2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series | Race Preview | Round 6 at Auto Club - iRacing.com

Closing in on the halfway mark of the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series season, one name stands out above the rest—Sebastian Marin—after scoring his third Top Split win in five races across two different racing disciplines, picking up his first in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series machines last week at Homestead-Miami. However, while winning will give you a better stat sheet entering Free Agency in May, the goal is top-30 by the end of 11 races, a goal that grows tougher to make the further the season goes on.

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 opens eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series O’Reilly segment with complete domination at Homestead-Miami

While the focus will be on the top split, splits below that may also get screen time tonight and through the season. Coverage for Auto Club 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 5 AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY

Last week, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series machines were on display for the first time this season, taking over after four races in the NASCAR Craftsman Trucks began the cycle. In the first two truck races, Sebastian Marin claimed wins at Las Vegas and Phoenix, the other two Top Split wins belonging to Daniel Faulkingham at Daytona and Garrett Manes at Rockingham.

Marin continued his winning ways immediately with the new discipline. From the pole position, Marin led every single lap en route to his third win of the season, holding off Quentin Warman and Andrew Navarro to claim the victory. In Second Split, Dylan Basen had a similar journey, claiming the win but with 96 of the 100 laps led.

LAST VISIT TO AUTO CLUB IN 2021

The last time that Auto Club Speedway was on the eNASCAR menu was back in the 2022 season during the eNASCAR College iRacing Series Fall Semester, that event won by Iowa’s Steven Wilson. However, the last time that the track was on the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series schedule was in 2021.

For eight straight seasons, from 2014 to 2021, the Fontana venue was a staple on the schedule, at first a haven for the veterans to shine, becoming a site for first time glory in the final years. In 2019, Eric J. Smith claimed his first career win in the series in a photo finish over the established and future champion Keegan Leahy. The next year saw Ashton Crowder claim his maiden win after a timely caution put him in prime position to hold off Garrett Lowe.

In the final season, 2021, not a single caution would be seen on that day. The question was whether a timely caution would lead to another upset, or if it would go on as planned with stops at the one-third and two-thirds mark. Bob Bryant, a long-time racer but only in his second season of competition, found himself in a position to steal one with the cards he was dealt. Mired back in 26th to start the day, Bryant went immediately into conservation mode to make it on one pit stop. A number of drivers were also able to make it on one stop, but Bryant was the best of them, claiming his only win in the series on that day.

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 kicked off the Qualifying Series season, but only for the first four races at Daytona, Las Vegas, Rockingham, and Phoenix. Starting at the fifth race, these hopefuls graduated to the next step on the NASCAR ladder, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series cars, racing at Homestead-Miami, Fontana, Darlington, and Bristol. 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 competitors are also taking on the challenge, and some of the official teams, including eRacr, Vegas Inferno, and the Kansas City Pioneers, are fielding hopeful drivers during the opening half of the whole year.

TOP 10 STANDINGS ENTERING ROUND 6 AT AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY

TRACK FACTS: AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY

Auto Club Speedway was once Southern California’s premier motorsports facility. Built on the site of a former Kaiser Steel mill near Fontana in 1996-97 at a cost of $100 million, the track had 84,000 permanent seats and was home to a NASCAR weekend each spring up until the end of the 2023 season. As well, Auto Club Speedway had also played host to virtually every top level professional motorsports series in North America, earning the honor of hosting the world’s closed course speed record in 2000, established when Gil de Ferran qualified on the California 500 IndyCar race pole with a one lap average speed of 241.428 mph.

Constructed by the Penske Corporation as a “clone” of Michigan International Speedway, the track was originally known as California Speedway. It was later purchased by the International Speedway Corporation, which subsequently sold its naming rights to the Automobile Club of Southern California in 2008.

Auto Club Speedway no longer exists in its same state, as the venue closed for reconstruction in 2023, was mostly demolished with the land repurposed, and has sat mostly dormant since. There are potential plans to resume those reconstruction efforts one day and turn the facility into a permanent short track.

NEXT RACE: DANCE LESSONS WITH THE LADY IN BLACK

After Auto Club, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series returns for the seventh round of the season at Darlington Raceway on March 31st, the third race of the season in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series cars. Nicknamed the “Lady in Black”, Darlington Raceway in South Carolina is a venue known for its roots in NASCAR’s history, often hosting throwback races in years past. Darlington wasn’t on the 2025 schedule, but in 2024’s Championship Series season, it was Vicente Salas scoring the win.

Coverage for the racing at Darlington 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.
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