Bobby Zalenski claims 19th career eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series win in Coca-Cola 160 at Charlotte
May 20th, 2026 by Justin Melillo
For the 19th time in his eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series career, Bobby Zalenski ended the night celebrating in virtual victory lane. Not to say the 18 previous wins were anything short of impressive, but the season-opening, caution-free Coca-Cola 160 from Charlotte Motor Speedway on Tuesday night may just have been the ERA eSports Team driver’s most impressive win to-date, considering the competition and conditions in place.
It’s a common theme to see the “Road Course King” do this sort of work on a road course, but in a series mostly made up of oval racing, where he’s still chasing that elusive Dale Jr Cup entering his 10th season, by taking the pole position, leading 65 laps, passing his setup alliance teammate Tucker Minter in the closing stage, and holding off the most-recent champion, Steven Wilson—who set a record for wins in a single season last year—Zalenski uncovered another unchecked box to check, claiming his first season-opening race victory of his career.
The stage was set following the final green flag pit stops of the day. Minter opted for the undercut, to get the track position in the cycle and play defense. Wilson went for the overcut in addition to two less fresh tires, only taking right sides and “enough” fuel to make it to the checkers. Zalenski, who pitted in the middle, was fast enough to take back the lead and then hold off a charge in the closing laps to claim the victory.
We ran 160 laps at Charlotte without a SINGLE CAUTION FLAG!
Bobby Zalenski started first and FINISHED FIRST to kick off the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series season!!!@ENASCARGG | @CocaColaracing pic.twitter.com/cU9YRe2SQP
— iRacing (@iRacing) May 20, 2026
“I was really killing myself trying to pass Tucker,” Zalenski said post-race. “I saw Steven coming, he did the two-tire strat, which I’m surprised he made it work so well on those left sides, but I knew he was on his way, and I was really desperate just to get clean air on Tucker. I had a tire advantage on him, and I had been leading most of the race, but Trucker’s trying to win too, and I was hoping we wouldn’t slow each other down so much to both lose the win there. Thankfully I had enough tire in it to battle Steven.”
Entering the season, Zalenski inherited the crown as the most-winningest active driver in the series. With the win, he pads his lead to two wins over Ryan Luza and Wilson, who both sit at 17 currently. Nick Ottinger, who held that crown up until Homestead-Miami last season, sits second on the all-time list at 20, which will be Zalenski’s next target, the ultimate goal being more than 27 career wins, which is what 4-Time champion Ray Alfalla has.
This victory also marks 10-straight seasons of winning for Zalenski, who has appeared in every eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series Playoffs since its debut in 2017, and should he maintain a top-20 presence through this year’s Regular Season, he’ll make it a perfect 10 out of 10. Zalenski’s made it to six Championship 4 Finales as well, and he’ll be hoping that a lucky seventh trip finally leads to that title. “I’m really grateful, and happy to get a win in the first race of the year with ERA Esports, all of those guys there are really cool,” Zalenski continued. “Gosh, this couldn’t have went any better. Caution-free, went out and just won it on merit… I could not have wanted more.”
All 40 drivers that started also finished the race, with 33 cars finishing on the lead lap. Seven drivers led laps, including two of the rookies from eRacr, Logan Helton (23 laps led) and Seth Noell (1 lap led). Zalenski led the most with 65, while Minter led 45, Connor Yeroschak led 14, Wilson led 10, and Garrett Lowe led two. “Shout out to all the noobs, right? We had nine noobs—rookies—and we had no cautions. Shout out to everybody. It was a really good race, from start to finish. The battle for the lead was always there. That is proper racing. I’m biased because I won… I’m glad the race wasn’t seven more laps, I would have been passed by Chris (Hill) probably.”
Christopher Hill wound up second, tying his best career finish to date. Hill passed Wilson on the final lap as Wilson ran out of gas coming to the line. Minter wound up finishing fourth, and Wyatt Tinsley, in his return to the series after a year off, rounded out the top-five. Next up on the calendar is Echo Park Speedway on June 2nd.
THE EVENT
The stage was set early for the Altus-backed drivers to shine on Tuesday night. Not only did Bobby Zalenski take the pole position, but Seth DeMerchant (fgrAccel) started second and Minter was third. Minter’s new William Byron eSports teammate, Christopher Hill, started from the sixth position, gapped from his Altus alliance members by Connor Yeroschak (Letarte Esports) in fourth and Vicente Salas (Kanaan Esports) in fifth.
While the race did eventually go caution-free, it was not without incident or damaged vehicles. The initial start was a setback for a number of hopefuls, including Casey Kirwan (Pioneers), Parker White (Williams), Dylan Ault (Hyak), and more. A stack-up that started at the front of the field sent impacts to multiple cars through to the mid-pack, ultimately ending their days before it could even begin.
