Kenny Brady steals eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series Top Split victory in Fontana

A fourth different Top Split race winner emerged in the sixth event on the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series schedule on Tuesday night. Representing one of the 20 official teams in the Championship Series, and by only leading the final two laps of the event, Kenny Brady gave the Vegas Inferno their first eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series win at Auto Club Speedway after the race went into eNASCAR Overtime.

Brady, who started the season with a third at Daytona, seemed to be fading out of the top-30 conversation, but after taking the lead from Andrew Navarro on the final restart, now finds himself back in the thick of it, currently in 30th with five races left to go in the preliminary segment of the year. Over in the Second Split, it was former Championship Series competitor Jake Nichols claiming the win over Jayden Hopp, that race also going to eNASCAR Overtime thrice.

A pair of eNASCAR Overtime finishes end with two drivers claiming their first wins of the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series seasons!

Kenny Brady hangs on for the Top Split win while Jake Nichols takes the checkers in Second Split!@ENASCARGG | @CocaColaRacing pic.twitter.com/A8MwSBDBDy

— iRacing (@iRacing) March 25, 2026

Navarro, who has yet to win this season, takes over the points lead following his fifth top-five finish in six races on the year. He takes it from Sebastian Marin, who finally found misfortune this season, finishing 22nd after a late race spin. Considering a drop week will be accounted for at the season’s end, this could very well be the week that Marin ends up leaving at the table in the final standings.

Only five races remain, including two more NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races at Darlington and Bristol, then three NASCAR Cup Series Gen 7 races to round out the Qualifying Series season, those races at Chicagoland, Michigan, and Texas.

TOP SPLIT: BRADY SHINES IN ENASCAR OVERTIME

Another driver representing one of the 20 official teams, Adam Garza, found his stride for the first time this season, claiming the pole position for the Kansas City Pioneers and the Price Chopper brigade. Garza’s time at the top would be short lived, however, as Quentin Warman took control immediately as the field fanned out four and five wide.

There were a couple of incidents in the first half, but none that the sim deemed caution worthy, despite one of the earlier ones sending cars spinning through the ball field. Those wrecks were off the racing surface, and while drivers like Garrett Manes and Quami Scott were forced onto a backfoot, their cars were still raceable and able to compete should a caution fly.

Garza didn’t let losing the lead affect him in the early stages, as on Lap 16, he managed to take back the top spot from Warman. For the next five laps, Garza and Warman stayed in tune with one another, but on Lap 21, Warman’s chances at winning were almost completely taken away as contact from Coca-Cola driver Michael Cosey Jr sent him into Cody Byus, costing tons of time to the leader. That moment still wasn’t big enough for a caution, and as the laps clicked closer to halfway, thoughts of pitting began to creep into everyone’s strategy books.

Whether it was something to be thankful for or not, a caution finally flew in Top Split on Lap 33, the incident in question involving Blake McCandless, Cosey Jr, and Shawn Conklin. Only McCandless went around, but it was high up enough on the racing surface that the caution was called. This allowed everyone to grab enough fuel to make it as well as a new set of tires before they took the green flag once more on Lap 37.

During the next stint, Andrew Navarro made his presence known at the top of the leaderboard, taking the lead from Garza on Lap 48. It looked as though Navarro had the outright pace to cruise to victory, but a second caution with 13 laps to go shook up another pit cycle, with Garza utilizing that first pit stall to reclaim the lead for the next start.

With three laps to go, the race restarted for the second-to-last time, and Navarro was back in control. However, Kenny Brady, who started 10th and lurked in the top-five from lap 20 until the end, got an incredible restart from the second spot along Navarro’s outside, and the battle for the lead was on once more. The two threw everything they had at one another, at one point Navarro almost turning himself off of Michael Frisch’s nose on the final lap. Off of Turn 4, Brady was able to keep the momentum and claim the win.

AROUND THE OTHER SPLITS

The scoresheet will read that the Second Split had one less caution than the Top Split, but because their first one was on the opening lap, and the last three put the race into triple eNASCAR Overtime, Top Split finished just moments before the conclusion to Split No. 2.

