Quentin Warman clinches title, Free Agency return with eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series victory at Michigan

The penultimate showdown of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series took to the virtual Irish Hills of Michigan on Tuesday night. 30 slots in eNASCAR Free Agency are on the line at the end of this season, but at least a third of those have been mathematically spoken for following the events at Michigan International Speedway.

Quentin Warman, who was a Hyak Motorsports driver in the 2025 Championship Series season, has been the most consistent driver so far, netting him as a top seeded prospect entering Free Agency next month. Entering Michigan, the Illinois native held the points lead following yet another top-10 finish at Chicagoland to kick off the Gen 7 section of the schedule. Even his worst finish of the season, a 20th at Auto Club, is one of the best dropped points amounts of the season. The only thing Warman didn’t have through the first nine races was a win.

That changed on Tuesday night in eNASCAR Overtime. Matthew Morton, who was fast last week at Chicagoland, was in control. Warman, on a similar strategy, was alongside for the final restart. The two stayed side-by-side cleanly, but the top had just that much more of an advantage as Warman cleared around and claimed his first win of the season. The win not only guarantees his already guaranteed points to qualify for Free Agency, but it also clinches the 2026 title for Warman.

Warman thought he had all but lost it off T2 pic.twitter.com/bYKc04b6uW

— NASCAR Gaming and Esports (@ENASCARGG) April 22, 2026

Warman leads the three-time winner on the season, up-and-coming sensation Sebastian Marin by 282 points. A Top Split victory has ranged around 429 to 440 points. Even if it were to be a 450 points day, which would be record shattering Strength of Field numbers in the series, Warman’s drop of 183 points at Auto Club means that the gap is 465 points over the field, which means he won’t be beat, even if he decides to take the finale week off.

Warman, Morton, and Marin are three of the drivers that mathematically cannot fall outside of the top-30 at this point, considering their points over 31st and the maximum points expected for Texas. Essentially, the top-10 are locked, plus Cody Byus in 12th due to his drop week reserve getting him across the finish line. Nate Stewart in 11th is pretty safe, as are most of the drivers inside the top-20.

It’s still not just about the top-split, however, as Second Split still has plenty of drivers in the mix, such as Stewart, above and below the cut line. Jake Nichols claimed his second Split 2 win of the season and locked his place into Free Agency as a result. There are a couple of drivers inside the top-30 that have resided in Split 3, and just one driver—Ethan Eckert—sits inside the top-30 as a driver competing from Fourth Split. The drivers towards the cut line, on both sides, will be where the action lies, and where the focus will be as the final race, the Sim Racing Expo 150, will determine the final standings.

TOP SPLIT: ENASCAR OVERTIME GIVES WARMAN ADVANTAGE OVER MORTON

While the Strength of Field number in the Top Split is about 100 iRating less than where the season started, there are still plenty of holdouts giving it their all to try and make the top-30. Some have accepted their fate, including 4-Time Championship Series champion Ray Alfalla, in a post made at the end of the O’Reilly car section of the schedule. Others such as Quami Scott are refusing to give up, and with his fuel save to victory last week, he’s still hanging on by a thread.

Michigan is one of the great equalizers, being a bigger track that offers faster racing, allowing for closer combat and for those needing good days to find one. Still, the cream always seems to rise to the top, and it surely did by the end of 72 laps on Tuesday night as two of the top prospects—Quentin Warman and Matthew Morton—found themselves at the front for the final restart.

Leading up to that, Jacob Wilkerson, who entered the night below the cut line, claimed his first pole position of the season and led the Top Split to the green flag. Wilkerson led the opening 15 laps before Michael Cosey Jr took control on Lap 16. Cosey Jr looked to have one of the cars to beat, but a caution on Lap 21 set the field up for strategy shenanigans as the question became two or four tires on pit road. The field could likely stretch it to the end from there on gas, so was it worth having the fresher lefts or the track position? As it turned out, neither at the end of the night.

Daytona winner Daniel Faulkingham wound up taking control with a two-tire call on Lap 23. The race ran green for another 15 lap chunk or so when a second caution flew on Lap 40. With 30 scheduled laps to go, and tire wear seemingly less important than track position, the field was split on whether to pit or not. Warman and Morton were third and fourth and decided to pit, resulting in the pair restarting in the bottom half of the field. Interestingly, Warman was ahead entering, but slid past his box slightly, which gave Morton the advantage on exit.

