to utilize to fight for his first title last year.

Despite strong Regular Seasons for all three, their 2025 Playoffs did not go as well. Lopez, making his second appearance in the eNASCAR Playoffs, finished 16th at Michigan, 36th at Texas, and rebounded too late, finishing third in his last chance to make the Championship 4 Finale at Phoenix. Duval, also in his second appearance, and this one back-to-back with 2024, started off middle of the road in 19th at Michigan, rebounded to a fifth at Texas, but lost all of his steam with a 34th place result at Phoenix.

As for Keister, his title hopes came apart nearly right away with a 39th place at Michigan. He rebounded for a 10th at Texas, but only could muster a 21st at Phoenix. Keister’s season ended that night at Phoenix, unable to compete in the title race due to hitting the incident limit in the penultimate event.

There’s another thing that making the eNASCAR Playoffs ensures—for four extra races, the drivers in the eNASCAR Playoffs don’t have to worry about Relegation. Anyone outside the Playoffs still had to fight for their spot in the top-20, but these three, along with the other seven that made it last year, were guaranteed a spot in Free Agency this season. Still, the desire to do more, to prove what they’ve been working towards is worth doing, that burns brighter than ever in these three in particular, knowing they can get that far, pushing to break their own ceiling and become the next champion of the series.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series segment of the Qualifying Series schedule is officially over. Now, there are only seven races left to figure out the 30 drivers that will join the Free Agency pool in May. What have Jordy, Dylan, and Kollin been up to since their seasons ended in 2025? What have they been up to during this Qualifying Series portion of the schedule? How do they envision their 2026 Championship Series seasons to pan out? Let’s dive in!

A CHAMPIONSHIP 4 FINALE IN THEIR SIGHTS

The trio from last week’s Feature—Parker White, Tucker Minter, and Bobby Zalenski—all have had their moments on the NASCAR Hall of Fame stage, despite not making it in 2025. For Jordy, Dylan, and Kollin, they’ve never gotten that far just yet. Making the Playoffs is the first step, but now for all three of these drivers, their sights are solely set on getting there sooner than later.

“It would be a great opportunity to get there at least once,” Lopez said. “I know getting a championship is everything, but having the chance to fight is all I want. It was close to happening in 2023 and last year, just going to try to push to get into the playoffs and secure the spot in the Championship 4 Finale.”

“It would be everything,” Duval added. “That’s what everyone sets out to achieve. With our format, it’s really about getting there. I feel like if you make the Championship 4 Finale, you’ve done your job. With it being one race, winner takes all, any one of those four guys truly can win it. It just takes that one good race at the right time. There’s so much time and effort that we sink into this every single year, being able to make the Championship 4 would be so gratifying to know that it was all worth it. Being a playoff driver these past two years, it just makes me even hungrier for it. I felt like I could’ve won Michigan in 2024 and Texas in 2025, just one small thing going slightly different could’ve been the difference of me being on that stage or not. If being that close two years in a row isn’t extra motivation, I don’t know what could be.”

“Reaching the Championship 4 Finale, and getting the chance to race at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, would mean a lot to me, but winning it would mean even more,” said Keister. “I’ve been sim racing for many years, and earning the title of Series Champion is something I’ve always aimed for. We took a big step forward by making the 2025 playoffs, and that momentum has me feeling confident and excited for the upcoming season.”

In order to get there, however, it is also a matter of learning and evolving to overcome those obstacles. Like everyone I’ve spoken to already, these three also have that good headspace to know what they need to work on to make it further than they’ve ever made it.

“Our playoffs got off to a rough start at Michigan,” Keister lamented. “We got taken out early by someone I really shouldn’t have been racing that hard around, but that’s on me too. My qualifying efforts were subpar throughout the playoffs, and that didn’t help us come race time. This year, I’m putting a big emphasis on starting up front. The few races where I did qualify well made the entire night much easier, and that’s something I want to build on.”

“2025 was another confidence building year for me,” Duval deduced. “I feel like there’s people out there who write me off, and don’t consider me a true threat. At one point years ago, maybe I would let those thoughts creep into my own head. Not anymore, In the last three seasons, I’ve finished 11th, 10th and 9th, have a win (at Talladega in 2024), and had a chance at many other wins. I came within a lap and a half of winning my way into the Championship 4 Finale at Texas. I had control of that race twice in the closing laps, and ultimately I got passed late by my teammate. My key takeaway from my Playoff run last year is that I can do it, I belong here, and it very well could’ve been me with the trophy on stage in Charlotte. That confidence is something that I know will help propel me forward to bigger and better things.”

