BoBBy Zalenski making his case as a championship favorite for enascar early in 2023

ByJustinMelillo Junior Gaming and eSports Editor, Traxion.GG

One-third of the 18-race eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series schedule is in the rear-view mirror after the virtual checkered flag flew at Talladega Superspeedway on April 18th.

I’m a numerology type of guy, so with the number 18 lining up, plus being one-third of the way through the schedule so far, it would make sense this month to highlight the driver of the No. 18 who has won two of the six, or rather, one-third, of the races run so far this season.

With multiple wins this early on, that could spell trouble for the rest of the field.

Bobby Zalenski, driver of the No. 18 for Joe Gibbs Racing, was so close to claiming his first career eNASCAR title last season after having incredible Phoenix pace. Kirwan eventually leap-frogged him in the pits during the live, in-person finale, and went on to take that title, holding off Zalenski and leaving him to yet another runner-up finish.

This season, there’s been five drivers in total who have been able to find their way to victory lane thus far – The defending series champion Casey Kirwan was the most recent in an epic finish with Malik Ray and Collin Bowden at Dega. Rookie driver Tucker Minter, 2014’s champion Michael Conti and last season’s most-winningest driver Steven Wilson have also collected a single victory through six races.

However, with two wins already checked off, one at the Action Track of Richmond Raceway and the other in the series’ first trip out of the virtual United States over to Monza, Italy, Zalenski has made an early case for not only his return to the eNASCAR Playoffs, but as a championship contender with eight races until those playoffs start.

That shouldn’t be any surprise, however. Zalenski has been a championship contender since his first season back in 2017. While his legend is cemented in his ability to win at the road course events, winning every single one of them on the schedule between 2017 and 2020, he’s been able to back that up with speed and consistency at the ovals.

Zalenski was one of the four drivers that made the journey to the NASCAR Hall of Fame last season for the in-person finale. Returning to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2022 after getting drafted by the outlet in 2019, Zalenski has proven to be one of the top drivers in the series year-over-year, an easy decision for the powers that be at JGR to retain the driver for the 2023 season.

Another incredible feat is that in the six seasons that the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series has adopted the Championship 4 playoff format, Zalenski has been a part of five of those quartets, the only season that he missed out on was 2018, where he still won a race and finished sixth overall.

Compared to his previous six seasons in the series, this is a first for Zalenski. In the four seasons that he’s gotten multiple wins in, his first season in 2017 was the earliest it took for him to get that second win. Now, he’s been able to get there in six, and even with three unlucky finishes at the three superspeedway races, Zalenski sits third overall in the points.

It’s his fastest start yet. Last season, perhaps his closest to the title yet, he didn’t even get that first win until the playoffs began. Zalenski will be one to watch for as the series enters the intermediate section of the schedule starting in May.

BySusanWade Photos Courtesy of NHRA.com

Perhapsthemostupliftingstoryofthis season’sNHRACampingWorldDrag RacingSeriesbelongstoWestTexasracer Chad Green.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Funny Car veteran Tim Wilkerson half-jokingly said he was trying to convince Green to abandon “those silly Pro Mods” and race in the Funny Car class. Now, with Wilkerson’s son, Dan, serving as Green’s crew chief, Green is challenging Tim Wilkerson, right even up until the final round.

Wilkerson was runner-up to Matt Hagan at the FourWide Las Vegas Nationals in mid-April. But Green’s final-round appearance – after he barely slid into the field in his fourth and final qualifying chance – signaled that the second-year fulltime Funny Car owner-driver of the Bond Coat Ford Mustang is ready to chase a championship.

With a pair of semifinal finishes and a $10,000 victory in the second Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge bonus race to start his season, Green established himself as a title contender. Then he suffered a setback in eliminations at the Winternationals, when his car broke down on the starting line in Race No. 3.

The Midland, Texas, oil-well-servicing company said “it’s so imperative” to have a strong performance at Las Vegas so as not to break that momentum.

“For that to happen to us [at Pomona] was really unfortunate, and we don't want something like that to just kill our momentum. So it's really important that we get right back on track right now, this race,” Green said.

And he did, advancing to the final round. Although according to NHRA four-wide rules, he will not get credit for a final-round appearance, he knows he was racing for the trophy that went to Hagan. But he was in there, digging, alongside Tim Wilkerson and resurgent John Force.

It wasn’t smooth sailing for Green the whole weekend, though. He bumped into the field on the final pass of qualifying Saturday, knocking out Terry Haddock – the year’s other “surprise” driver. Green emerged from an opening-round quad that saw Ron Capps and Bob Tasca III bow out, leaving Blake Alexander to advance along with him.

Winning the Mission Foods Challenge at Pomona, Green said, “definitely has given me a lot of confidence. And along with that, it's given the whole team, these guys, it's given them a lot of confidence. So there's nothing better than success for the team to breed more success.”

He said the team “changed a few parts in the off season, so we're still trying to get the tune-up dialed in.” But he said Dan Wilkerson “is coming into his own, and it’s cool to see that happening. This is our second year with the same team. We’ve really come a long ways.”

His son, Hunter Green, is scheduled to race in 12 events this year for the Top Alcohol Dragster class powerhouse Randy Meyer Racing.