Thomas Lloyd started on the pole position alongside Jake Nichols, leading the opening 13 laps through the early yellow and restart before Tyler Garey took over on Lap 14. Nichols, meanwhile, dropped as low as eighth on the first cycle, rebounding to take the lead for the first time on Lap 29. With the timing of the cautions, that meant that there would be green flag pit stops in this particular race.

Nichols led from Lap 29 until the end of Lap 43, where he opted to utilize a bit of an overcut on pit road. It worked, as he reclaimed the lead on Lap 52, leading up until the 64th lap, where things began to get decisive among a plethora of cars all fighting for that top spot.

Joe Armstrong, Dylan Basen, Tyler Garey, Seth Noell, and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor Kaden Honeycutt were all under a blanket for the lead with under five laps to go. With three laps to go, the second caution of the day flew for an incident involving Noell, Garey, and Basen. They all collected it, but this would begin a sequence of events that would ultimately lead to Nichols taking the win.

Wreck after wreck, the overtimes kept coming, up until the third and final one coming to the restart on Lap 80. There were only supposed to be 70 laps on the board at initial look, but due to the number of overtime attempts, the race would last 81 laps. This didn’t bother Nichols, who went on to take the win easily over Jayden Hopp and Honeycutt in third.

This week, there were only 14 splits, the first five yielding enough points to matter in the top-30 conversation. While drivers like Tyler Latterell and Aiden Bierlein have moved up the split order, drivers such as Ethan Eckert in Fourth Split, as well as Aaron Lee and Kevin West in Fifth Split, continue to stay in the conversation with good runs down there.

TOP POINTS SCORERS IN RACE NO. 6 AT AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY

DRIVERS STANDINGS FOLLOWING RACE NO. 6 AT AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY

*Current standings do not include Drop Week

POINTS SITUATION: PAST HALFWAY, STILL NOTHING SET IN STONE

Tuesday night’s Top Split event at Auto Club Speedway was the first race all season that had a Strength of Field under 8000 iRating.  There were still a fair amount of points on the table, as Kenny Brady added 433 to his total, compared to the win at Daytona for Faulkingham being worth 440 points. With that said, the gap closed significantly this week, with Sebastian Marin ultimately losing the lead at the end of the race with his 22nd place effort.

Kenny Brady was 56th in the standings entering the week, purely sat there based on a top-five at Daytona, with three of the four other races being finishes outside the top-20. Now, Brady is in 30th with momentum on his side. Andrew Navarro has had the momentum all season long, just not the win to go along with it. Five of his finishes are top-five finishes, leading laps in a couple of those races, nearly winning at Rockingham and last night.

Drivers outside the top-30 might start to panic at this point. Former Championship Series drivers like Nichols in 32nd and Timothy Holmes in 34th are right on the edge, but others like Matt Bussa (53rd), Blake McCandless (63rd), Brian Mercurio (72nd), Graham Bowlin (80th), and Ray Alfalla (86th) are just barely still in reach, and they’ll likely need to start knocking off wins and top-fives to have a chance from here on out. Anything can still happen as we inch closer to the start of the Championship Series season.

NEXT RACE: DARLINGTON DANCING WITH THE LADY IN BLACK

The seventh race of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series season, and the third in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series machines, will take place at the Darlington Raceway next Tuesday night. Often called the “Lady in Black”, these rookies and veterans alike will be earning their stripes throughout the night. This venue was last on the eNASCAR schedule back in 2024, a Championship Series race that was won by Vicente Salas.

Coverage at Darlington on March 31st begins at 8 p.m. ET at eNASCAR.com/live and across iRacing social media channels. Tune in 15 minutes earlier to catch the Countdown to Green at 7:45 p.m. 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.­­

You may also like...

Recommended

2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series | Race Preview | Round 6 at Auto Club

Recommended

This Week in iRacing | March 24th to March 30th, 2026

Recommended

iRacing Downshift #67: All-New Season 2 Build, iRacing Arcade, and More

Recommended

THIS WEEK: iRacing Sebring 12 Special Event