In a similar stance, but with fewer words, Lopez was critical of not having the right level of intensity on both sides of the coin in two of the races during the Playoffs last year. “I should have been more aggressive in Phoenix and should have played it safe in Texas,” Lopez scrutinized. “I felt like I was racing with too much respect in those situations.”

OFFSEASON TRAVELS, SIGHTS ON THE NEW SEASON

While the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season as a whole is four weeks old at this point, the locked into Free Agency drivers continue to wait on the sidelines until Free Agency begins in May. Usually, their seasons begin in February, or in some cases, their seasons didn’t usually end after the Championship Series season, as it continued into what was previously known as the eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series. The extra time off can be good to recharge, but these racers also want to get back into the action.

“I’ve been pretty relaxed over the off-season,” Dylan said. “With the amount of time that I’m accustomed to putting in to be competitive within this series, it’s really easy to get burned out. It’s typical for me to take some time during the off-season to just mentally check out and recharge the batteries. I’ve just been hanging out with friends, playing games, and really just doing whatever’s fun at that moment. With that being said, with the extended off-season, I need to get back into my competitive eNASCAR headspace and find ways to stay sharp in these additional months we have coming up. You will probably see me out in the wild doing official races, NASCAR iRacing Series races, and other events as preparation for the upcoming season… This year, our downtime is so long I’m feeling the need to get out there and race, just to make sure I stay sharp with my driving, decision making and overall knowledge of the sim. As a driver to end 2025, I was more confident than ever in my ability to go out there and win. I don’t want to lose that confidence as we head into 2026.”

“Since the season ended, I’ve mostly been working. I’ve got to pay the bills,” Kollin quipped. “I took a trip down to Tybee Island for my buddy’s wedding, which was a nice change of pace. I’ve just been enjoying some much‑needed time off this winter. The past few years I was competing in the Contender Series and never really got a break, so having a few months to recharge has been great. Now I’m feeling ready to get back into the swing of things. It’s a strange feeling not to be racing already. I’ve gotten so used to starting in February every year that it’s taking some time to adjust. You might see me running a few official races here and there, though. Now that the NASCAR iRacing Series season has started, I’m planning to run some of those events to get laps in with the Cup car.”

“I’ve sort of been drifting, and doing a lot of road racing,” Jordy explained. “I got to an 8k (iRating) this off-season and learned a lot for my approach on the Road Courses for the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series season. No trips yet, but I will go on vacation before the season starts. I’ve competed in special events like the iRacing Daytona 24 and the iRacing Bathurst 12 Hour, so that was fun. I’ve also been competing in the virtual drift championship on Assetto Corsa for fun and experiencing different sides of eSports.”

As for the current Qualifying Series campaign, all three are likewise involved in differing capacities, from setup building to sitting on top of the virtual box during the races with teammates hoping to make the top-30. “I’ve been working with my spotter, Ty Bass, throughout the first few weeks of the season,” Keister mentioned. “We’ve been trying out our own setups to see how we perform during the races. Our pace has been strong, but we haven’t had the best luck when it comes to avoiding incidents on the track.”

Most of Jordy’s backend teammates are already locked into the Free Agency round, so his Qualifying Series season might be one of the lightest of the group. “I’ve been helping out when I can, like driving in the pack sessions with my team,” Lopez revealed. “It’s a great thing when you have more people on your team in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series.”

Perhaps the most involved, which always seems to be the case, is Dylan Duval. “I’ve been pretty involved with the Qualifying Series effort at my team Deadzone Racing,” Duval divulged. “I’m just doing my part, trying to help guide some of our guys through it. I’ll be super involved with testing and mock races when they hit the final segment with the Cup car. In the meantime, I’m coaching-slash-crewing Nate Stewart. I was in that role for him last year when he qualified for the series the first time, and I’m doing that again. It’s been going pretty well for us, Nate’s had a great start to the season. I hope to see him back as a teammate of mine for the 2026 campaign.”

Looking forward to the new season, while there are less races, there’s still a lot to look forward to. All three of the drivers think it will be about getting a win where you can, but grabbing points as a backup along the way. While the group as a whole are looking forward to it all, these three different drivers all had three different answers to the same question regarding the upcoming tracks. “I’m looking forward to racing in Mexico,” said Jordy. “That should be a cool experience, and tricky to master.”

