Next Tuesday, on October 13th, four drivers will be seated on stage at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Uptown Charlotte with a chance at taking home $100,000 and the Dale Earnhardt Jr cup. For the other 36 competitors, most of their season’s may be decided already, and they’ll only be racing for bragging rights in the 13th and final race of the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series event at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Those who didn’t make the Championship 4 finale are locked into the Free Agency pool for 2027, and at this point, are just trying to finish the best they can, in fifth, to close out their year. As for the other 30 drivers that didn’t qualify for the eNASCAR Postseason, their last three races have been building towards getting above the top-20 relegation line. Joining the 10 eNASCAR Playoff competitors are eight more drivers already locked above the relegation line. That leaves just two spots remaining for eight drivers to compete for at H0mestead-Miami.
Spire Motorsports and the Kansas City Pioneers both have one of their drivers in the Championship 4 Finale, but they will also be competing against each other, as well as the William Byron eSports outlet, for the 2026 Team Championship. The only thing that is locked up, in terms of titles, is the Rookie of the Year battle, which RFK Racing’s Shawn Conklin clinched just barely over Kanaan Esports’ Sebastian Marin and TC Esports’ Matthew Morton the last time out at Kansas. Here are all of the things to keep an eye on outside of the battle for the 2026 championship.
TWO SPOTS LEFT TO CLAIM INSIDE TOP 20
Eight drivers still have the opportunity to save their spot on the Free Agency roster for the 2026 season by finishing inside the top-20 in the final standings following Homestead-Miami. Well, sort of. On September 24th, Channel 199 Sim Racing’s Dylan Duval announced that 2026 will be his final eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season after “many months of careful consideration“. Duval, a two-time winner in the series, has made the last two playoff iterations, and the season before that, finished the best of those outside the postseason, in 11th.
Duval’s career dates all the way back to the early days, in 2012, this final race being his 196th to date, the sixth-most in series history, only behind Ray Alfalla (243 starts), Nick Ottinger (239), Matt Bussa (225), Michael Conti (208), and Brad Davies (197). Duval can point his way into the top-20 and reconsider his choice, but should he maintain his wishes up until the Qualifying Series starts anew in 2027, only 19 drivers from the top-20 relegation would be joining Free Agency instead.
Currently in those two spots are the Rick Ware Racing duo of Daniel Faulkingham and Garrett Manes. For Faulkingham, the job is simply to finish 27th or better, no matter what anyone else does around him. Despite his Daytona win in his pocket, Manes has a more difficult position, needing a third place finish or better to clinch his place. Besides the win counting for five points more than a second place, each spot is a single point difference between second and 36th, which means if Duval beats Manes by eight spots in that range, or Faulkingham by 32 in that same range, he can move back above that cut line.
Duval isn’t the only driver below the line with a chance, however. BS+Competition’s Jordy Lopez, ERA eSports Team’s Michael Cosey Jr, Team Dillon Esports’ Blaze Crawford, and Letarte eSports’ Thomas Lloyd are all in range to make something happen at Homestead-Miami Speedway as well. Lopez is just one point behind Duval, and would need either nine spots on Manes or 33 spots on Faulkingham, as well as two spots on Duval, to point back above the line.
From there, it gets a bit more tricky for Cosey Jr, Crawford, and Lloyd. They cannot pass Faulkingham, which means that Daniel only has to worry about his teammate, Dylan, and Jordy on Tuesday night. Cosey Jr is 16 points behind Manes, which means he would need to beat Manes by 17 spots in the second-t0-36th range, as well as Duval by 10 spots and Lopez by nine spots, while not giving Crawford a finishing position more than a single spot ahead, or Lloyd two spots.
Those numbers become 19 over Manes, 12 over Duval, and 11 over Lopez for Crawford, while also beating both Cosey by three spots and keeping Lloyd behind as well. Lloyd needs 20 over Manes, 13 over Duval, 12 over Lopez, four over Cosey, and one over Crawford to get his place inside the top-20.
Blake Reynolds (Channel 199 Sim Racing) is also mathematically eligible, but his Dr. Strange 1-in-14,000,005 universe scenario would involve a victory, a maximum of four points by Manes (33rd or worse), a maximum of 11 points by Duval (26th or worse), a maximum of 12 points by Lopez (25th or worse), a maximum of 20 points by Cosey Jr (17th or worse), a maximum of 22 points by Crawford (15th or worse), and a maximum of 23 points by Lloyd (14th or worse). If Reynolds were to finish second or worse, there would be no scenario where he could beat or break a tie with Manes, who has a win to his credit.
RELEGATION LINE STANDINGS ENTERING FINALE
| POS | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | POINTS | + / – | WINS | POLES | TOP 5’S | TOP 10’S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 55 | Daniel Faulkingham | Rick Ware Racing | 228 | +31 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 20 | 51 | Garrett Manes | Rick Ware Racing | 204 | +7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| —————————————————————RELEGATION CUTOFF————————————————————— | |||||||||
| 21 | 199 | Dylan Duval | Channel 199 Sim Racing | 197 | -7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 22 | 89 | Jordy Lopez | BS+Competition | 196 | -8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 23 | 34 | Michael Cosey Jr | ERA eSports Team | 188 | -16 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 24 | 3 | Blaze Crawford | Team Dillon Esports | 186 | -18 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 25 | 36 | Thomas Lloyd | Letarte eSports | 185 | -19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 26 | 86 | Blake Reynolds | Channel 199 Sim Racing | 169 | -35 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
TEAM TITLE DOWN TO THREE
In the six prior seasons of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series, six different teams have been crowned as Team Champions. The first official year was in 2020, that title won by the Virtual Racing School. 23XI Racing won it in 2021, Stewart-Haas eSports took it in 2022, Team Dillon Esports was victorious in 2023, Williams Esports wound up first in 2024, and last year, Spire Motorsports claimed victory.
