Eyler Prevails in Epic iRacing World of Outlaws Sprint Car Battle at Williams Grove

Images via Justin Prince

Cameron Merriman fought tooth and nail to defend the lead, but after 35 laps of iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series action from Williams Grove Speedway on Monday night, it was Elbows Up Sim Sport’s Braden Eyler who would eventually prevail. Eyler’s second career series victory, and the second in a row for Elbows Up at Williams Grove, closed out the first half of the 2021-22 campaign with one of the most thrilling races of the season.

The green flag didn’t even fly on the feature race before the drama kicked in. Incoming points leader James Edens, starting on the outside of Row 2 alongside three-time defending series champion Alex Bergeron, fell out of the race server. An immediate crash on Lap 1 that involved numerous cars mitigated the damage as Edens rejoined, but unfortunately, he’d still be trapped a lap down for the entirety of the race.

That opened the door on the restart for Eyler and Merriman, the front row starters, to establish themselves as the racers to beat on the historic half-mile. Merriman would take the lead from Eyler on Lap 5, but both racers would be able to distance themselves from Bergeron as Logan Rumsey put on the pressure for third place. Rumsey would eventually make the pass around halfway through the race, while Bergeron would hang on for fourth after a late battle with Kendal Tucker.

But up front, Merriman had his hands full defending the lead from Eyler, as both racers would repeatedly slide up and into the wall trying to squeeze every tenth out of their lap times. Finally, with under 10 laps to go, polesitter Eyler would reclaim the lead for good, earning a checkered flag for the second straight season. Merriman’s consolation prize, meanwhile, was the top spot in the championship, which he now leads by 13 over Bergeron and 25 over Edens, who finished 18th.

iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series results from Williams Grove Speedway were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Driver

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts.

115Braden Eyler351217.21778
2217Cameron Merriman35-1.2232317.24975
3641Logan Rumsey235-3.272017.29271
4312Alex A Bergeron35-4.051017.32969
5500Kendal Tucker35-4.469017.34365
61174Adam Elby35-5.560017.40961
71576Brayden Shute35-7.778017.50957
81018Austen Semmelmann235-9.471017.54755
99114Landon Cardoza35-11.552017.31052
101325Tyler Ducharme35-12.897017.52748
111850Clayton Davies35-13.135017.54545
12166Rylan Gray35-13.136017.58544
13707Hayden Cardwell35-14.510017.52344
141485Tyler Schell35-16.157017.71840
15899Gregory Lamey35-17.204017.59540
161933Layne Stevens34-1 L017.61734
17120zJustin Sherman334-1 L017.70235
18452James Edens34-1 L017.73235
192048Dylan Yeager29-6 L017.75529
201751Clayton W Tilley8-27 L017.44427

 

iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series points through five rounds are as follows:

  1. Cameron Merriman, 332
  2. Alex Bergeron, 319
  3. James Edens, 307
  4. Logan Rumsey, 302
  5. Kendal Tucker, 289
  6. Hayden Cardwell, 269
  7. Blake Matjoulis, 252
  8. Braden Eyler, 239
  9. Evan Seay, 238
  10. Tyler Schell, 228

The iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series season resumes in two weeks’ time at Knoxville Raceway, where former series champion Tim Ryan won last year. The event will stream live on iRacing social media and DirtVision on Monday, December 27 at 9PM ET/6PM PT. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.