Field Set for the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Title and $300,000 Prize

Published 12/24/2020, 9:32 AM EST

On Tuesday, the 2020 iRacing Pro Series season wrapped up with the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway race. From there, around 21 drivers were bumped up to the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series in 2021.

With this, the 40-driver grid for the NASCAR iRacing series is finally complete. All 40 racers will duke it out for over $300,000 in prizes, including $100,000 to the eventual champion.

Meanwhile, the other half of the iRacing field consists of the top 20 drivers from last season. It is worth noting that the Road to Pro Series division is open to any driver with a standard license. However, this series is quite ruthless to the sim racers, as they have to consistently perform to the best of their ability.

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So, the 2021 NASCAR iRacing Series will field 11 rookie drivers from the iRacing Pro Series. This includes Isaac Gann, Mitchell deJong, Garrett Manes, Femi Olat, Derek Justis, Jake Matheson, Ryan Doucette, Vicente Salas, Zack Nichols, Blade Whitt, and Steven Wilson.

Admittedly, Wilson lucked out on a seat, despite finishing 21st. As it turned out, Christian Challiner accepted a job at iRacing and had to forfeit his 18th-place finish, freeing up a berth.

Who else will join the eNASCAR iRacing series?

This season also marks a chance of redemption for eight drivers; those drivers ended up in the bottom-20 and got relegated from the top level. One of them was 2019 iRacing Series champion Zack Novak, who could not defend his title successfully.

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Aside from Novak, there are racers like Ashton Crowder, Nathan Lyon, Malik Ray, and Michael Guest. Other racers include Brian Schoenburg, Dylan Duval and Matt Bussa.

Meanwhile, former Coca-Cola iRacing Series drivers Taylor Hurst and Allen Boes are also in the fray. The two of them are returning to the sim racing scene after a while, with Hurst last racing in 2019, and Boes all the way back in 2017.

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On the other end of the spectrum, there were a lot of drivers who missed the cut and made way for the new arrivals. Drivers who failed to make the cut were, Santiago Tirres, Brandon Hayse Kettelle, Chris Overland, Alex McCollum, Michael Guariglia, Justin Bolton, Eric J. Smith, Kollin Keister, Jarl Teien, and Steve Sheehan.

One thing is for sure, the coming season should be very intriguing and exciting. The big question is, who will come out on top in the eNASCAR series?

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Written by:

Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.