MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Denny Hamlin Racing eSports has rebranded under the 23XI Racing banner ahead of the new eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season.
23XI Racing will field two race cars in NASCAR’s top officially-sanctioned iRacing series, which kicks off its points season on Feb. 8 at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway.
Keegan Leahy, a multi-time race winner last year, returns to drive the No. 32 Virtual Racing School Toyota Camry, joined by Mitchell deJong in the No. 23 DoorDash Toyota Camry.
Leahy is embarking on his fourth season in the eNASCAR iRacing ranks and has already established himself as one of the top contenders in the series week in and week out.
The 27-year-old Canadian is an eight-time Coca-Cola Series winner, including three victories last season. All told in 2020, Leahy took eight top-five and nine top-10 finishes in 20 starts, as well as a series-high four pole positions.
Leahy has never finished worse than seventh in points, with his career-best of second in the final standings coming during the 2019 season, where he came up just short to Zack Novak in a last-lap battle for the win and the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
DeJong is set for his rookie season in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, part of a loaded class of 11 first-year drivers making their debuts at the top level of sim-racing.
The 23-year-old Temecula, Calif., driver was the inaugural iRacing Rallycross champion in 2018 and has honed his skills primarily on road courses in the past.
DeJong was a regular competitor in the iRacing World Championship Grand Prix Series from 2014-’18, and, for the past two years, in the Porsche eSports Super Cup Series that replaced the Grand Prix Series.
He raced his way into the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series by way of a third-place points finish in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Series, earning a victory at his home track – Auto Club Speedway – as part of two top-five and three top-10 finishes in the six-race series.
The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series schedule, released Sunday night, features 18 events. It will be capped off by a new venue for the championship race, which will be held at the virtual Texas Motor Speedway on Oct. 12.