Top 30 drivers set following eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series finale at Texas; Scott claims final Top Split win

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series concluded on Tuesday night with some last-minute theatrics defining the outcome of the final standings.

Similar to the race two weeks ago at Chicagoland Speedway, the field was split on strategy, and once again, the strategy to save and stretch the fuel wound up the winning move for Quami Scott. In the closing laps, Scott managed to eke by Garrett Manes for the top spot to take the win. Scoring his second victory of the season, however, was not enough to vault the former Championship Series competitor back into the Free Agency pool, as Scott wound up finishing 36th following the drop, 90 points shy of the cut line at 30th.

Your @CocaColaRacing Move of the Race! pic.twitter.com/ZnRfCSp23K

— NASCAR Gaming and Esports (@ENASCARGG) April 29, 2026

For most at the top of those not yet mathematically locked, just showing up and earning points was more than enough to keep them in the top-30 following the Sim Racing Expo 150 at Texas Motor Speedway. 28 of the 30 drivers that entered above the cut stayed there following the final 10 checkered flags flew among the 10 splits. The two that were not so fortunate were Jacob Wilkerson, who had connection issues early and wound up finishing 31st in Top Split. The other hopeful to fall out was Ethan Eckert, who ran one of the most impressive campaigns down in the fourth split. In the final race, however, a damaged racecar led to an 18th place finish.

The two below the cut to move in included one of the Second Split hopefuls, and another former eNASCAR Championship Series driver, Ryan Doucette, who won earlier in the season at Bristol. Doucette was 31st coming into the night, and a seventh place effort at Texas was more than enough to vault him up to 23rd in the final standings.

As for the final driver in, Michael Frisch entered the final 150 points below the cut. Not only did he have to pass the drivers that fell out of the top-30, but he also had to leap frog those closer to the cut line entering, including Nick Olsen, Adam Garza, Daniel Nanney, and Aaron Lee. Olsen, who raced Second Split, had an incident end his chances early in the going. Garza and Nanney were in the Top Split with Frisch, the latter getting caught up in an incident as well early on. Garza’s strategy didn’t pan out, as he finished in 17th, which meant a good finish for Frisch could mean a ticket to the signing round.

Down in Third Split, Aaron Lee was doing everything he could to get enough points. With the way the points system works, a second in Top Split is worth almost 100 points more than a second in Third Split. Lee wound up second and earned 325 points. At the same time, Frisch was flirting with a similar amount of points for a potential top-10 run. On the final lap in Top Split, Frisch entered eighth, fell to ninth, but ultimately finished seventh, scoring 346 points. That was two points more than Lee scored throughout the entire season, factoring in the drop week, and was the difference between making the cut and missing out.

With the top-30 determined, pending official review, the now-eligible drivers will be invited to partake in the eNASCAR Free Agency period from May 11th to May 13th along with the top-20 from the 2025 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series standings as well as two of the best from the eNASCAR College iRacing Series. 40 of the 52 eligible Free Agents will sign during that time, and then the new eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series season starts on May 19th with the Coca-Cola 160 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Some of the official teams also ran contests during the Qualifying Series season to potentially sign new drivers for the Championship Series season. The Money Lap Challenge by the eRacr team saw some hopefuls carry The Money Lap branding throughout the season, and it was Matthew Morton and Wyatt Tinsley placing in the top-two spots on that challenge. eRacr is one of the many returning teams from the 2025 Championship Series season. A full list of teams will go out closer to the start of Free Agency,

TOP SPLIT: A SECOND FUEL MILEAGE WIN FOR SCOTT NOT ENOUGH TO BREAK INTO TOP 30

For one last go in the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series season, three-time winner on the year, Sebastian Marin, led the field to green in the Top Split. To his outside was 4-Time eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series champion, Ray Alfalla. Alfalla, making his final Coke Series start of the year, could not mathematically break into the top-30 any longer, so the most-decorated driver in series history was here for bragging rights one more time.

On the start, Alfalla gave Marin the business, and forced his way up into the top spot. 4-Time led the way for the opening 13 laps, but Marin took it back on Lap 14, but not without one last shot from the champion. In a way, although a bit aggressive, the moment felt like a symbolic passing of the torch, for Alfalla to let the most decorated driver of the Qualifying Series so far get a glimpse of what challenges he might face should he make the 40-man roster.

Marin led just four laps, however, before Matt Bussa made his final case to make the top-30. Sitting 238 points below the cut, Bussa would need everything to go right, but it would ultimately start with a Top Split victory, which he was crushing up until the first and only caution on Lap 25.

The entire field came down pit road, with Marin reclaiming the lead at pit exit. On the restart, it was Marin back in control, but a secondary strategy was beginning to form towards the back of the field. From about 19th on back, starting with Seth Noell, a pack of about a dozen drivers began to lift and coast in both corner entries. Some further up the running order, such as Garrett Manes, Daniel Faulkingham, and Adam Garza, also started to back off their pace, and about half the field was now in save-mode for the remainder of the event.