Zalenski led the opening two laps, but Minter was poised to get into clean air as soon as possible and led on Lap 3. On Lap 5, Salas had moved up to second, but three laps later, it was Hill now moving into the runner-up spot, making the William Byron eSports machines 1-2 for a good chunk of laps.
Zalenski slipped as far back as fourth before turning up the wick on Lap 20. He passed Salas for the spot, then on Lap 23, he made his way back by Hill for second. It took another 17 laps, but by the end of Lap 40, he was back in control with the first pit stop of the day looming. Minter started to fade a bit, with DeMerchant, who fell back to fifth for a time, returning to the runner-up spot on Lap 44.
Minter slipped to fifth before pitting on Lap 53, the first of the leaders to pull the trigger. Yeroschak came down a lap later, while Zalenski and DeMerchant opted to stretch a bit longer. As the cycle was coming to a close, however, a familiar name in Steven Wilson (Spire Motorsports) cracked the top-five, and was barreling down on the top spot as Zalenski pitted from it on Lap 57. Wilson stayed out until Lap 60, handing the lead to Garrett Lowe (BS+COMPETITION), Seth Noell, and then Logan Helton.
The cycle nearly provided a caution during the overlap period, as drivers on new tires attempted to navigate the drivers on virtual cords. On Lap 61, with Lowe in the lead, his BS+COMPETITION teammate Jordy Lopez was looking to unlap himself. At the same time, DeMerchant, on slightly better tires than Lopez, was also looking to go through, and the two made some contact, forcing Lopez into a half-spin. Thankfully, his teammate below straightened him out, and the race continued onward.
Helton stayed out the longest, until Lap 68 before finally pitting in. This cycled the lead to Yeroschak, a former College Series winner at Charlotte, still seeking his first eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series win. While he had an advantage on Minter, he burned too bright in the second run and was out of the lead by Lap 82, handing things back over to Zalenski, with Minter following suit on Lap 92.
The second and final pit cycle began on Lap 108, with Minter taking his car down pit road from second place. Zalenski stayed out an additional two laps, pitting on Lap 110, but even just two laps made a huge difference in track position as he rejoined the race not only behind Minter, but also behind Hill and his ERA eSports teammate Michael Cosey Jr. Wilson was the last of the potential winners to pit, waiting until Lap 117 to come down for service, taking less fuel and only two right side tires so as to not lose too much track position.
Once again, Helton, who was hoping for a late caution, stayed out the longest of the cycle, pitting in finally on Lap 135. Incredibly, not a single driver earned a speeding penalty on pit road the entire night. This cycled the lead back to Minter, but Zalenski was hot on his tail while Wilson was charging up to the duo even faster.
Once Zalenski got there, Minter made it clear that it would not be an easy pass. The two raced fair, but it did not look like they were backend teammates in the moment. Zalenski got by on a slider at one point, just for Minter to take it back on the corner exit. This battling allowed Wilson to close in on the duo, but finally, with 18 laps to go, Zalenski was able to get through and take the lead.
Wilson made his way up to second with 15 laps to go, and the battle was finally on for the victory. A win for Wilson would have tied him with Zalenski on the all-time wins list, but ultimately, he wasn’t able to make it stick on the inside on any attempt he made. Wilson would run out of gas at any rate coming to the line, as Zalenski held on over Hill for the win.
