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Parker White Makes Dramatic Last Lap Pass to Capture 2024 eNASCAR Coke Series Championship

In a career-defining last lap move, Parker White emerged from an epic championship battle to add his name to the list of eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series champions. White also won the season finale race at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway for his second career eNCCiS victory.

White outlasted defending series champion Steven Wilson, who finished second to come up just one spot short in his title defense. Graham Bowlin rallied from a poor qualifying effort to finish third, while Bobby Zalenski fell to 14th after spinning on the final lap while racing for the championship.

Non-playoff drivers Wyatt Tinsley and Tucker Minter completed the top five in fourth and fifth, respectively.

White’s championship victory helped spearhead Williams eSports to the team title as White and teammate Donovan Strauss combined for 884 points, 27 points ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing.  

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TONIGHT’S ACTION

Vicente Salas edged out Wilson for the pole position, leading the field to green. Salas maintained the top spot throughout the opening green-flag run, while Wilson and White drove right in his tire tracks in second and third, respectively.

Bowlin, meanwhile, was the biggest mover through the field in the opening run, rallying from his 26th starting spot to sixth when the first caution came out on lap 30. The field went under yellow due to a three-car incident on the backstretch involving Zack Novak, Jimmy Mullis, and Kollin Keister.

The yellow flag brought the entire field down pit road for tires and fuel, and Wilson won the race off of pit road to assume the lead, with White hot on his heels in second.

On the lap 34 restart, Wilson got a good jump to easily clear White for the lead. Ten laps later, Keister spun on the backstretch to put the race back under the yellow flag. This led to a split in strategy, with the majority of drivers coming down for fresh tires and to top off on fuel while others stayed out for track position.

As a result of strategy, Salas was back out front when the race went back green on lap 49. It did not take long for playoff drivers to move back up through the grid, with Wilson, White and Zalenski maneuvering their way to second, third, and fifth, respectively. Bowlin stayed within striking distance at eighth on track.

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The race stayed green until 27 laps to go when Keister crashed on the backstretch, this time hitting the inside wall for the third caution of the evening. This set the stage for another critical stage of pit stops.

Minter took the race lead, but Zalenski rolled the dice with a two-tire stop to move up to second and first among the Championship 4. Wilson and White fell back to ninth and 10th, and Bowlin came off pit road 14th.  

The race restarted with 22 laps remaining, but it only stayed green for half a lap as a big wreck took out several drivers on the backstretch.

After another quick caution, the field got back up to speed with 11 laps remaining. Zalenski restarted as the championship leader in second, but it only took one lap for Wilson to get right behind him in third. Wilson then passed Zalenski for second and first among the Championship 4 coming to nine to go, just in time for the race’s sixth caution flag.

With four laps to go, Zalenski got a great jump again on the restart to clear Wilson for the Championship 4 lead, only for Wilson to counter with a pass of his own one lap later, just before yet another caution flag forced eNASCAR overtime.

In overtime, Zalenski got another great restart to clear Wilson off of turn two with White lurking in fourth. Zalenski drove hard to the inside of the leader Minter entering turn three, but he left the door open for Wilson to go three wide off of four.

Just after the white flag, White made the move of his career, making it four-wide with Wilson, Zalenski, and Minter. Wilson drove in deep into turn one, but it turned out to be too deep as Wilson moved up the track and into the wall. That cleared the way for White to take the lead and keep it until the checkered flag.

NEXT UP

This concludes the 2024 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season. The series will return in February 2025, with the full season schedule to be released soon.

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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