Bobby Zalenski holds off the field for second-career eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series victory at Talladega

For the 17th time in eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series history, Bobby Zalenski found himself in virtual victory lane after the 70-lap chess-match-meets-battle-royale at Talladega Superspeedway concluded on Tuesday night.

In his 150th career start, Zalenski led only two laps—the final two laps—as the ERA eSports played the defense necessary to win his seventh-career oval race and all but lock a spot up in the 2025 eNASCAR Playoffs. It marks the first win for the ERA eSports outlet in their sixth start as an official team in the series. The win ties Zalenski with FGR Accel’s Ryan Luza at third all-time on the winner’s list. Zalenski also becomes the second driver in history with multiple wins in the 11 events at the 2.66-mile oval in Alabama.

After a huge move to the bottom lane to take the white flag, the field detonated behind, leaving seven cars in the main pack to fight it out. Six Karma’s Daniel Faulkingham and Apex Racing Team’s Christopher Hill both managed to get to the inside of Zalenski as they exited Turn 4, but the trio fused together, the duo below both sliding through the grass as a result. Zalenski was able to keep up the momentum as he held off Vegas Inferno’s Malik Ray and last year’s winner, Channel 199 Sim Racing’s Dylan Duval, at the line.

NEVER. COUNT. OUT. BOBBY Z.@bobbyzalenski gets his SECOND CAREER DEGA WIN and the first for @eracingassocia1 in a wild finish at the superspeedway!

POST RACE -> https://t.co/tOOewu4MBi@ENASCARGG | @CocaColaRacing pic.twitter.com/7HV8s0ma4k

— iRacing (@iRacing) April 23, 2025

“That’s my third plate win,” Zalenski stated post-race, reminding viewers of his first which came in the summer Daytona race in 2020. “You’re lucky enough to get one win in this series at a plate track, and I have three. It’s kind of crazy. Mainly, this is a big relief, because I was really upset that I didn’t win Interlagos… I really want to race for a championship, so getting that ticket from winning Talladega is fantastic.”

The victory vaults Zalenski back inside the top-10, moving him back up to seventh. Two things he’ll have to take into account to ensure his playoff berth is that he stays inside the top-20 throughout the 2025 Regular Season standings and there are no more than nine other drivers with wins ahead of him in the standings when the playoff field gets set. Should he qualify, it would be a perfect ninth-straight season that Zalenski will make the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoff field, dating back to its inception back in 2017.

Don’t forget, the last time Zalenski won at Talladega and made the Playoffs, he also made the Championship 4 in 2022.

He’s the only Talladega winner to do that in the same season.

THE EVENT

Zalenski started the night down in 26th, 13 rows behind the virtual pace car. On the front row sat HYAK Motorsports’ rookie driver Quentin Warman and Letarte eSports’ Quami Scott, but neither driver would lead the opening lap, or any laps by that regard. 17 drivers led throughout the night, but nobody led more than the Kansas City Pioneers’ Casey Kirwan, who led 15 of the 70 circuits, including the first two.

The first caution of the day flew on Lap 18, and it involved the defending winner, Duval, and the most recent eNASCAR champion crowned two weeks ago in the College Series, eRacr’s Logan Clampitt. The field stacked back up for the restart, and it was William Byron eSports’ Nick Ottinger leading the way.

Ottinger’s lead didn’t last too long, as moments after the restart, he found himself careening towards the inside wall off the nose of Letarte eSports’ Connor Yeroschak, Somehow, Ottinger kept his car undamaged, but he would get trapped a lap down in the process. The race continued on, but the close calls didn’t stop there.

A few laps later, Kevin Harvick Inc nearly folded their cards early as Jimmy Mullis got out of line, and his teammate, Matt Bussa, attempted to pick him up, but instead nearly turned him into the field. After that, Faulkingham and Ray had a moment at Lap 30, where the former tried to fit into a gap that wasn’t there yet, and mistimed the move into Ray’s back bumper instead.

Somehow, the field kept themselves together, and green flag pitstops were allowed to happen. A pack of eight cars, including RFK Racing’s Collin Bowden, the Spire Motorsports duo of Steven Wilson and Femi Olatunbosun, and Jim Beaver eSports’ Kollin Keister, were the first to bite and stop for service. Once the field managed to cycle, however, it was Kirwan pushing Kanaan Esports’ Vicente Salas to the point.

Losing the draft was Olatunbosun, FGR Accel’s Seth DeMerchant, and the winner two weeks ago at Rockingham, William Byron eSports’ Tucker Minter. As the trio attempted to try and catch back up to the pack, the leading two got too aggressive as Olatunbosun and DeMerchant went around. The field would reset once again with under 20 laps to go to settle the final score.

THE BIG ONE STRIKES AT TALLADEGA!