“I’m most looking forward to the first Championship Series race at Charlotte,” said Kollin. “It’s consistently been my strongest track on the sim, and I love the close, competitive racing it produces. On the other hand, Mexico City will be a challenge for me. Road courses aren’t my specialty, so my goal there is to run a clean race and hopefully come away with a top-20.”

“Where I’m at mentally, I’m confident I can go out there and perform on any track we go to,” said Dylan, “My strongest tracks, and favorites would be Indianapolis, Nashville and Michigan. Indianapolis has always been a favorite of mine, it’s very technical and I just really enjoy how you need to run it to make speed. Nashville, much like Indianapolis, is just fun to drive. It’s always been one I run good at, and overall enjoy. Michigan statistically is really strong for me, I felt like I’ve had a couple stolen from me there over the years. The one I look forward to the least is Daytona. Daytona has been really harsh to me, hopefully this will be the year we miss the big one.”

WHAT SETS THEM APART

If you’ve read this far into this Feature Series, I can only thank you for taking the time to read about these talents. But, what makes them unique from one another? Each driver brings their own flavor to the grid, whether it be in their style of racing, their hobbies outside the sim, or just their general personality. Statistics can only prove a driver so much. What makes Jordy Lopez, Dylan Duval, or Kollin Keister one of the current faces of this Championship?

“I do all kinds of racing and motorsports, whether it’s racing GT3s, or competing in the Virtual Drift Championship on Assetto Corsa in the off-season,” Jordy confessed. Having competed the last two seasons as a Zebra for BS+COMPETITION, a team well-known for their motorsports reach both virtually and in the real-world, it was a perfect partnership for the eNASCAR competitor who drifts in his spare time while cheering for Lewis Hamilton in Formula 1.

2026 will be Jordy’s fourth full-time campaign in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series. His rookie year, he finished in fifth. After the sophomore slump of an 18th place run in 2024, Lopez came back with a vengeance, finishing eighth in 2025. “I will be the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Champion because I feel like I’ve improved since last season as a driver. I’m more calm, more patient, and hopefully our luck will turn to something good.”

“I would want teams to know that I’m a seasoned veteran of this series, who truly has been proving that age is just a number,” Dylan stated. “With 183 starts, sixth on the all-time starts list, I’m more confident and more competitive than I’ve ever been. I’m coming off of back-to-back seasons in the playoffs, and I was a lap and a half away from being on stage in Charlotte in the Championship 4 Finale. I have a winner’s mentality, and I absolutely can win a championship in this series.”

Dylan plans to make his 184th start at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. A journeyman if there ever was one in the eNASCAR ranks, Duval has honed his craft over the last few seasons, winning a Team Championship with Stewart-Haas Racing in 2022 alongside Steven Wilson, and continuing to get progressively better year-over-year. “I will be the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series champion because I have the confidence, experience and work ethic it takes to get it done. I would argue there’s not many who put in more time preparing each week for these things. I have what it takes, and I have the team behind me at Deadzone Racing to achieve anything we set out to do. We’ve never been stronger as a team, without guys like Huston Hamer, Vicente Salas, Zack Novak and everyone else at Deadzone Racing, grinding away at this with me, none of us would be where we’re at right now. I’m grateful to be here, with such a great group around me.”

“I aim to demonstrate that I’m a collaborative team player who supports the organization, highlights team achievements through social media engagement, and represents both sponsors and the series with a consistently positive and professional attitude,” Kollin emphasized. While not as long a tenure as Duval, Kollin is one of the veterans for sure, making his debut with RFK Racing in 2020, winning in his rookie season at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the longest race of the season. Keister’s had a bit of a journeyman feel to his career as well, racing with Kanaan Esports, the Charlotte Phoenix, and eRacr in the past few seasons.

There have been a number of Contender Series triumphs and tragedies in-between his wins, but in his return to the series in 2025, along with the return of his official team, Jim Beaver eSports, Keister turned his career right back around by winning and earning a spot in his first eNASCAR Playoffs. “I will be the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Champion because I’m committed to building the fastest car, mastering every track, and preparing for every scenario. My focus, work ethic, and consistency will set me apart.”

We’re taking a week off with the Qualifying Series, but in two weeks, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Feature series will return, featuring some of the drivers who missed the playoffs in the 2025 Championship Series season, but finished on the positive side of the relegation line to maintain their place in the pool for 2026 Free Agency.

READ MORE:

FEATURE #1: Where are the Top Drivers from the 2025 season?
FEATURE #2: Revisiting the 2025 Championship 4
FEATURE #3: Former Champ 4 drivers looking to return in 2026

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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