As Bussa, Marin, Quentin Warman, and the rest of the front runners came down for service, the field eventually cycled to have Manes at the top of the boards at Lap 85, with Andrew Navarro second and Quami Scott in third. Somehow, Scott managed to save the perfect amount of fuel and tire, and set his sights on the checkered flag. With 10 laps to go, Scott moved into second. With three-to-go, Scott took the lead. As they passed the line with Scott as the winner, his car turned off, just having enough to make it to the end but not enough to do a burnout this time.

Manes wound up second and Navarro came home in third. Warman wound up the best of those who came in for service, finishing in eighth. Bussa wound up 18th at the end of the night, while Marin would collect another pit road speeding penalty and finish in 30th. The win was not enough, however, for Scott to break into the top-30. Entering the night, his gap was 320 points to 30th, and unfortunately, there was still another 90 missing for the former Championship Series competitor to make another Free Agency run.

AROUND THE OTHER SPLITS

Second Split was unfortunately more on the backburner on Tuesday night as the compelling Top Split stole the show. With only two cautions, the races nearly finished around the same time. Ryan Doucette led the field to the green and led the first half of the race plus three laps into the second half before handing the lead to Kenny Brady. A caution on Lap 42 brought the field down pit road for their only needed stop, and while Doucette remained the leader on exit, Brady now had better track position on this restart than the original start of the race.

The second caution flew just around halfway, stacking the field up for what would be the final restart. Doucette once again managed to lead, but on Lap 54, Brady took control. Up until the final 10 laps, Brady looked to be the best on the night, but those Nexxus drivers had the long race pace advantage. Patrick Moose took control on Lap 91, but then his teammate, John Hall, took over on Lap 92. Brady ultimately slipped back to finish in fourth, which was more than enough to cement him in the top-30 in points.

Between Hall, the first-time winner, and Moose, who finished third ahead of Brady, was Jose Solis Jr, also sealing his top-30 berth as a result. Both Hall and Moose, although competitive all season, did not have the points at the end of the season to transfer to Free Agency. Mitchell Hunt, who finished in fifth, did have the points, as did Doucette in sixth and Blake Giglio, former World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series competitor, who finished in seventh. Abraham Vela, who entered the night on the bubble, finished in 10th and vaulted to 26th in the final standings.

When the other splits had finished and the results were in, it was determined that the top-30 drivers at the end of the season all competed in either the Top Split or the Second Split in the final race of the season. Just on the outside was Aaron Lee in Third Split and the only Fourth Split hopeful, Ethan Eckert, the pair finishing 31st and 32nd in the final standings, respectively. Ryan Andrew won his fourth race of the season in Third Split on Tuesday night, but even that wasn’t enough to overcome the gap to the cut line.

TOP POINTS SCORERS IN RACE NO. 11 AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

UNOFFICIAL DRIVERS STANDINGS FOLLOWING RACE NO. 11 AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

*Standings include Drop Week

NEXT UP: FREE AGENCY

Of the 52 drivers entering Free Agency, 17 of them would be eligible for Rookie status. Some drivers, such as Morton and Frisch, have made starts in previous seasons, but only as Fill-In Drivers and not as Championship Series competitors. This includes 16 drivers from the Qualifying Series top-30 as well as Mario Merenda, the University of Oklahoma driver that earned his place in Free Agency through the 2024-25 eNASCAR College iRacing Series results.

Of the 30 from the Qualifying Series, only eight drivers were on the 2025 Championship Series roster—Quentin Warman, Michael Cosey Jr, Cody Byus, Nate Stewart, Daniel Faulkingham, Eddie Kerner, Garrett Lowe, and Timothy Holmes. Another six drivers—Garrett Manes, Jake Nichols, Wyatt Tinsley, Mitchell Hunt, Ryan Doucette, and Blake Reynolds—all have a shot to return to the Championship Series once again, as does the other College driver transfer, the University of Michigan’s Matthew Zwack, who was in the series in 2024.

The potential rookie candidates include Andrew Navarro, Matthew Morton (2025 Fill-In), Sebastian Marin, Dylan Basen, Joe Armstrong, Jose Solis Jr, Seth Noell, Logan Helton, Thomas Lloyd, Kenny Brady, Shawn Conklin, Jayden Hopp, Blake Giglio, Abraham Vela, Tommy Gossett, and Michael Frisch (2024 & 2025 Fill-In).

The 20 drivers that will return from the 2025 Championship Series include Steven Wilson, Casey Kirwan, Vicente Salas, Zack Novak, Parker White, Tucker Minter, Bobby Zalenski, Jordy Lopez, Dylan Duval, Kollin Keister, Donovan Strauss, Connor Yeroschak, Femi Olatunbosun, Ryan Luza, Dylan Ault, Michael Guest, Christopher Hill, Seth DeMerchant, Blaze Crawford, and Malik Ray. Some of those drivers are officially re-signed, by the rules, with their 2025 team.

Those announced back with their teams already include Wilson (Spire Motorsports), Salas (Kanaan Esports), Kirwan (Kansas City Pioneers), Zalenski (ERA eSports Team), Yeroschak (Letarte Esports), and Crawford (Team Dillon Esports). There may be some other announcements before then, such as Lowe returning to the team he drives for in real-world competition, BS+COMPETITION, but the other drivers in the pool of 52 will have their shot at the remaining open seats between May 11th and 13th during the Free Agency period.

More details on Free Agency, including the official team roster, will be available closer to that date.

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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