Tune in for the finish!!!https://t.co/tOOewu4MBi@ENASCARGG | @CocaColaRacing pic.twitter.com/nwUEobPcN1

— iRacing (@iRacing) April 23, 2025

From there, the aggressiveness was turned up to 11. A pair of big ones set the tone for a final restart with two laps to go. The race started with a rookie on the pole, and for the final restart, another rookie in Hill led the field back to the green with Zalenski alongside.

The field managed to hold it together until the white flag, and it was Zalenski taking it as he slid across the nose of Hill to cover. Chaos ensued around the 10th position, and the field collapsed as the leaders drove away. Zalenski led Faulkingham, Hill, Ray, Duval, Warman, and Atlassian Williams’ Donovan Strauss. Everyone but Strauss found a tandem partner, but off of Turn 4, all bets were off.

Zalenski slid up high—perhaps too high—but it still worked out for him. As Faulkingham and Hill bounced off of Zalenski and into the infield, it was up to Ray and Duval to figure it out to get by. They didn’t figure it out, instead running side-by-side behind Zalenski as they crossed the stripe for the final time.

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from Race #6 at Talladega were as follows:

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Driver’s Standings after Race #6 at Talladega are as follows:

1. #77 Steven Wilson | Spire Motorsports, 3 WINS
2. #97 Tucker Minter | William Byron eSports, 1 WIN
3. #22 Bobby Zalenski | ERA eSports, 1 WIN
4. #15 Kollin Keister | Jim Beaver eSports, 1 WIN
5. #2 Zack Novak | Channel 199 Sim Racing, 180 points
6. #95 Parker White | Atlassian Williams, 163 points
7. #1 Malik Ray | Vegas Inferno, 154 points
8. #47 Dylan Ault | HYAK Motorsports, 154 points
9. #24 Casey Kirwan | Kansas City Pioneers, 136 points
10. #199 Dylan Duval | Channel 199 Sim Racing, 135 points

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series SEGMENT 2 Standings after Race #1 of 4 at Talladega are as follows:

1. #22 Bobby Zalenski | ERA eSports, 40 points
2. #1 Malik Ray | Vegas Inferno, -5
3. #199 Dylan Duval | Channel 199 Sim Racing, -6
4. #50 Quentin Warman | HYAK Motorsports, -7
5. #4 Donovan Strauss | Atlassian Williams, -8
6. #24 Casey Kirwan | Kansas City Pioneers, -9
7. #77 Steven Wilson | Spire Motorsports, -10
8. #29 Jimmy Mullis | Kevin Harvick Inc., -11
9. #39 Daniel Faulkingham | Six Karma, -12
10. #21 Michael Guest | Vegas Inferno, -13

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Team Standings after Race #6 at Talladega are as follows:

1. Channel 199 Sim Racing (#2/#199), 315 points
2. Spire Motorsports (#7/#77), -4
3. Atlassian Williams (#4/#95), -26
4. Vegas Inferno (#1/#21), -46
5. HYAK Motorsports (#47/#50), 64

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Rookie Standings after Race #6 at Talladega are as follows:

1. #3 Blaze Crawford | Team Dillon Esports, 110 points
2. #40 Connor Yeroschak | LETARTE eSports, -9
3. #50 Quentin Warman | HYAK Motorsports, -13
4. #8 Blake McCandless | JR Motorsports, -25
5. #96 Christopher M. Hill | Apex Racing Team, -27
6. #5 Nate Stewart | Jim Beaver eSports, -42
7. #66 Alexander L Russell | Kanaan Esports, -43
8. #19 Eddie Kerner | Six Karma, -70

With six races in the books, now four drivers have a ticket to the 2025 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoffs. Steven Wilson has three tickets, with wins at Daytona, Interlagos, and Richmond. Kollin Keister, Tucker Minter, and now Bobby Zalenski all have their one respective ticket apiece, and should they meet the criteria at the end of the 2025 Regular Season, will be racing for a shot at a title later this year.

Wilson also has the most points of all drivers, passing Channel 199 Sim Racing’s Zack Novak by two points leaving Talladega with a seventh place effort. However, the second Segment of the season is now underway, and Zalenski leads it by virtue of his win.

It’s not all doom and gloom for the Channel 199 squad, however, as they now lead the Team Championship by four points over the powerful duo of Wilson and Femi Olatunbosun at Spire Motorsports. Finally, in the Rookie of the Year battle, Team Dillon Esports’ Blaze Crawford, who had a fill-in teammate of Wyatt Tinsley this week, maintains the rookie lead by nine points over Connor Yeroschak and 13 over Warman, the latter of which collected his best career finish—and the best of all rookies so far in 2025—with a fourth place effort.

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series returns next month with the 40-best eNASCAR competitors taking on NASCAR’s virtual backyard at Charlotte Motor Speedway for a scheduled 160 laps. Last season, it was the closest finish in eNASCAR history, as Garrett Lowe barely edged Jimmy Mullis at the line for the victory.

The seventh round on the calendar is scheduled for Tuesday, May 20th. Tune in at 7:30 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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