eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series | Power Rankings | Race 12 at Chicago Street Course

He’s won two short track heat races already in 2025. He won the Interlagos Sprint race. Now, Vicente Salas (Kanaan Esports) is back in eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series victory lane after the perfect strategy and tire management last week at Dover Motor Speedway. That’s not even a stat that Steven Wilson (Spire Motorsports) with his five wins on the 2025 season, or Tucker Minter with three wins can claim.

The finishes haven’t been there for Salas, but the pace definitely has. Now that the stars have aligned and he’s got his ticket locked for the 2025 eNASCAR Playoffs, what’s next for the budding iRacing-to-reality racer?

Salas just missed out on making the 2024 eNASCAR Championship 4, and finished fifth in the standings. While we’ve been keeping our gaze locked on Wilson and Minter, and while we’ve been waiting for Parker White (Atlassian Williams), Zack Novak (Channel 199), and Ryan Luza (fgrAccel) to break back into the winner’s circle, Salas has been waiting for his chance to break through once again, finally in a race that mattered in the overall scope of the championship.

Vicente Salas and his tires survive the long run, scores eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series win at Dover

What does that mean, however, for the teams vying for the Team Championship? It’s never been this close, with this many players still with a legitimate shot this late in the going. Spire Motorsports still needs Femi Olatunbosun to step up, as much as Channel 199 Sim Racing needs Dylan Duval to get back to his consistent ways. Atlassian Williams could use one or both of White and Donovan Strauss to find their way to eNASCAR Victory Lane.

It seems when one ERA eSports driver does well, like Michael Cosey Jr two races ago at Iowa, the other driver tends to struggle, case and point with Bobby Zalenski finishing 25th in that same race. William Byron eSports had its best chance to set themselves apart from the field this week at Dover, with Nick Ottinger on the pole position and Tucker Minter also starting in fifth. Both had tire issues by the end of it, and thus Ottinger’s chances to turn things around are nearly depleted.

Chicago is up next. Last year, it was Zalenski on top for the second-straight season. Will it be a three-peat, or have Wilson and Salas caught up? Will it be White’s time to shine? He’ll need it if he’s going to think about climbing back up the standings as well as the Power Rankings. Here’s how everything stacks up entering Chi-town.

CHICAGO DRIVER POWER RANKINGS | Are Wilson, Minter, and Salas the new virtual Big 3?

The new update to the NASCAR Next Gen cars didn’t change too much in terms of the top contenders in the series. Perhaps Deadzone has a lock down on the latest changes, with their ability to have solid speed mixed with the ability to also save tires. Was tire wear a concern before the update? Potentially, or potentially not. This was the first situation that this field has been put in like this, with this car and these rules.

Wilson was fast, but his tires couldn’t keep up. The five-time winner this season got as high as third on pace, but with no late-race caution and high tire degradation, he pitted with under 20 laps to go, ruining his chances. He wasn’t the only one. Minter’s tire also gave out with under five laps to go. While he was served the mechanical meatball black flag for excessive tire wear, it was late enough that he could nurse it home to 15th without the program disqualifying him.

Salas had the speed, the strategy, and the ability to save. The perfect combination. A late race caution could have, and probably would have derailed his day, like in many of the previous 10 races this season. With it staying green, even a hard-charging Ryan Luza couldn’t keep the fifth year standout from getting back to the winner’s circle for the first time in 2025.

Ryan Luza’s recent stretch has felt like the Ryan Luza of old, besides the winning part. Same with Zack Novak. Two former champions getting back to their former selves, which makes them both threats if they can get into the playoffs this year. Luza will likely need a win to get in with him being out as it currently stands. Novak should get in on points regardless… but if he starts winning, watch out.

The math wasn’t in either Michael Cosey Jr’s or Parker White’s favor this week. Cosey Jr’s percentage confused me for a second, but then I realized I gave him a little extra for being dominant in the Iowa heat race and nearly winning that feature to boot. Unfortunately, Cosey Jr wasn’t much of a factor this week after some early contact. He’s still in playoff contention, but he will need everything to go right for him on the only street course of the year to stay in.

White, meanwhile, just wasn’t in the game this week. Granted, he was pretty busy doing his own iRacing-to-Reality crossover at the real-world Pocono Raceway last weekend, shooting pictures for TobyChristie.com. The lack of practice might have led to his struggles on Tuesday night. This is the lowest he’s been in the Power Rankings all season, but it’s not all bad for the reigning champion—White still has a spot on the playoff grid entering one of his best tracks this upcoming week.

