2025-26 eNASCAR College iRacing Series | Great Lakes Gauntlet | Tournament 4, Week 1 Recap

The Great Lakes Gauntlet at Michigan International Speedway, the fourth Tournament of the 2025-26 eNASCAR College iRacing Series powered by PlayVS College League season, saw 120 students enter, but only 39 survive and advance after the first week's activities in the virtual Irish Hills on Wednesday night.

120 entries were snake split into three groups of 40 drivers. Each group went through their First and Second Rounds, which included two Heat races and a Last Chance Qualifier for Round 1, and a longer feature race for Round 2, where 13 drivers in each advanced.

With this Tournament format, however, winning the Second Round feature meant the same as finishing in 13th place. All 39 drivers will have to re-qualify in Week 2, and run the gauntlet of the Semifinal Heats and LCQ to make the Final Round. Winning, in any case on Wednesday night, was mostly for bragging rights, and as there's been in all three Tournaments so far, there were some tense moments, even when an advancing spot was all but guaranteed.

Returning for the first time this season, the University of Maine at Augusta's Parker White stood at the top of Group 1's results, outlasting Pasco-Hernando State College's Dylan Basen—winner of the Queen City Crown—in the closing laps. In Group 2, the points leader and two-time Tournament winner, the University of Calgary's Connor Yeroschak, took home the spoils of victory over Horry Georgetown Technical College's Timothy Holmes and another Mainer, the University of Maine at Machias' Daniel Faulkingham. Group 3 saw an exciting finish at the end which went in favor of the University of Connecticut's Jose Solis Jr over The Ohio State University's Matthew Morton.

In total, 15 drivers have qualified for all four Tournament Semifinal Rounds, those drivers including Yeroschak, Solis, Morton, Faulkingham, Holmes, Dylan Ault (Sacramento State), Logan Clampitt (California State University, Fullerton), Matthew Zwack (University of Michigan), Adam Garza (Triton College), Bradley Erickson (Arizona State University), Daniel Nanney (Ball State University), Maverick Davis (Kettering University), Jacob Bradley (Purdue University in Indianapolis), Abraham Vela (University of Houston), and Nathan Scott (University of Nevada, Las Vegas).

Coming into this Tournament, 67 drivers and 59 different schools had made it to the Semifinal Round. Tournament 4 adds seven more names and schools to the fold.

Besides Parker White, six new drivers and their respective programs are moving on to the Semifinal Round as well for the first time in the 2025-26 season. Dylan Bahm (Bismarck State College), Nick Dyer (University of Maine), Michael Pawlyk (MacEwan University), Faraz Khan (UC Santa Cruz), Chris Treppa (Lawrence Technological University), and Layne Graves (Wichita State University) are all advanced into the second week of the Great Lakes Gauntlet. Two drivers (Treppa and Graves) have competed in the series and made the main event in previous College Series seasons.

The Semifinal Round for the Great Lakes Gauntlet will feature 38 different schools among the 39 drivers. This time, the only school with multiple drivers is the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, sending both Connor Trifari and Blake Wynn through. UNC Charlotte came into the first week with four potential transfers to Week 2, as did both the University of Northwestern Ohio and Purdue University at Indianapolis, but both of those schools were only able to send one driver forward into next week. Purdue, including the main campus, had six total, and also pushed Carson Bowers (Purdue) through with Bradley.

GREAT LAKES GAUNTLET | WEEK 2 ADVANCING DRIVERS

Next week, the Great Lakes Gauntlet will conclude with the Semifinal Round Heats, Semifinal Round LCQ, and the Final Round. Points will be awarded to all 39 drivers, with drivers not advancing out of the LCQ earning points for 26th on back. The top-25 that make the Final Round will earn points based on the results, and the Tournament winner will also collect $3,000 in scholarship prizes.

Tune in on Wednesday, February 18th, at 7:00 p.m. ET for the conclusion. Races will be streamed live at eNASCAR.com/live and across all of iRacing’s social media channels.

Watch last night's VOD here: eNASCAR College iRacing Series | Great Lakes Gauntlet | Week 1 | Michigan International Speedway

For more information on the eNASCAR College iRacing Series, visit https://pcl.gg/pages/enascar.
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