It has been over three years in the making, but Vicente Salas is finally back in eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series victory lane.
Salas led the final 75 laps in his No. 11 Tony Kannan eSports Toyota and held off Casey Kirwan on an overtime restart to win the Sunoco 120 at the virtual Darlington Raceway. This is Sala’s second career eNCCiS win, with his first victory coming at Richmond back in 2021.
“I think it’s nice to resolidify that speed,” Salas said in the Sunoco Postrace Report. “We’ve had such a dud last couple of seasons, but it’s nice to solidify our spot in the playoffs.”
Kirwan kept Salas honest, but he ultimately settled for a runner-up finish at the track where he won in 2023.
“Honestly, we’ve had a rough few weeks,” Kirwan said postrace. “It’s just good to have a good rebound finish like this.”
Kaden Honeycutt finished third while Dylan Duval took home fourth place. Steven Wilson dominated early in the No. 10 M80 Ford, but he lost several spots on pit road, rallying to a fifth-place finish.
TONIGHT’S ACTION
Wilson started on the pole for the third time in 2024, leading the field to the green flag at The Track Too Tough to Tame. The 40-car field began to spread out as the drivers went to work logging laps early in the race. Wilson led the way through the first green flag run, steadily pulled away to a lead of over a second.
On lap 37, it looked as though the yellow flag might wave for the first time. Jordy Lopez spun around and hit the inside wall on the backstretch following contact with Malik Ray, but the race nonetheless stayed under the green flag as Lopez got his No. 90 Ford back up to speed.
Eight laps later, the caution did come out for Garrett Manes spinning on the backstretch and coming back up the racing surface in his No. 12 Toyota. The entire field came down pit road for four tires and fuel, setting up a significant turning point in the race. Wilson, the dominant driver prior to the caution, made a mistake on pit road and fell to ninth, opening the door for Salas to take the race lead.
The field got back up to speed on lap 49. As the run progressed, Salas and Kirwan broke away from the rest of the pack, looking to settle the race between the two of them. Salas then pulled away from Kirwan, building up a lead of over two seconds as the laps wound down.
However, that gap got erased with six laps to go as Dylan Ault got into the back of Donovan Strauss, igniting a backstretch wreck that brought out the second caution of the evening. On the ensuing yellow-flag stops, Salas maintained the race lead by taking two right-side tires, as did most of the leaders.
Salas and Kirwan made up the front row for the eNASCAR overtime restart. Salas got a good jump out of the restart zone to open up a lead of three car lengths over Kirwan. There was a spin in the back of the pack, but the race stayed green for Salas to take the white flag and then bring his car back around for the checkered flag.
PLAYOFF STANDINGS (FIVE RACES LEFT IN REGULAR SEASON)
| Steven Wilson | 2 Wins |
| Vicente Salas | 1 Win |
| Bobby Zalenski | 1 Win |
| Garrett Lowe | 1 Win |
| Dylan Duval | 1 Win |
| Malik Ray | 1 Win |
| Nick Ottinger | +36 |
| Parker White | +34 |
| Kaden Honeycutt | +17 |
| Casey Kirwan | +13 |
| Tucker Minter | -13 |
| Jimmy Mullis | -30 |
| Kollin Keister | -31 |
Wyatt Tinsley and Keegan Leahy are both race winners, but they are currently ineligible for the playoffs due to being outside the top 20 in points.
In addition to the race win at Darlington, Salas also won segment two of the regular season, picking up an additional five playoff points and a $3,000 bonus.
NEXT UP
The eNCCiS will return to action in two weeks with a trip to the virtual Iowa Speedway on Tuesday, June 11. Race coverage starts at 7:30 p.m. with Countdown to Green, followed by the green flag from The Hawkeye State shortly after 8 p.m. on enascar.com/live, youtube.com/iracingofficial, and twitch.tv/iracing.
About the author
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.
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