After coming close so many times, Parker White is finally a winner in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, and it could not have come at a better time.
White dominated late and stayed ahead of numerous wrecks to win at the virtual Phoenix Raceway and punch his ticket to the Championship 4. Donovan Strauss, his Williams eSports teammate, finished right behind him in second.
“To win this race, it means so much to me,” White said during the Sunoco Post Race Report. “Really just the execution all race was there. Staying on the bottom on restarts was very important.”
Vicente Salas needed to get by White to make the Championship 4, but he came up just short in third. Late-race contact with Zack Novak played a factor in Salas being unable to get to White.
“I think we played the strategy we best we could,” Salas said. “I think the significant problem you all saw in the broadcast here is someone who had nothing to lose. [Novak] hadn’t done anything in the series this year or the last few years. He flat drove through us, kind of took our chance away.”
With two more championship spots open on points, Graham Bowlin and Bobby Zalenski raced their way into the Championship 4, finishing seventh and sixth, respectively.
It was a sloppy night for the eNCCiS field, with a total of 13 cautions in the 120-lap race.
TONIGHT’S ACTION
Tucker Minter turned the fastest lap in qualifying to sit in the pole, but Salas had his nose in front when an early caution came out on lap 3.
Salas took advantage of being the control car on the ensuing lap 7 restart to get a jump on Minter and the rest of the field. Salas built up a lead of slightly over half a second before the second caution of the evening flew on lap 25 for an incident between Garrett Manes and Michael Cosey Jr. Salas lost the lead on the ensuing pit stops as five drivers stayed on the racetrack, led by Malik Ray.
This is where the racing got choppy, with five more cautions over the next 30 laps. By lap 42, Salas navigated his way back to the top of the scoring pylon, with fellow playoff driver White hot on his tail.
Salas led the field back to the green on lap 60, but as they passed the halfway point, yet another caution came out for a backstretch crash involving Collin Bowden, Darik Bourdeau, and playoff driver Dylan Duval.
The 40-car field got back up to speed with 55 laps remaining for the beginning of a slightly longer green-flag run. But the pace again slowed with 40 to go for another big wreck on the backstretch, with playoff driver Nick Ottinger among those involved.
This latest caution led to another split in strategy, with the majority of the field taking tires and fuel and others staying out. This allowed Daniel Faulkingham, in a must-win position to advance, to inherit the race lead.
Faulkingham’s stay at the front proved to be short-lived, as White sped by on fresher tires with 32 laps remaining. Later that lap, the field went under the yellow flag for the 10th time for a crash that caused some damage to playoff driver Garrett Lowe.
On the restart with 22 laps remaining, both Steven Wilson and Minter got sent tumbling through the field due to contact from behind. White, meanwhile, appeared to be running away with the lead with teammate Strauss behind him before the 12th caution of the night at 18 laps to go.
White again got a strong restart with 13 laps left, while Salas closed in on him and Strauss. Salas cleared Novak for third, but then Novak got into the back of Salas to take the spot back, sending Salas up the racetrack. Luckily for Salas, the caution came out just prior to him losing the position due to a separate incident in the back.
This allowed Salas to move back up to third for the ensuing restart with seven laps remaining. It would be all for naught though, as White drove away for the first win of his eNCCiS career and a ticket to the Championship 4.
PLAYOFF GRID (Championship 4 Set)
| Driver | Phoenix Finish | Points |
| Steven Wilson | 12th | LOCKED IN |
| Parker White | 1st | LOCKED IN |
| Graham Bowlin | 7th | 2097 (+13) |
| Bobby Zalenski | 6th | 2094 (+10) |
| Vicente Salas | 3rd | 2084 (-10) |
| Tucker Minter | 19th | 2067 (-27) |
| Garrett Lowe | 23rd | 2057 (-37) |
| Daniel Faulkingham | 11th | 2055 (-39) |
| Nick Ottinger | 22nd | 2035 (-59) |
| Dylan Duval | 27th | 2034 (-60) |
NEXT UP
An eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will be crowned on Tuesday, Oct. 1, with a 100-lap race at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway. For the third year in a row, the Championship 4 drivers will vie for the title in front of a live audience at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C.
Race coverage starts at 7 p.m. with a special one-hour edition of Countdown to Green, followed by the green flag shortly after 8 p.m. on enascar.com/live, youtube.com/iracingofficial, and twitch.tv/iracing.
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.