2025-26 eNASCAR College iRacing Series | Harvest Cup | Tournament 3, Week 1 Recap

The Harvest Cup at Iowa Speedway, the third 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 around the 7/8-mile oval in Newton, Iowa 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. The first short-track setting for the season saw more close quarters technical racing, thus more contact for transfer positions through each group.

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 there were some tense moments, even when an advancing spot was all but guaranteed.

Group 1 saw Sacramento State's Dylan Ault, the fastest driver in the Time Attack, show up and dominate again, grabbing the pole position, his Heat win, and the Round 2 victory to advance to Week 2. Group 2 also had some Cal State flair, as the defending series champion, Logan Clampitt from California State University, Fullerton, the second fastest in the Time Attack, also dominate to a win.

In the third and final Group, the University of Michigan's Matthew Zwack was the fastest Time Attack driver entering, but it was the University of Minnesota Crookston's Wyatt Tinsley, making his first appearance of the season, taking the pole position. Neither driver would ultimately win the feature race, however, as the Queen City Crown's champion, Pasco-Hernando State College's Dylan Basen wound up taking control and taking the victory.

Most of the usual suspects, including Zwack, the Clash on the Beach Tournament champion, the University of Calgary's Connor Yeroschak, The Ohio State University's Matthew Morton, the University of Maine at Machias' Daniel Faulkingham, Saddleback College's John Forbes Jr, and Triton College's Adam Garza, all managed to qualify again for the second Week of competition, just to name a few.

In total, 18 drivers have qualified for each Tournament's Semifinal Round, those drivers including Ault, Clampitt, Zwack, Yeroschak, Morton, Faulkingham, Forbest Jr, and Garza, as well as Bradley Erickson (Arizona State University), Daniel Nanney (Ball State University), Zach Sprouse (George Mason University), Timothy Holmes (Horry Georgetown Technical College), Maverick Davis (Kettering University), Jacob Bradley (Purdue University in Indianapolis), Jose Solis Jr (University of Connecticut), Abraham Vela (University of Houston), Nathan Scott (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), and Issac Shelley (University of Northwestern Ohio).

11 more drivers are making their second Semifinal round, such as Basen, the University of Oklahoma's Mario Merenda and Purdue University's Carson Bowers, and the remaining 10 that have qualified in are making their first Semifinal appearance, including Tinsley, Eastern Shore Community College's Arron Brown, and Longwood University's Jeremy Burns.

The Harvest Cup will have the least amount of individual schools competing in the Semifinals through the 2025-26 season. In the previous two, there were 38 schools that had made it to the Semifinals. Thanks to the efforts of the students from the University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) and Purdue University in Indianapolis, there are only 34 different schools this time around.

UNOH has four drivers in the Semifinals with Tyler Skoczen, Chase Schaffer, and Matteo Mitchell joining Shelley this week. Purdue University in Indianapolis has three drivers in the Semifinal, a perfect three-for-three as far as all three of their drivers in the Tournament were able to advance onwards. Those drivers include Bradley, Noah Hindley, and Robby Norris.

UNOH sent seven drivers to the first Week of the Harvest Cup, as did the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Surprisingly, UNC Charlotte was unable to send a single driver to the Semifinals this time around. Belmont Abbey, the school with the third-most participation, had four drivers in the first week, but also was unable to send forward any drivers to Week 2.

HARVEST CUP | WEEK 2 ADVANCING DRIVERS

Next week, the Harvest Cup 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, November 19th, 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. The series returns for the Spring Semester in January 2026.

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