Daniel Faulkingham secures a spot in the Coke Series playoffs with his first career win in Indianapolis

“I can’t believe we just won a Coke Series race, man,” an emotional Faulkingham said on the Sunoco Post Race Report. “I’ve been on this server for seven, eight years now. To actually win at this level, I’m over the moon and I’m lost for words.”

Faulkingham and Wilson disagreed on a strategy decision late in the race. Faulkingham stayed on track to defend his position while Wilson pitted to buy tires and fuel. For defending champion Wilson, the fresh tires almost paid off.

“Yeah, I definitely thought I had a chance with fresher tires,” Wilson said of the final lap. “Honestly, I thought we were the fastest car in the race. Congratulations to (Daniel Faulkingham). He’s been saying for the last few days that he was going to win this race and he went out and did it.”

Garrett Lowe finished third, followed by Casey Kirwan in fourth and pole sitter Kollin Keister in fifth.

TONIGHT’S ACTION

Keister led the field to the first green flag all the way to the Yard of Bricks. It wasn’t long before the field broke up and mostly ran single file as drivers struggled to pass.

The top four of Keister, Cody Byus, Vicente Salas and Dylan Duval held their starting positions until lap 16, when Wilson passed Duval on the outside to take fourth position. On lap 20, Wilson passed Byus and Salas to take second place behind Keister.

The first caution period came on lap 27 when Quami Scott and Tyler Garey collided after exiting pit lane. The incident occurred in the middle of a green flag pit stop and shook up the order as a handful of drivers who were already in the pits stayed out while others came down for tires and fuel.

The turn put Lowe at the front of the field at the halfway point of the 60-lap restart. Lowe led the way until Femi Olatunbosun took the lead with 19 laps to go, getting help from Wilson in the slipstream.

That pass came just before an accident in Turn 1 brought out the second yellow flag of the evening. Among those involved were Wyatt Tinsley, Matthew Zwack and Byus. The caution led to a further split in pit strategy, with about half the field staying out and the other half taking tires and fuel.

As a result, Lowe took the lead for the restart with 15 laps to go. However, Lowe was unable to hold onto it for long as Faulkingham passed him a lap later to take the lead. Faulkingham was able to gain a lead of about four car lengths before the third caution period of the race occurred with 11 laps to go when an accident occurred in turn three involving Ray Alfalla and Darik Bourdeau, among others.

Faulkingham had a good lead at the restart with seven laps to go, but later that same lap the caution came out again when Tucker Minter and Matt Bussa collided on the backstretch.

Faulkingham had another great restart with three laps to go and was able to get several car lengths ahead of the rest of the field. However, Wilson was moving from fifth to third when the white flag was shown. Wilson made short work of Lowe to move into second and in turn three he rammed Faulkingham’s rear bumper. But Faulkingham held on and returned to the brickyard a winner.

POINTS STANDING (ONE RACE LEFT IN THE REGULAR SEASON)

A tight battle for the final playoff spots is shaping up to be two weeks away at Pocono. It’s possible that as many as three drivers could finish on points, or we could see a playoff field comprised entirely of race winners.

It all depends on whether we get a new or repeat winner at Pocono, whether Tinsley can stay in the top 20 in points, or whether Malik Ray can break into the top 20 to qualify for the playoffs with his win in Atlanta.

NEXTUP

eNCCiS drivers will have one last chance to make the playoffs when the regular season finale takes place at virtual Pocono Raceway on Tuesday, July 30. Race coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. with Countdown to Green, followed by the green flag for 60 laps of the Tricky Triangle shortly after 8 p.m. on enascar.com/live, youtube.com/iracingofficial and twitch.tv/iracing.