eNASCAR College iRacing Series | Pasco-Hernando State College’s Dylan Basen claims Queen City Crown

September 25th, 2025 by

The first Tournament in eNASCAR College iRacing Series history is in the books. After two weeks of racing, and ultimately narrowing a field of 120 collegiate competitors down to 25, Pasco-Hernando State College’s Dylan Basen won in his series debut, holding off the defending Charlotte winner, the University of Calgary’s Connor Yeroschak, in the closing laps of the Final Round Feature.

Basen, a Freshman studying Cybersecurity, was nearly flawless in his execution during the second week of competition in the Queen City Crown. Qualifying in second, Basen was placed in the second of three Heats in the Semifinal round. Leading 15 of the 20 laps before winning the Heat, Basen started on the outside of the front row in the Final Round feature race. In the 50-lap finale, Basen traded the lead with Yeroschak a couple of times, but ultimately led 43 circuits en route to the victory.

This dominance was nowhere to be seen in Week 1 by the rookie competitor, finishing fourth in his First Round Heat and third in his Second Round Feature to qualify into Week 2. “Last week, it wasn’t all about winning, it was just about getting in,” Basen explained post-race. “I knew at the end of all of those races, whether it be a 20-lap run or a 40-lap run, my tires were always great, and I always had pace. I had a feeling I had to apply that here while keeping track position in the short run, which I feel like I mastered pretty good… It was just pretty awesome.”

SEMIFINALS

39 students advanced to the Semifinals in Week 2 from the first week’s festivities. While all 39 would earn points this week, only 25 of those students could make the Final Round, where the big points—and scholarship prizes—were on the line.

Now together for the first time all tournament after originally split into three groups, the 39 were split for a second time following single lap qualifying. Horry-Georgetown Technical College student, and eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series competitor for RFK Racing, Timothy Holmes set the fastest lap time to lead the opening Heat race to the green. The University of Northwestern Ohio’s Isaac Shelley and Saddleback College’s John Forbes Jr rounded out the podium positions in qualifying, and would lead the second and third Heat races to their green flags as well, respectively.

Each Semifinal Heat included 13 trucks, but only five would advance out of each. Cautions were still off until the Final Round, so to make it through meant having no mistakes in the 20 lap Heats.

Holmes couldn’t hang on to the win in the opening Heat, falling to third by the end. Yeroschak claimed the victory and the pole position for the Final Round. The second Semifinal Heat also saw the leader fall through the field. While Basen was able to climb from fifth to the win in the 20-lap event, Shelley fell from first to outside the cut, finishing sixth. Forbes Jr broke the mold in the third and final Semifinal Heat, claiming the win from the pole to advance.

With 15 drivers moving on to the Final Round from the Semifinal Heats, the final 10 to advance would come from the Semifinal Last Chance Qualifier. 24 drivers entered, and a final 14 drivers would be eliminated from the opening Tournament.

St Johns River State College’s AJ Heider was the first out in the first Semifinal Heat, and started on the pole position in the last chance to dance. Heider wasted no time, pulling out to a multi-second lead on the field, hoping his tires could last. At the transfer, Clemson University’s Jake Hall held the final spot, but had Western Connecticut State University’s Johnathan Evans and King’s College’s Douglas Newbigging right on his tail. Evans and Newbigging wound up fighting each other for the spot behind, allowing Hall to keep the transfer to the Feature.

FINAL ROUND

Yeroschak and Basen led the field to the green flag, the longest race of the Tournament, a 50-lap battle in NASCAR’s backyard. With caution flags on the table for the first time in the Tournament, that meant that pit strategy could also be in play should the race get slowed.

Yeroschak led the opening lap, but Basen took the lead by the end of Lap 2, and led the 25-truck field around the 1.5-mile speedway. Yeroschak stayed hot on his trail, eventually taking the lead back on Lap 19, but could only hold on until Lap 25, when Basen took it back.

It was perfect timing, as on Lap 27, the first caution flag of the Tournament flew for an incident on the frontstretch. All trucks were able to continue with minimal damages, and pit road would be available under a caution period for the first time all Tournament as well.

Basen led the field off of pit road and brought everyone back to the green flag on Lap 31. It was down to a Heat race length for the first Tournament title. Behind the leaders, there was heavy action, with three, and sometimes four-wide action. Drivers such as Arizona State University’s Bradley Erickson and the defending series champion, California State University, Fullerton’s Logan Clampitt, managed to work their way towards the front after starting outside the top-10. Other drivers, like Forbes Jr and Triton College’s Adam Garza, found themselves slipping back towards the back of the top-10 after starting inside the top-five.

The University of Connecticut’s Jose Solis Jr ran more laps than anyone in the entire Tournament, having to run both Last Chance Qualifier races in the First Round and Semifinals. Despite starting 20th, Solis Jr worked his way up to finish 13th by the end of the night. Just ahead of Solis Jr was the biggest mover of the night, Ball State University’s Daniel Nanney, who had an up-and-down evening. Nanney qualified ninth in single lap qualifying, but from the third starting spot, wound up 12th in his Semifinal Heat race. In the consolation, Nanney started 21st, but finished in the transfer, in ninth. That meant a 24th starting spot for the Final Round, which he was able to turn into a 12th place run.