TOP 20 DRIVERS POWER RANKINGS (ENTERING CHICAGO)

1. Steven Wilson
2. Vicente Salas (+4)
3. Tucker Minter (-1)
4. Zack Novak (-1)
5. Ryan Luza (+6)
6. Kollin Keister (+4)
7. Bobby Zalenski (+1)
8. Casey Kirwan (+1)
9. Seth DeMerchant (-2)
10. Parker White (-6)
11. Jordy Lopez (+1)
12. Michael Cosey Jr (-7)
13. Connor Yeroschak (+4)
14. Dylan Duval (NEW)
15. Michael Guest
16. Donovan Strauss (-3)
17. Dylan Ault (+3)
18. Christopher Hill (NEW)
19. Garrett Lowe (-3)
20. Jimmy Mullis (-1)

Fell out: Graham Bowlin, Blaze Crawford

CHICAGO TEAM POWER RANKINGS | Top drivers continue to carry their teams with seven races remaining in 2025

I’ll start with the bottom this week, and also talk about a couple of teams that haven’t been listed in the top-10 in a number of weeks. The Vegas Inferno, eRacr, and JR Motorsports were all subject to having a fill-in driver at Dover. Eight drivers from this past year’s eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series that didn’t get signed to one of the 20 official teams sit on standby every week in case of a replacement driver.

In the case for both Vegas Inferno and eRacr, their normal drivers were suspended this week for various reasons. The eRacr #42 saw Matthew Morton in the seat, and in his first career start, picked up a 16th place finish. The Inferno had Agnel Philip in the #1 machine, and his first career start resulted in a 25th place finish. JR Motorsports also had a fill-in for Briar LaPradd, who wasn’t suspended, but took a week off due to the passing of his father. Matthew Zwack, who has been spotting for JR Motorsports’ Blake McCandless this season, jumped back into the role of driver in the series and finished 26th in his return.

For all three teams, their points didn’t count for the drivers, but they did towards the teams. Unfortunately, even with Michael Guest’s 19th place run, it wasn’t enough to keep Vegas ranked this week for what I believe is the first time all season for the rookie organization. Chicago likely won’t be a place for the normal duo of Guest and Malik Ray to rebound, but it will be one of the teams to keep an eye on as the season winds down.

At the top, the story remains the same. No team seems to want to pull away from the pack. Four of the top-five drivers in the series are also on four of the top-five teams so far. Spire can’t be the clear #1 team because of just Steven Wilson. Travis Pastrana’s Channel 199 Sim Racing outfit can’t be the top dogs because they haven’t won. Jesse Iwuji’s ERA eSports might be the best rounded team, the only currently with both drivers in the top-10 in points, but Bobby Zalenski and Michael Cosey Jr are finding success when the other seems to be finding trouble.

Moving into the top-five in the Power Rankings is Joe Graf Jr’s fgrAccel this week. Think about it—Ryan Luza has found his stride again. Seth DeMerchant has been rising up the rankings as well at the same time. They are eighth in the Team Standings, but both drivers are inside the top-20 at the same time, something that teams like William Byron eSports and Kanaan Esports won’t likely be able to claim this season.

Jim Beaver eSports moves back onto the list. Kollin Keister is determined to make this win count for a playoff berth—something he couldn’t accomplish in his rookie season in 2020 when he won at Charlotte. Even without the Las Vegas win, Keister has been teetering on the edge of being a top driver this season. These new updates might have been exactly what he needed. He’ll just need to get through the streets of Chicago in a decent place so that he can tackle Indy and EchoPark, and ensure his place in the Playoffs.

TOP 10 TEAMS POWER RANKINGS (ENTERING CHICAGO)

1. Spire Motorsports
2. Channel 199 Sim Racing (+1)
3. ERA eSports (-1)
4. fgrAccel (+2)
5. Atlassian Williams Sim Racing (-1)
6. William Byron eSports (-1)
7. Kanaan Esports (+3)
8. Kansas City Pioneers (-1)
9. Jim Beaver eSports (NEW)
10. BS+COMPETITION (-2)

Fell out: Vegas Inferno

Agree with these rankings? Disagree? Let me know on X (formerly Twitter) or BlueSky.

The quest for the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series championship, and the road to $500,000, continues on Tuesday night at 8:00 pm ET, live on eNASCAR.com/live. Tune in to the pre-race Countdown to Green starting at 7:30 pm ET.

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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