University of Maine at Machias’ Daniel Faulkingham scores eNASCAR College iRacing Series victory at Michigan

The second half to the 2023-24 eNASCAR College iRacing Series powered by NACE Starleague began with truck racing action from the Irish Hills of Michigan International Speedway on Tuesday night.

65 laps were scheduled for the top-40 collegiate level sim racers that qualified into the show, but a trio of eNASCAR Overtime attempts extended the race to 74 laps. On the final attempt, University of Maine at Machias’ Daniel Faulkingham was able to hold off a three-wide battle to the line to win his second race of the season over Sacramento State’s Dylan Ault and the defending series champion, Cal State Fullerton’s Logan Clampitt.

Clampitt led the field to the green alongside Michigan’s Matthew Zwack. Faulkingham, back in the third starting spot, quickly moved into the lead and held the top spot while positions shuffled behind. University of Iowa’s Steven Wilson worked his way up from the 16th starting spot to lead the second most laps, 20.

Last year’s event went caution-free in the Xfinity Series cars, but with the Craftsman Trucks allowing for more close proximity racing, cautions were plentiful through this year’s event, the race slowed seven times for 23 laps. At times, drivers took it three or four wide, sometimes even five, but often, those instances resulted in incidents.

As the laps wound down, the yellows flew more frequently. One late race spin setup for eNASCAR Overtime, and immediately on that first attempt, the field was frozen again for a restart incident. The second attempt got close, but Wilson wound up on the wrecker after a massive crash in the front shook up the standings. Faulkingham continued to maintain the lead through each attempt, but Clampitt got close on a few occasions.

The final attempt would see the race finish under green. Clampitt looked outside of Faulkingham while Ault looked low. Faulkingham had just enough momentum to hang on for his second win of the season. Two Michigan drivers, Sean Peleg and Zwack, rounded out the top-5.

eNASCAR College iRacing Series results from Michigan International Speedway were as follows:

eNASCAR College iRacing Series racing will return next month, back in the NASCAR Xfinity cars, with the sixth round of the season from Darlington Raceway. Qualifying will run from January 31st to February 13th, and the main event is scheduled for Tuesday, February 20th, live at 8 p.m. ET on eNASCAR.com/live and across iRacing social media channels. 

The eNASCAR College iRacing Series Powered by NACE Starleague is supported by Coca-Cola, Logitech G, and DBOX. For more information on the series and how to compete, visit https://playfly.com/enascar-college-iracing-series/. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

About the Series: The eNASCAR College iRacing Series gives college students from the United States and Canada the opportunity to compete for their share of $60,000 in scholarships. Using machines from the NASCAR Xfinity Series or NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 40 drivers qualify for the event by registering here and posting their fastest lap times in a two-week Time Attack through the iRacing UI. With hundreds of colleges and universities represented in each Time Attack and only one representative per school, drivers are competing not only against the greater iRacing community, but also their own classmates, for a spot on the prestigious grid.

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