RACE#1 | COCA-COLA 160 AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY | RESULTS
| POS. | ST. | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | LAPS | INTERVAL | LED | BEST | PTS. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 22 | Bobby Zalenski | ERA eSports Team | 160 | 0.000 | 65 | 29.767 | 40 |
| 2 | 6 | 25 | Christopher Hill | William Byron eSports | 160 | -0.522 | 0 | 29.648 | 35 |
| 3 | 7 | 77 | Steven Wilson | Spire Motorsports | 160 | -1.203 | 10 | 30.037 | 34 |
| 4 | 3 | 97 | Tucker Minter | William Byron eSports | 160 | -1.256 | 45 | 29.726 | 33 |
| 5 | 16 | 20 | Wyatt Tinsley | Kansas City Pioneers | 160 | -1.723 | 0 | 30.004 | 32 |
| 6 | 10 | 4 | Donovan Strauss | Williams F1 Team Gaming | 160 | -2.625 | 0 | 29.743 | 31 |
| 7 | 2 | 14 | Seth DeMerchant | fgrAccel | 160 | -2.693 | 0 | 29.887 | 30 |
| 8 | 38 | 34 | Michael Cosey Jr | ERA eSports Team | 160 | -3.228 | 0 | 30.160 | 29 |
| 9 | 4 | 40 | Connor Yeroschak | Letarte eSports | 160 | -4.862 | 14 | 29.988 | 28 |
| 10 | 22 | 86 | Blake Reynolds | Channel 199 Sim Racing | 160 | -7.080 | 0 | 29.875 | 27 |
| 11 | 5 | 11 | Vicente Salas | Kanaan Esports | 160 | -7.550 | 0 | 29.682 | 26 |
| 12 | 35 | 99 | Garrett Lowe | BS+COMPETITION | 160 | -8.121 | 2 | 30.078 | 25 |
| 13 | 9 | 8 | Zack Novak | JR Motorsports | 160 | -9.164 | 0 | 29.941 | 24 |
| 14 | 34 | 66 | Sebastian Marin [R] | Kanaan Esports | 160 | -9.144 | 0 | 29.959 | 23 |
| 15 | 21 | 17 | Shawn Conklin [R] | RFK Racing | 160 | -9.876 | 0 | 29.892 | 22 |
| 16 | 30 | 7 | Femi Olatunbosun | Spire Motorsports | 160 | -11.123 | 0 | 30.037 | 21 |
| 17 | 27 | 50 | Quentin Warman | Hyak Motorsports | 160 | -11.737 | 0 | 29.936 | 20 |
| 18 | 36 | 199 | Dylan Duval | Channel 199 Sim Racing | 160 | -12.078 | 0 | 29.869 | 19 |
| 19 | 25 | 88 | Malik Ray | JR Motorsports | 160 | -12.357 | 0 | 29.988 | 18 |
| 20 | 37 | 12 | Ryan Luza | fgrAccel | 160 | -12.351 | 0 | 29.816 | 17 |
| 21 | 8 | 5 | Nate Stewart | Jim Beaver eSports | 160 | -12.985 | 0 | 29.686 | 16 |
| 22 | 33 | 15 | Kollin Keister | Jim Beaver eSports | 160 | -13.599 | 0 | 29.851 | 15 |
| 23 | 18 | 35 | Matthew Morton [R] | TC Racing | 160 | -14.116 | 0 | 29.883 | 14 |
| 24 | 24 | 6 | Dylan Basen [R] | RFK Racing | 160 | -14.472 | 0 | 29.969 | 13 |
| 25 | 11 | 24 | Casey Kirwan | Kansas City Pioneers | 160 | -15.657 | 0 | 29.967 | 12 |
| 26 | 29 | 73 | Jake Nichols | TC Racing | 160 | -15.746 | 0 | 29.977 | 11 |
| 27 | 32 | 98 | Cody Byus | Apex Racing Team | 160 | -17.834 | 0 | 29.865 | 10 |
| 28 | 40 | 33 | Kenny Brady [R] | Team Dillon Esports | 160 | -18.054 | 0 | 30.014 | 9 |
| 29 | 28 | 01 | Tommy Gossett [R] | Vegas Inferno | 160 | -20.744 | 0 | 30.051 | 8 |
| 30 | 23 | 55 | Daniel Faulkingham | Rick Ware Racing | 160 | -21.476 | 0 | 29.989 | 7 |
| 31 | 31 | 69 | Seth Noell [R] | eRacr | 160 | -23.606 | 1 | 30.117 | 6 |
| 32 | 26 | 21 | Michael Guest | Vegas Inferno | 160 | -25.925 | 0 | 30.076 | 5 |
| 33 | 20 | 89 | Jordy Lopez | BS+COMPETITION | 160 | -30.102 | 0 | 30.084 | 4 |
| 34 | 39 | 42 | Logan Helton [R] | eRacr | 159 | -1L | 23 | 30.082 | 3 |
| 35 | 19 | 36 | Thomas Lloyd [R] | Letarte eSports | 159 | -1L | 0 | 30.105 | 2 |
| 36 | 12 | 3 | Blaze Crawford | Team Dillon Esports | 159 | -1L | 0 | 30.017 | 1 |
| 37 | 14 | 16 | Ryan Doucette | Apex Racing Team | 159 | -1L | 0 | 29.997 | 1 |
| 38 | 13 | 95 | Parker White | Williams F1 Team Gaming | 159 | -1L | 0 | 30.074 | 1 |
| 39 | 15 | 47 | Dylan Ault | Hyak Motorsports | 159 | -1L | 0 | 30.143 | 1 |
| 40 | 17 | 51 | Garrett Manes | Rick Ware Racing | 157 | -3L | 0 | 29.894 | 1 |
DRIVER’S STANDINGS FOLLOWING RACE #1 | COCA-COLA 160 AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
| POS | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | POINTS | + / – | WINS | POLES | TOP 5’S | TOP 10’S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | Bobby Zalenski | ERA eSports Team | 40 | Adv. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 25 | Christopher Hill | William Byron eSports | 35 | +9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 77 | Steven Wilson | Spire Motorsports | 34 | +8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 97 | Tucker Minter | William Byron eSports | 33 | +7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 20 | Wyatt Tinsley | Kansas City Pioneers | 32 | +6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | 4 | Donovan Strauss | Williams F1 Team Gaming | 31 | +5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | 14 | Seth DeMerchant | fgrAccel | 30 | +4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | 34 | Michael Cosey Jr | ERA eSports Team | 29 | +3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | 40 | Connor Yeroschak | Letarte eSports | 28 | +2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | 86 | Blake Reynolds | Channel 199 Sim Racing | 27 | +1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| —————————————————————PLAYOFF CUTOFF————————————————————— | |||||||||
| 11 | 11 | Vicente Salas | Kanaan Esports | 26 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 99 | Garrett Lowe | BS+COMPETITION | 25 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | 8 | Zack Novak | JR Motorsports | 24 | -3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | 66 | Sebastian Marin [R] | Kanaan Esports | 23 | -4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 17 | Shawn Conklin [R] | RFK Racing | 22 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
