Hayden Cardwell claims World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series win at Eldora

Eldora Speedway delivered in the eighth round of the World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series on Monday night. For the eighth time this season, there’s yet another new winner. This time, it was a former winner in the series returning to victory lane in Hayden Cardwell.

After the top-two spots qualified exactly as they did a week ago at Cedar Lake, Cardwell and Logan Rumsey were mired back in the fourth row to start the Feature. Cardwell cut through the field like butter, and right before a race-changing caution, he was already in control at the front of the field. On the restart, Cardwell was able to get away and never looked back.

Hayden Cardwell qualified with the second-fastest time, inverted to seventh, and worked his way back to the front… and he never looked back. Make it eight-for-eight with ANOTHER unique winner on the season!!!@WoOLateModels | @dirtvision pic.twitter.com/zoBLSHD2ZO

— iRacing (@iRacing) January 20, 2026

The 2020 World of Outlaws iRacing Late Model champion collects his 12th career win across both disciplines, and sixth in the Super Late Model ranks. With the win and results from Cedar Lake and Oswego, Cardwell sits only eight points behind Blake Matjoulis. After barely competing in last season’s new format, Cardwell has returned to the fray with a vengeance, finally claiming a win for the first time since the 2024 season.

“It’s just tough,” Cardwell said post-race. “There’s a lot of guys on here that are good, each week, in and out. It’s hard to even make the races anymore with the way you have to go through the Qualifying Series… It’s just hard to even get in the show, especially in Late Models, because the field is really, really close together right now. You have to make sure you qualify good, and put yourself in a good spot to be there at the end of these races.”

QUALIFYING

During the regular races in the 2025-26 World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series season, 22 drivers will qualify for each Feature race. Eight of those spots are filled almost immediately through Qualifying, where the first 25 points of the night are on the line. Setting quick time will earn 25 points, but will invert that driver to starting eighth in the Feature, whereas eighth will invert to the pole position, but only collect 17 points. Everyone from ninth on back in Qualifying are to be split into four equal Heat races.

Cedar Lake and Eldora both had the same top-two drivers in times, with Logan Rumsey and Hayden Cardwell claiming those spots. They would invert back to seventh and eighth, while Oswego winner Conner New would invert to the pole in hopes of being the first multi-time winner on the season.

Qualifying Transfers:

1. Logan Rumsey
2. Hayden Cardwell
3. Evan Seay
4. Lucas Ruark
5. Jesse Newsome
6. Blake Matjoulis
7. Mike Augustine
8. Conner New

HEAT RACES

In the four Heat races, up to eight drivers compete for eight laps, the top-three finishers advancing to the Feature later in the night. Points are awarded to the finishing positions in each Heat, that way all 40 drivers walk away with something for making the show. Heat winners earn 15 points, while eighth place finishers only claim eight points. The 20 drivers that don’t advance to the Feature through Qualifying or the Heats are sent to one of the two Last Chance Shootout races.

Hayden Tollison won the opening heat. JD Brown was able to take the second. Dylan Yeager went on to win the third in a three-wide battle against Matthew Selby and Matthew Watts. The fourth was straight-forward for the top-two spots, but the third spot came down to the last lap, as Nathan Waddell stole it away from Jaxson Reitzler and Gabe Elkins.

Heat 1 Transfers:

1. Hayden Tollison
2. Brady Thompson
3. Joey Lingron

Heat 2 Transfers:

1. JD Brown
2. Colton Jordan
3. Jordan Casey

Heat 3 Transfers:

1. Dylan Yeager
2. Matthew Selby
3. Matthew Watts

Heat 4 Transfers:

1. Ethan Johnson
2. Dezmond Busby
3. Nathan Waddell

LAST CHANCE SHOWDOWNS

The final shot to race in the Feature is by winning one of the two Last Chance Showdown races. These races include up to 10 cars each, but only the winner can move on. There are no points awarded in these races.

The first one wound up a bit controversial, as Drew Jonkman won it, but had contact with Keaton Holder in the process of winning it and taking the transfer spot. The final transfer spot went to Hunter Rich.

Last Chance Showdown Transfers:

1. Drew Jonkman
2. Hunter Rich

FEATURE RACE

With Conner New up front, the possibility for a repeat winner for the first time on the season was greater than ever. Hayden Cardwell had other plans from the seventh starting spot. Almost immediately, Cardwell was slicing and dicing his way up the order, moving into the top-five right away. There was contact between Cardwell and Mike Augustine, unfortunately ending Augustine’s chances of winning, but the race remained green for another lap before the big one struck.

Evan Seay and Hayden Tollison got hooked together, and that kicked off a chain reaction that collected multiple cars in the process. Just before the big one, Cardwell had just taken the lead from Conner New, which allowed Cardwell to lead the field back to the green. There were a few more incidents, including one that took out Drew Jonkman, but the race stayed green until the end, allowing for Cardwell to cruise to the win.

FEATURE RESULTS FROM RACE NO. 8 AT ELDORA SPEEDWAY

POINTS EARNED FOR DRIVERS THAT DID NOT QUALIFY FOR THE FEATURE

DRIVERS STANDINGS AFTER RACE NO. 8 AT ELDORA SPEEDWAY

1. Joey Lingron, 686 points
2. Logan Rumsey, -70
3. Ethan Johnson, -133
4. Aiden Forster, -163 (did not race)
5. Alex Bergeron, -175 (did not race)
6. Blake Matjoulis, -176
7. Hayden Cardwell, -201
8. Kenny Hoffman, -232 (did not race)
9. Tanner Pettit, -235
10. Landon Cardoza, -238 (did not race)

LATE MODEL SEGMENT STANDINGS AFTER RACE NO. 3 AT ELDORA SPEEDWAY

1. Blake Matjoulis, 338 points
2. Hayden Cardwell, -8
3. Ethan Johnson, -18
4. Conner New, -35
5. Joey Lingron, -68
6. Mike Augustine, -73
7. Colton Jordan, -77
8. Lucas Ruark, -94
9. Evan Seay, -102
10. Hayden Tollison, -105

Joey Lingron maintains the points lead through the eighth round, but Logan Rumsey has cut it down to 70 points with just two races to go. Ethan Johnson jumps to third, now ahead of everyone else who hasn’t been participating in the Late Model side of the schedule. In the Late Model standings, Blake Matjoulis continues to lead, but the gap is now down to eight points over Cardwell with two races to go.

NEXT UP:

Only two World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series races remain on the 2025-26 schedule, and the penultimate round is scheduled at Fairbury Speedway. The World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Qualifying Series opens up on Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. ET with its first of three races for the week, the other two at 8:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday night and Thursday night. 40 drivers from the top of the standings will be invited to race in next week’s Pro Series event.

Last year, Robbie Buchanan Jr was able to break through for his first career victory at Fairbury. All of the action from Fairbury kicks off next Monday night at 8:00 p.m. ET and it will be live on DIRTVision and across all of iRacing’s social media channels.

For more details on the World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series and the World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Qualifying Series, check out www.iRacing.com/WoO-Pro-Series/
For more information about iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iRacing.com.

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