The first half of the 2021-22 iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series season has been as thrilling as any in series history. With most of the top drivers in the championship having had disappointing runs in at least one round, the final five races of the year are setting up what may be the best title battle since the series’ inception.
Through those first five rounds, it’s Cameron Merriman who holds the unlikely points advantage, solely because he’s done the best job of avoiding any bad luck. With a 3-6-7-6-2 string of feature finishes, he’s 13 points clear of three-time defending series champion Alex Bergeron, who himself has surprisingly not yet found the winners’ circle. Third is James Edens of Swindell Speedlab Esports, the only repeat winner of the season when he went back-to-back at Bristol and Eldora.
The season started with a pair of surprises in the winner’s circle, as former Late Model veterans Blake Matjoulis and Evan Seay took the wins at Volusia and Kokomo before Edens snatched the next two wins. Bergeron’s three consecutive top fives to start the year gave him the points lead coming into Eldora, only for him to lose it there after disconnecting; Edens inherited the top spot with the Eldora win, only to have the same fate befall him at Williams Grove last week.
Now, it’s Merriman’s turn to try and outrun that fate with five races left in the campaign. One of last year’s most consistent drivers, his second place finish to Braden Eyler at Williams Grove was his best run of the season. He’ll also have at least one friendly track coming up in the final five, as Weedsport Speedway was the source of his first career series victory last year. The question is, will those factors be enough to give him the title, and the largest share of the $25,000 series purse, after the January 31 finale at The Dirt Track at Charlotte?
iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series points through five rounds are as follows:
- Cameron Merriman, 332
- Alex Bergeron, 319
- James Edens, 307
- Logan Rumsey, 302
- Kendal Tucker, 289
- Hayden Cardwell, 269
- Blake Matjoulis, 252
- Braden Eyler, 239
- Evan Seay, 238
- Tyler Schell, 228
The rest of the 2021-22 iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car World Championship schedule is as follows:
Rd. |
Date |
Track |
2020-21 Winner |
| 6 | December 27 | Knoxville Raceway | Tim Ryan |
| 7 | January 10 | Cedar Lake Speedway | Alex Bergeron |
| 8 | January 17 | Fairbury Speedway | Hayden Cardwell |
| 9 | January 24 | Weedsport Speedway | Cameron Merriman |
| 10 | January 31 | The Dirt Track at Charlotte | Tim Ryan |
iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series events stream live on iRacing social media and DirtVision on Mondays at 9PM ET/6PM PT. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