SEGMENT #1 STANDINGS FOLLOWING RACE #1 | COCA-COLA 160 AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
| POS | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | POINTS | + / – | WINS | POLES | TOP 5’S | TOP 10’S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | Bobby Zalenski | ERA Esports Team | 40 | Ldr. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 25 | Christopher Hill | William Byron eSports | 35 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 77 | Steven Wilson | Spire Motorsports | 34 | -6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 97 | Tucker Minter | William Byron eSports | 33 | -7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 20 | Wyatt Tinsley | Kansas City Pioneers | 32 | -8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | 4 | Donovan Strauss | Williams F1 Team Gaming | 31 | -9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | 14 | Seth DeMerchant | fgrAccel | 30 | -10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | 34 | Michael Cosey Jr | ERA Esports Team | 29 | -11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | 40 | Connor Yeroschak | Letarte eSports | 28 | -12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | 86 | Blake Reynolds | Channel 199 Sim Racing | 27 | -13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
TEAM STANDINGS FOLLOWING RACE #1 | COCA-COLA 160 AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
| POS | NOS. | TEAM | POINTS | + / – | WINS | POLES | TOP 5’S | TOP 10’S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | 34 | ERA eSports Team | 69 | Ldr. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 25 | 97 | William Byron eSports | 68 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 7 | 77 | Spire Motorsports | 55 | -14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 11 | 66 | Kanaan eSports | 49 | -20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 12 | 14 | fgrAccel | 47 | -22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | 86 | 199 | Channel 199 Sim Racing | 46 | -23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | 20 | 24 | Kansas City Pioneers | 44 | -25 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | 8 | 88 | JR Motorsports | 42 | -27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 6 | 17 | RFK Racing | 35 | -34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 4 | 95 | Williams F1 Team Gaming | 32 | -37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
ROOKIE STANDINGS FOLLOWING RACE #1 | COCA-COLA 160 AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
| POS | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | POINTS | + / – | WINS | POLES | TOP 5’S | TOP 10’S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 66 | Sebastian Marin | Kanaan Esports | 23 | Ldr. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 17 | Shawn Conklin | RFK Racing | 22 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 35 | Matthew Morton | TC Racing | 14 | -9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 6 | Dylan Basen | RFK Racing | 13 | -10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 33 | Kenny Brady | Team Dillon Esports | 9 | -14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 1 | Tommy Gossett | Vegas Inferno | 8 | -15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 69 | Seth Noell | eRacr | 6 | -17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 42 | Logan Helton | eRacr | 3 | -20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 36 | Thomas Lloyd | Letarte eSports | 2 | -21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Eight races remain before the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series Playoffs are determined. Points will be a bigger factor this year, with one guaranteed spot in the Playoffs on points, potentially more should Zalenski or anyone else win multiple races. Zalenski also leads the Segment #1 Standings, and should he score the most points over the first three races, he will also collect five additional playoff points on top of what he won at Charlotte.
In the Team Standings, with ERA eSports finishing first with Zalenski and eighth with Cosey Jr, they lead the way by just a single point over the new-look William Byron eSports, with their finishes of second by Hill and fourth by Minter. The defending Team Champions, Spire Motorsports, sit in third, 14 points back after Wilson finished in third and Femi Olatunbosun took 16th.
There are nine rookies in the field this year, and one of the favorites from the Qualifying Series, Sebastian Marin (Kanaan Esports), was the best in class, finishing 14th, just ahead of of one of the two RFK Racing rookies in the field, Shawn Conklin, who finished 15th.
Up next, the series heads to Echo Park Speedway for the second race on the calendar. This track was last seen in the 2024 season, and was the site of Malik Ray’s first-career win.
The second round on the calendar is scheduled for Tuesday, June 2nd. Tune in at 7:45 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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