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. |
| 1 | 2 | 07 | Hayden Cardwell | 35 | 33 | 11.630 | 78 | |
| 2 | 6 | 12 | Alex A Bergeron | 35 | -0.195 | 0 | 11.668 | 74 |
| 3 | 4 | 17 | Cameron Merriman | 35 | -1.543 | 0 | 11.684 | 72 |
| 4 | 8 | 5 | Braden Eyler | 35 | -1.957 | 0 | 11.764 | 68 |
| 5 | 12 | 52 | James Edens | 35 | -3.760 | 0 | 11.925 | 64 |
| 6 | 3 | 00 | Kendal Tucker | 35 | -4.567 | 0 | 11.751 | 63 |
| 7 | 9 | 74 | Adam Elby | 35 | -5.750 | 0 | 11.916 | 58 |
| 8 | 1 | 18 | Austen Semmelmann | 35 | -5.980 | 1 | 11.833 | 57 |
| 9 | 17 | 41 | Logan Rumsey | 35 | -6.226 | 0 | 11.939 | 50 |
| 10 | 16 | 25 | Tyler Ducharme | 35 | -6.425 | 0 | 11.925 | 48 |
| 11 | 10 | 50 | Clayton Davies | 35 | -6.821 | 0 | 11.815 | 47 |
| 12 | 11 | 99 | Gregory Lamey | 35 | -6.990 | 0 | 11.951 | 45 |
| 13 | 14 | 91 | Félix F. Roy | 35 | -6.992 | 0 | 11.891 | 42 |
| 14 | 20 | 76 | Brayden Shute | 35 | -7.332 | 0 | 11.878 | 39 |
| 15 | 18 | 69 | Shae Paulo | 35 | -7.479 | 0 | 12.013 | 33 |
| 16 | 7 | 48 | Dylan Yeager | 35 | -9.192 | 0 | 11.962 | 38 |
| 17 | 13 | 13 | Aiden Bierlein | 35 | -9.722 | 0 | 12.063 | 34 |
| 18 | 5 | 22 | Mason Hannagan | 35 | -12.324 | 0 | 12.093 | 34 |
| 19 | 19 | 127 | Blake Matjoulis | 13 | -22 L | 0 | 11.936 | 28 |
| 20 | 15 | 51 | Clayton W Tilley | 3 | -32 L | 0 | 28 |
iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series points through seven rounds are as follows:
- Alex Bergeron, 471
- Cameron Merriman, 463
- James Edens, 428
- Hayden Cardwell, 386
- Braden Eyler, 382
- Logan Rumsey, 355
- Kendal Tucker, 352
- Blake Matjoulis, 348
- Adam Elby, 333
- 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.
