Phoenix Win Propels Salas Into eNASCAR Championship 4

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Considering he called his shot over the summer while at a zMAX CARS Tour event, Vicente Salas’ win in Tuesday night’s penultimate eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series race of the season was anything but a surprise.

Entering the virtual one-mile Phoenix Raceway oval in a nearly must-win scenario to make the Championship 4, Salas dominated the Logitech G Play 120, doing exactly what he had to do in order to get there.

The Temecula, Calif., native and driver for Tony Kanaan eSports started from the pole and rarely trailed, ceding the top spot only once during a mid-race restart and leading a race-high 107 laps en route to his third victory this year.

Though he was jumped briefly by fellow must-win contender Jordy Lopez on lap 54, during the first of two sets of pit stops, Salas pounced back 14 laps later during a later restart and never trailed again.

He paced the final 54 circuits and pulled away during an overtime finish to earn both his fifth career Coca-Cola Series victory and the right to race for the championship for the first time.

“There are so many people that go into making these cars fast, and it’s all for them that we got this one done,” said Salas, who believed for months that he would win at the desert oval, after the race. “It’s only our third win on the year, but I know we could have had a lot more if not for circumstances that affected us here and there.

“I’m glad we could come up clutch at the right time to get us one here when it mattered most,” Salas added. “I feel like I’ve been considered a bit of an underdog my whole time in the series, but I’ve worked really hard on my mindset and mentality over the past couple of years to get to this point.

“We came up short last year, but correcting the mistakes I made then allowed me to come back stronger and do what we had to this time, especially on all the restarts we had late in the going there.”

What looked like it might be a rather orderly race despite an opening-lap incident began to turn chaotic once the second yellow of the race waved on lap 52, when Collin Bowden went around in a smoky spin.

That set up the sequence of pit stops where Lopez took the lead, and Lopez took advantage during the next three restarts that followed, getting the jump on Salas each time and looking like he might have a chance to jump into the final four in his own right from the ninth seed coming in.

But Lopez’s chance evaporated after the race’s fourth caution period, when Steven Wilson – already locked into the title round via his playoff-opening win two races earlier – and Timothy Holmes tangled amid a four-wide battle to slow the pace.

It set up a single-file restart with 54 laps left, and Salas charged immediately back to the race lead with authority, leaving Lopez to fade back as the laps wound down and cautions continued to pile up.

A spinning Cody Byus was the culprit that set up overtime, bringing out the last of eight cautions and pushing the race one lap past its scheduled distance.

Salas was unfazed, however, driving away from a scrum for position behind him to score the biggest win of his eNASCAR career.

Top rookie contender Connor Yeroschak made a late move in overtime to secure a career-best runner-up finish, with Lopez ending up third and falling two positions shy of the victory he needed to break into the Championship 4.

Casey Kirwan, the 2022 Coca-Cola Series champion, used a fourth-place finish to earn the lone available berth in the Championship 4 on points.

He edged reigning series champion Parker White by nine points in the tally to advance to the title race.

Zack Novak crossed fifth, with his win from the middle race in the Round of 10 at Texas Motor Speedway having locked him into the finale already and giving him a chance at his first crown since 2019.

Ryan Luza, Bobby Zalenski, Donovan Strauss, Dylan Ault, and Garrett Lowe closed out the top 10.

After being collected in the opening-lap fracas and sustaining damage to his No. 95, White made a valiant drive from the rear of the field back up to finish 16th, but could never find enough speed to make a concerted run at advancing on despite coming in above the cut line in the playoff picture.

Along with White and Lopez, Bobby Zalenski, Tucker Minter, Dylan Duval, and Kollin Keister were also eliminated from championship contention following the Phoenix event.

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season concludes with its now-traditional live season finale on Tuesday, Oct. 7, where the four title contenders race for the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Trophy in person at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Pre-race coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET, with racing starting at 8 p.m. ET, streamed live on the iRacing eSports Network via enascar.com/live.

RESULTS: eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series; Phoenix Raceway; Avondale, Ariz.; Sept. 16, 2025

Logitech G Play 120 Race (121 laps, extended from 120 due to overtime finish): 1. 11-Vicente Salas [1], 2. 40-Connor Yeroschak [11], 3. 89-Jordy Lopez [2], 4. 24-Casey Kirwan [7], 5. 2-Zack Novak [3], 6. 12-Ryan Luza [18], 7. 22-Bobby Zalenski [13], 8. 4-Donovan Strauss [17], 9. 47-Dylan Ault [33], 10. 99-Garrett Lowe [32], 11. 97-Tucker Minter [5], 12. 42-Logan Clampitt [28], 13. 14-Seth DeMerchant [4], 14. 25-Nick Ottinger [22], 15. 7-Femi Olatunbosun [21], 16. 95-Parker White [16], 17. 34-Michael Cosey Jr. [36], 18. 50-Quentin Warman [12], 19. 21-Michael Guest [30], 20. 36-Quami Scott [38], 21. 15-Kollin Keister [34], 22. 88-Briar LaPradd [24], 23. 96-Christopher Hill [9], 24. 62-Matt Bussa [27], 25. 1-Malik Ray [19], 26. 48-Graham Bowlin [26], 27. 33-Taylor Hurst [8], 28. 8-Blake McCandless [29], 29. 5-Nate Stewart [37], 30. 3-Blaze Crawford [14], 31. 98-Cody Byus [31], 32. 19-Michael Frisch [20], 33. 69-Tyler Garey [35], 34. 199-Dylan Duval [10], 35. 39-Daniel Faulkingham [15], 36. 6-Collin Bowden [39], 37. 66-Alexander Russell [40], 38. 29-Jimmy Mullis [25], 39. 77-Steven Wilson [6], 40. 17-Timothy Holmes [23].

Lead Changes: Two among two drivers

Lap Leader(s): Vicente Salas 1-53, Jordy Lopez 54-67, Vicente Salas 68-121.

Laps Led: Vicente Salas 107, Jordy Lopez 14.

Hard Charger: 47-Dylan Ault (+24)

Fastest Qualifier: 11-Vicente Salas; 25.895 seconds (139.023 mph); eighth career and fifth of season

Rookie of the Race: 40-Connor Yeroschak (2nd)

Caution Flags: Eight for 24 laps

Winning Team: Tony Kanaan eSports

Margin of Victory: .437 seconds

Time of Race: One hour, 10 minutes, 6.998 seconds

Average Speed: 103.542 mph

Fastest Lap: 11-Vicente Salas, 26.105 seconds (137.905 mph), Lap 104