Yet another iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car World Championship race came down to a battle between Alex Bergeron and Hayden Cardwell last night—until it didn’t.
In what may go down as one of the most controversial moves of the season, the two drivers made contact in a battle for the lead with less than 10 laps to go as the series made its long-awaited debut at Weedsport Speedway. That opened the door for Cameron Merriman, one of last season’s top newcomers, to take his first career series victory, ahead of series veterans James Edens and Tyler Ducharme.
Entering the event with just a two-point lead, Bergeron qualified on pole and set the tone for the night with a heat win. He then spent the first 22 laps of the race in the lead before Cardwell, who won the fourth heat and had quickly climbed to second, was finally able to wrestle it away.
However, calamity struck on Lap 27 when Cardwell lost ground and Bergeron had a run coming off of Turn 2. Cardwell dove to the inside to defend, but instead of closing the door, the two drivers made contact. As Merriman and the rest of the field took evasive action to avoid causing a caution, Cardwell and Bergeron continued on outside of the podium, eventually settling into fourth and sixth, respectively, at the checkered flag. As a result, Bergeron’s incoming two-point championship lead flipped into a four-point advantage for Cardwell with four races remaining.
iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car World Championship results from Weedsport Speedway were as follows:
Fin. | St. | No. | Driver | Laps | Interval | Led | Best | Pts. |
| 1 | 5 | 17 | Cameron Merriman | 35 | 9 | 13.951 | 77 | |
| 2 | 3 | 52 | James Edens | 35 | -0.942 | 0 | 13.899 | 75 |
| 3 | 6 | 25 | Tyler Ducharme | 35 | -3.142 | 0 | 13.995 | 71 |
| 4 | 4 | 22 | Hayden Cardwell | 35 | -3.149 | 4 | 13.680 | 69 |
| 5 | 9 | 85 | Tyler Schell | 35 | -3.546 | 0 | 13.875 | 64 |
| 6 | 1 | 12 | Alex A Bergeron | 35 | -3.599 | 22 | 13.754 | 63 |
| 7 | 11 | 114 | JD Brown | 35 | -4.221 | 0 | 13.971 | 58 |
| 8 | 13 | 74 | Adam Elby | 35 | -4.640 | 0 | 13.956 | 54 |
| 9 | 14 | 211 | Alex Smolders | 35 | -5.030 | 0 | 14.046 | 51 |
| 10 | 18 | 71 | Cole V Cabre | 35 | -5.592 | 0 | 14.396 | 47 |
| 11 | 12 | 10 | Rusty L Kruger | 35 | -6.020 | 0 | 14.028 | 47 |
| 12 | 15 | 1 | Mason Hannagan | 35 | -6.196 | 0 | 14.159 | 44 |
| 13 | 7 | 00 | Kendal Tucker | 35 | -6.402 | 0 | 14.010 | 44 |
| 14 | 16 | 2 | Daniel Gow | 35 | -6.763 | 0 | 14.045 | 40 |
| 15 | 2 | 98 | Tim Ryan | 35 | -8.082 | 0 | 13.869 | 41 |
| 16 | 19 | 91 | Anthony Jobe | 35 | -8.694 | 0 | 14.020 | 33 |
| 17 | 17 | 34 | Colton W Hardy | 19 | -16 L | 0 | 14.221 | 32 |
| 18 | 20 | 80 | Joshua Steinke | 14 | -21 L | 0 | 14.116 | 30 |
| 19 | 10 | 5 | Braden Eyler | 8 | -27 L | 0 | 14.678 | 31 |
| 20 | 8 | 35 | Nick Cooper | 1 | -34 L | 0 | 30 |
iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car World Championship points through six rounds are as follows:
- Hayden Cardwell, 440
- Alex Bergeron, 436
- Kendal Tucker, 359
- Tim Ryan, 350
- Tyler Ducharme, 309
- James Edens, 295
- Tyler Schell, 285
- Nick Cooper, 283
- Cameron Merriman, 255
- Braden Eyler, 241
The iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car World Championship takes another week off before resuming on January 4 at Cedar Lake Speedway, the newest dirt oval on the iRacing service and second event in a row to feature a track new to the series. As always, the race can be streamed live on DirtVision on Monday at 9PM ET. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
