By Cameron Bebeau, Staff Writer
Garrett Lowe made the first heat-format race in the 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season belong to him.
Lowe won Tuesday night’s 90-lap feature at Iowa Speedway, leading a race-high 63 laps and using tire management and pit strategy to beat Sebastian Marin and Steven Wilson in a caution-free short-track race.
The event marked the first feature-format race of the season, with two 30-lap heat races setting the field for the 90-lap main event. Marin won the opening hat, while Lowe won the second heat before starting alongside Marin on the front row.
“I think we made it look really easy, but it was actually a really difficult race,” Lowe said. “That was probably the most tire management we’ve had in a really long time in this series, and it was a lot of fun.”
Marin started from the pole, but Lowe quickly took advantage of the outside lane. In both of the 30-lap heat races, the outside front row was the place to be, and this carried over into the race. Lowe cleared Marin on the opening lap and controlled the early portion of the race, building a gap while the field settled in.
By Lap 10, Lowe and Marin had separated themselves from the rest of the field. Lowe continued to lead through the opening run, with Marin, Matthew Morton, Steven Wilson and Parker White among the drivers chasing him.
Track position was critical throughout the night. Going into this race, drivers knew this, and the heat races showed that passing would be difficult. This set the stage for tire conservation and pit strategy to be the most important pieces of the puzzle.
The race’s key sequence came during the lone round of green-flag pit stops.
Wilson, a two-time Iowa winner, was among the first frontrunners to pit on Lap 45. Lowe followed one lap later, while Marin briefly inherited the lead before the pit cycle continued. Tucker Minter, Michael Cosey Jr. and Bobby Zalenski each spent time out front as teams worked through different strategies.
Lowe said his team expected Wilson’s early stop to put them close together once the pit cycle unfolded.
“They were keeping me apprised on the pit box of what was going on, so we knew we were going to come out right with Steven,” Lowe said post-race. “We kind of made our plan to come out right behind and be able to get through traffic a little better and get by and drive away, just manage the race from there.”
This plan worked. Lowe caught Wilson and made the pass, which would lead to him cycling to the lead once the last few drivers finally pit. He officially retook the top spot with 18 laps remaining and paced the field.
Marin later got around Wilson for second, but didn’t have enough time to catch Lowe. Lowe crossed the line 1.413 seconds ahead of Marin to earn his sixth career eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series victory, and his first since 2024.
Wilson finished third, followed by Vicente Salas and Quentin Warman. Kollin Keister, Jordy Lope, Connor Yeroschak, Parker White and Shawn Conklin completed the top 10.
Warman’s fifth-place finish gave Hyak Motorsports its first top 10 of the season, while Keister’s sixth-place result did the same for Jim Beaver Esports.
For Marin, the runner-up finish was needed as he’s had a difficult start to his rookie season. Marin entered the night 25th in points, but showed speed throughout the event by winning his heat and finishing second.
“Obviously, expectations were relatively high coming in,” Marin said. “But it’s a big step from the Qualifying Series into the Coke Series, and I knew there was going to be some weeks of struggling.”
Marin pointed to several missed opportunities earlier in the season, including being taken out late while running inside the top five at Atlanta and making a mistake while running in the top 10 at Coronado.
“I think if I just clean up some of the mistakes that I’ve been making, we can be inc contention for hopefully making the playoffs,” Marin said.
Despite the race staying green from start to finish, several cars made contact coming to the finish outside the top 10.
The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series continues next week at Indianapolis at 8pm EST.