Up front, Basen would not be denied. A caution with four laps to go froze the field, allowing for Basen to claim victory in his first attempt, securing a $3,000 scholarship in the process. Yeroschak would settle for second, with the University of Maine at Machias’ Daniel Faulkingham finding his way up to finish in third.

QUEEN CITY CROWN – RESULTS

Fin.

St.

Driver

College

Interval

Led

Best

Laps

Pts.
1 2 Dylan Basen Pasco Hernando State College 0.000 43 29.892 50 40
2 1 Connor Yeroschak University of Calgary -0.755 7 29.926 50 35
3 4 Daniel Faulkingham University of Maine at Machias -0.991 0 30.026 50 34
4 12 Bradley Erickson Arizona State University -1.407 0 30.054 50 33
5 8 Matthew Zwack University of Michigan -1.621 0 30.108 50 32
6 14 Logan Clampitt Cal State University Fullerton -2.023 0 30.070 50 31
7 9 Dylan Ault Cal State University, Sacramento -2.432 0 30.120 50 30
8 6 Matthew Morton The Ohio State University -2.905 0 30.090 50 29
9 5 Adam Garza Triton College -3.318 0 30.128 50 28
10 3 John Forbes Jr Saddleback College -3.755 0 30.091 50 27
11 18 Austin Johnson Fresno State -4.471 0 30.150 50 26
12 24 Daniel Nanney Ball State University -4.755 0 30.140 50 25
13 20 Jose Solis Jr University of Connecticut -5.441 0 30.114 50 24
14 13 Ryan Andrew Des Moines Area CC -6.007 0 30.135 50 23
15 19 Isaac Shelley University of Northwestern Ohio -6.562 0 30.132 50 22
16 23 Tyler Skoczen University of Northwestern Ohio -6.78 0 30.098 50 21
17 21 Mario Merenda University of Oklahoma -7.728 0 30.133 50 20
18 17 Chris Bryant Methodist University -8.634 0 30.101 50 19
19 15 Nick Miller Kutztown University -9.272 0 30.254 50 18
20 11 John Hagen North Central Texas College -9.833 0 30.103 50 17
21 25 Jake Hall Clemson University -10.434 0 30.279 50 16
22 10 Jaxen Anderson Oklahoma State University -11.213 0 30.153 50 15
23 7 Timothy Holmes Horry-Georgetown Technical -11.551 0 30.010 50 14
24 22 Andy Trupiano University of Detroit Mercy -11.909 0 30.280 50 13
25 16 AJ Heider St. Johns River State College -12.279 0 30.121 50 12
LCQ – 11th — Jonathan Evans Western Connecticut State U ——— — ——— — 11
LCQ – 12th — Douglas Newbigging King’s College ——— — ——— — 10
LCQ – 13th — Lily Fraser University of Vermont ——— — ——— — 9
LCQ – 14th — Jacob Bradley Purdue University in Indianapolis ——— — ——— — 8
LCQ – 15th — Jake Innes Belmont Abbey College ——— — ——— — 7
LCQ – 16th — Abraham Vela University of Houston ——— — ——— — 6
LCQ – 17th — Alexander Russell University of Wisconsin-Madison ——— — ——— — 5
LCQ – 18th — Ryan Arnold Motlow State Community College ——— — ——— — 4
LCQ – 19th — Zach Sprouse George Mason University ——— — ——— — 3
LCQ – 20th — Joey Priebe Virginia Tech ——— — ——— — 2
LCQ – 21st — Blake Wynn UNC at Charlotte ——— — ——— — 1
LCQ – 22nd — James Bowman University of Kentucky ——— — ——— — 1
LCQ – 23rd — Maverick Davis Kettering University ——— — ——— — 1
LCQ – 24th — Nathan Scott University of Nevada, Las Vegas ——— — ——— — 1

POINTS STANDINGS AFTER TOURNAMENT #1 – QUEEN CITY CROWN

  1. Dylan Basen | Pasco Hernando State College, 40 points
  2. Connor Yeroschak | University of Calgary, -5
  3. Daniel Faulkingham | University of Maine at Machias, -6
  4. Bradley Erickson | Arizona State University, -7
  5. Matthew Zwack | University of Michigan, -8
  6. Logan Clampitt | Cal State University Fullerton, -9
  7. Dylan Ault | Cal State University, Sacramento, -10
  8. Matthew Morton | The Ohio State University, -11
  9. Adam Garza | Triton College, -12
  10. John Forbes Jr | Saddleback College, -13

The second Tournament is the Clash on the Beach at Daytona International Speedway. Time Attacks open on September 30th and run until October 9th. Tune in on Wednesday, October 15th, at 7:00 p.m. ET for the first week of competition. Week 2 will take place on October 22nd. Races will be streamed live at eNASCAR.com/live and across all of iRacing’s social media channels.

For more information on the eNASCAR College iRacing Series, visit https://pcl.gg/pages/enascar.
For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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