That same Spire duo of Steven Wilson and Femi Olatunbosun is back on top entering the finale, leading the Kansas City Pioneers by 38 points and William Byron eSports by 47 points. The Pioneers have Casey Kirwan and Wyatt Tinsley on their roster, while William Byron eSports has Tucker Minter and Christopher Hill. Wilson will also be facing Tinsley from the Pioneers for the overall championship while their two teams face off for the team title on Tuesday night.
Wilson’s been on two Team Championship-winning teams, last year’s as well as 2022’s at Stewart-Haas with Dylan Duval. Minter also knows how to get a team title done, having done it together with Jordy Lopez at Team Dillon back in 2023.
There are only a maximum of 75 points available per race per team, so anyone 73 points or more behind, like Williams F1 Team Gaming and Letarte eSports, no longer have a mathematically shot. It will truly take both drivers to make the title happen, although if Wilson or Olatunbosun were to win or finish in second place, that would wrap up the title for Spire no matter what anyone else does.
KCP could max out points, but as long as Spire scores a combined 37 points on the night, they will clinch a second-straight Team Championship and become the first team to have multiple team titles.
TEAM STANDINGS ENTERING FINALE
| POS | NOS. | TEAM | POINTS | + / – | WINS | POLES | TOP 5’S | TOP 10’S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | 77 | Spire Motorsports | 618 | Ldr. | 3 | 0 | 10 | 12 |
| 2 | 20 | 24 | Kansas City Pioneers | 580 | -38 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 9 |
| 3 | 25 | 97 | William Byron eSports | 571 | -47 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 10 |
| 4 | 4 | 95 | Williams F1 Team Gaming | 522 | -96 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 5 | 36 | 40 | Letarte eSports | 514 | -104 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 11 |
| 6 | 11 | 66 | Kanaan Esports | 490 | -128 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| 7 | 22 | 34 | ERA eSports Team | 477 | -141 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| 8 | 51 | 55 | Rick Ware Racing | 432 | -186 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 9 | 8 | 88 | JR Motorsports | 426 | -192 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 10 | 6 | 17 | RFK Racing | 425 | -193 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
SHAWN CONKLIN CLAIMS 2026 ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
A magical rookie season for RFK’s Shawn Conklin ended in disaster two weeks ago at Kansas Speedway. Still with a chance to qualify for the Championship 4 Finale, Conklin’s night started off with a poor qualifying result, and ended almost instantly in Turn 1 on the opening lap.
With just a single point, Conklin’s championship chances were gone, but it was the point he needed to clinch the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series Rookie of the Year honors a week early. If either Kanaan Esports’ Sebastian Marin or TC Esports’ Matthew Morton had won, there would still be a fight to be had at Homestead-Miami next week.
With last year’s Rookie of the Year, Letarte eSports’ Connor Yeroschak, finally breaking through for his maiden win at the most important time in his career, that kept the others from victory lane and allows Conklin to drive into the finale with already earned accolades.
ROOKIE STANDINGS ENTERING FINALE
| POS | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | POINTS | + / – | WINS | POLES | TOP 5’S | TOP 10’S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 | Shawn Conklin | RFK Racing | 289 | Ldr. | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 66 | Sebastian Marin | Kanaan Esports | 248 | -41 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 35 | Matthew L Morton | TC Esports | 246 | -43 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | 36 | Thomas Lloyd | Letarte eSports | 185 | -104 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | 33 | Kenny Brady | Team Dillon Esports | 159 | -130 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | 6 | Dylan Basen | RFK Racing | 136 | -153 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 69 | Seth Noell | eRacr | 133 | -156 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 01 | Tommy Gossett | Vegas Inferno | 123 | -166 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 42 | Logan Helton | eRacr | 89 | -200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
OTHER NOTES AND TIDBITS TO WATCH
Tucker Minter and Casey Kirwan will be fighting for a Team Championship, but they’ll also be looking to be the best of the rest and grab the fifth spot in the final points. Minter enters with a four-point advantage over Kirwan. Zack Novak will be aiming to lock up 11th in the standings, he’s 32 points ahead of Texas winner Quentin Warman entering the finale.
Every race, the competition is given a penalty report which includes race control decisions on all wrecks throughout the races. Nine drivers have been clean this year, including Championship 4 competitor Wyatt Tinsley, postseason competitor Garrett Lowe (BS+Competition), cut-line competitors Daniel Faulkingham, Jordy Lopez, Thomas Lloyd, and Blake Reynolds, almost Nashville winner Dylan Basen (RFK Racing), almost Daytona winner Jake Nichols (TC Esports), and eRacr’s Seth Noell. They’ll all be hoping to keep clean through the end of the season.
NEXT RACE: CHAMPIONSHIP NIGHT AT THE HALL OF FAME
In just one week, the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series season concludes with a title fight at virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway, live from Uptown Charlotte at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Tune in to the action starting at 7:30 p.m. ET for the extended Countdown to Green pre-race show. Join us at the Hall or watch live at eNASCAR.com/live or the iRacing social channels.
For more information on the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, visit eNASCAR.com or iRacing.com/eNASCAR.
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