Cardwell Returns to iRacing World of Outlaws Winner’s Circle at Cedar Lake

Images via Justin Prince

After a runner-up finish in 2020-21 iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series standings, the current season hasn’t been quite the encore performance that Hayden Cardwell had been looking for. The good news is, after Monday night’s performance at Cedar Lake Speedway, he won’t walk out of the year empty handed.

Cardwell took the lead of the 35-lap feature from polesitter Austen Semmelmann just a lap after the green flag fell and never looked back, leading the rest of the way to score his first win of the season. The victory made him the sixth different winner of the season in its seventh event, and it came as revenge of sorts against three-time defending champion Alex Bergeron. That duo made contact just two weeks ago going for the win in the most recent race at Knoxville, ending with Bergeron finally scoring his first win of the year and Cardwell a disappointing 16th.

This time out, Cardwell not only beat Bergeron in the heats, but also held him off in the charge to the finish by .195 seconds. Cameron Merriman completed the podium, keeping himself within single-digit points of Bergeron for the championship lead, while fellow 2021-22 race winners Braden Eyler and James Edens completed the top five. Edens was one of the big gainers on the night, climbing from the 12th starting spot on the .375-mile clay oval, while Semmelmann faded all the way to eighth over the course of the feature.

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

Fin.

St.

No.

Driver

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts.

1207Hayden Cardwell353311.63078
2612Alex A Bergeron35-0.195011.66874
3417Cameron Merriman35-1.543011.68472
485Braden Eyler35-1.957011.76468
51252James Edens35-3.760011.92564
6300Kendal Tucker35-4.567011.75163
7974Adam Elby35-5.750011.91658
8118Austen Semmelmann35-5.980111.83357
91741Logan Rumsey35-6.226011.93950
101625Tyler Ducharme35-6.425011.92548
111050Clayton Davies35-6.821011.81547
121199Gregory Lamey35-6.990011.95145
131491Félix F. Roy35-6.992011.89142
142076Brayden Shute35-7.332011.87839
151869Shae Paulo35-7.479012.01333
16748Dylan Yeager35-9.192011.96238
171313Aiden Bierlein35-9.722012.06334
18522Mason Hannagan35-12.324012.09334
1919127Blake Matjoulis13-22 L011.93628
201551Clayton W Tilley3-32 L028

 

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

  1. Alex Bergeron, 471
  2. Cameron Merriman, 463
  3. James Edens, 428
  4. Hayden Cardwell, 386
  5. Braden Eyler, 382
  6. Logan Rumsey, 355
  7. Kendal Tucker, 352
  8. Blake Matjoulis, 348
  9. Adam Elby, 333
  10. Tyler Schell, 302

The iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series season continues next week at Fairbury American Legion Speedway, where Cardwell took the checkered flag last season. The event will stream live on iRacing social media and DirtVision on Monday at 9PM ET/6PM PT. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.