Faulkingham stayed out, but his two-tire call from earlier would soon cost him a chance at winning. The moment came on Lap 51, where Faulkingham was seemingly holding on for dear life, nearly drifting through the exit of Turn 2. This allowed Auto Club winner Kenny Brady to get by for a moment, but at this point, those that had pitted were making their way up to the top of the pylon with their new tire advantage.

Brady did his best to hang on, but on Lap 58, Morton was in control for the first time all night, with Warman and Shawn Conklin following through as well. Things were heading towards a Morton victory, but one last caution at Lap 67 set up for one last restart in eNASCAR Overtime. Brady opted to pit, but the new tires just weren’t the right call for a short dash, as he wound up 20th. The top-15 stayed out, and most of them stayed there at the checkers. Up front, Warman bested Morton to claim his first win of the year.

AROUND THE OTHER SPLITS

Second Split was once again the other split on display during the broadcast. Patrick Moose, who works for 23XI as a mechanic for a day job, took the pole position and led the opening laps. Kabe McClenny took control on Lap 10, but from all the way back in the 29th starting spot, Tommy Gossett had avoided the early chaos and had a ripper of a set underneath, good enough to take the lead and control of the race on Lap 18.

Gossett led until Lap 30, where a caution mixed up the running order. Jake Nichols took control for a few laps, at one point yielding the lead to John Hall, but then claimed it back before Gossett was in control again on Lap 44.

Cautions marred the second split enough to make it the longest race of the night, the race ultimately including three attempts of eNASCAR Overtime. Before they got there, however, Nichols was able to get back by Gossett before heading into the first Overtime. After three solid restarts, Nichols was able to hold off Dylan Cardenas, Timothy Holmes, and Gossett for his second win of the season.

Down in Third Split, Mitchell Hunt (4th), Abraham Vela (9th), and Jose Solis Jr (10th) were able to claim finishes good enough to keep them inside the top-30. Blake Giglio did lose some gap to the cut by finishing 23rd, but still has a solid chance at staying inside the top-30 by the end of the season. In Split 4, Ethan Eckert picked up a second place finish to also stay inside the top-30 entering the finale.

TOP POINTS SCORERS IN RACE NO. 10 AT MICHIGAN INT’L SPEEDWAY

DRIVERS STANDINGS FOLLOWING RACE NO. 10 AT MICHIGAN INT’L SPEEDWAY

*Current standings reflect Drop Week rule

POINTS SITUATION: THE LEAST AMOUNT OF POINTS YOU’LL HAVE

The way I’ve positioned this championship is that entering the final week, this is the least amount of points that all drivers will have. When considering a drop week, all of the contenders have a race on the back burner that they will either be getting rid of after the 11th race, or utilizing as part of their final standings because they could not improve upon that result. Unless drivers don’t show up, more than likely, every driver will forego their current drop and add more points to their total.

As mentioned above, Warman is in a position where his points without a drop, and the amount of points he would drop, is not able to be overcome by any other competitor, making him the de facto champion of the Qualifying Series, although he won’t be receiving any trophies or accolades for it. The reward is a seat in the driver pool during Free Agency, the same reward for the top-30 as a whole. While a better standing could entice a team to contact that driver over another, the fact is that if your name is on that list, you’ll need to market yourselves to the prospective teams out there and sign into the series the same as everyone else. Stats are important, but they are not the end all, be all.

Mathematically speaking, Warman, Sebastian Marin, Garrett Manes, Matthew Morton, Andrew Navarro, Dylan Basen, Joe Armstrong, Jake Nichols, Michael Cosey Jr, and Seth Noell cannot fall out of the top-30. Nate Stewart, in 11th, could under the most extreme conditions, but Cody Byus, in 12th, has enough pad in his drop to make him safe.

In fact, a lot of drops make a lot of drivers confident that they’ve made the list, but even one missed race could spell disaster. Take Tyler Latterell, who was 20th entering Michigan, but after not racing, he’s 32nd. That could be anyone that doesn’t have a mathematical lock. Expect that the most points able to be earned will be around 425 to 435 points, depending on the Strength of Field. A top-15 to top-20 run could be more than enough for some of the drivers above the cut. Others will have to have their best efforts forward to both stay ahead of the cut line, or move above it.

NEXT RACE: A FORT WORTH QUALIFYING SERIES FINISH

The 11th and final race of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Qualifying Series season, the third of which that will utilize the NASCAR Cup Series Generation 7 car, will take place at Texas Motor Speedway next Tuesday night. The Sim Racing Expo 150 is a 100-lap finale to determine who will make the top-30 and enter eNASCAR Free Agency.

Coverage at Texas on April 21st 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.­­

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