eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Race Preview: Coca-Cola 150 at Charlotte

A staple event of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, Tuesday night’s Coca-Cola 150 sees the series take on Round 9 of its 2023 season at Charlotte Motor Speedway. As always, race coverage begins at 9 p.m. ET at eNASCAR.com/live and across iRacing social media channels, while Countdown to Green will kick off at 8:30 p.m. ET to preview the action.

Last Race: XSET’s Casey Kirwan scored his second win of the 2023 campaign at Darlington Raceway two weeks ago, leading 32 laps and using fresher tires to take the lead from Jim Beaver eSports’ Malik Ray on the final restart. Kirwan had the easiest time getting past Ray, and while three other drivers were able to do the same eventually, Kirwan had enough of a cushion to hold off William Byron eSports’ Nick Ottinger coming to the finish.

While Darlington’s calling card in both the real and virtual world is as a showcase for iconic throwback paint schemes, it was also one of the most competitive races of the season. Nine different drivers led for part of the race, with Ottinger’s teammate Matt Bussa leading the most of all at 36, and all but two of the 39 starters finished all 120 laps. The top four finishers also rank first through fourth in the current series standings, with JR Motorsports’ Michael Conti using his third place finish to bring a 14-point lead over Ottinger into Charlotte.

Last Year: Bussa punched his ticket into the 2022 eNASCAR playoffs when he outlasted the field in last year’s Charlotte race, making it to the finish line with under a lap to spare. He took over the lead from Ray, who had also gambled to try and get to the finish, in the closing laps, and then was able to outlast Zack Novak to make it to the finish line.

Track Facts: Since 1960, Charlotte Motor Speedway has hosted the longest race on the NASCAR Cup Series calendar, the Coca-Cola 600 (originally known as the World 600). The 1.5-mile tri-oval was designed by Speedway Motorsports founder Bruton Smith and legendary driver Curtis Turner

Next Up: Following Charlotte, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will head to World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Tuesday, June 13 at 9 p.m. ET. Graham Bowlin gave Charlotte Phoenix its first eNASCAR win—the second of his career, and his first step towards making a Championship 4 appearance last year.

For more information on the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, visit www.enascar.com or www.iracing.com/enascar. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

Image via Justin Melillo

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