Slick Simsport’s Dylan Houser made it five different winners for the third straight year in the iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car World Championship, taking the checkered flag in the final race of the year at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
But it was Team ABR’s Alex Bergeron who ended the night as the series champion for the second year in a row, coming home with a solid sixth place finish to preserve his points lead over championship runner-up David Heileman and four-time 2020 race winner James Edens.
“It was a hard season, but also a fun one,” Bergeron said. “At Knoxville, we were passing for the lead on Eyler and the connection went out. It did tonight too, but I’m grateful we were able to stay on track. We had a lot of bad luck during the season, but we still got three wins and the championship.
“(Tonight) was a good race. Right in front of us we had the battle for second and third in points, so it was hard to pass those guys. I just tried to run my race and not make any mistakes, and it worked out for us.”
Coming into the night, Heileman and Edens needed an especially rough outing for Bergeron to make up enough points to earn the title, but it wouldn’t be an impossible task. If the Quebec native DNFed in the final or missed it entirely, either challenger could’ve wrestled away the crown with a decent finish, with the higher placement likely taking it. But none of them were able to win a heat race, as Houser, Dillon Semmelmann, Kendal Tucker, and Lewis Hewett scored those victories; Heileman did beat Bergeron in their heat, finishing second and third, while Edens finished second in his heat from fourth on the grid.
But passing proved difficult on the half-mile dirt oval in the 35-lap feature. The trio of title contenders only managed to climb to fourth, fifth, and sixth, with neither Edens nor Heileman getting the separation from Bergeron that they needed to make up meaningful points. The biggest mover on the night was Rusty Kruger, who climbed to ninth from last on the grid.
Houser, meanwhile, managed to lead every single lap, extending his lead over Semmelmann to over two seconds by race’s end. The victory, his first in the series, allowed him to join a small but elite group of drivers who have won in both Sprint Car and Late Model World Championship events.
“It’s hard to race for wins with these guys because they’re so good,” said Houser. “The setup was on point tonight, and I have to thank David (Heileman) for that. I turned a ton of laps this week because I wanted to go out with a bang. Now I’m looking forward to the Late Models—I think we’re the best we’ve ever been going into that series.”
Full results from the feature event of the iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car World Championship season finale at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway were as follows:
Fin. No. Driver
1. 2 Dylan R. Houser
2. 81 Dillon Semmelmann
3. 00 Kendal Tucker
4. 52 James Edens
5. 49 David Heileman
6. 12 Alex A Bergeron
7. 54 John Battista
8. 11 Cole Neuhalfen
9. 55 Rusty L Kruger
10. 35 Nick Cooper
11. 80 Vinnie Sansone
12. 71 Cole V Cabre
13. 44 Blake Cannon
14. 25 Tyler Ducharme
15. 74 Adam Elby
16. 15 Zack Novak
17. 85 Tyler Schell
18. 92 Mike Keegan
19. 3 Lewis Hewett
20. 5 Braden Eyler
Final point standings from the 2020 iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car World
Championship are as follows:
Alex Bergeron, 660 (3 wins)
David Heileman, 630
James Edens, 629 (4 wins)
Kendal Tucker, 582
Braden Eyler, 513 (1 win)
Dillon Semmelmann, 479 (1 win)
Cole Cabre, 425
Dylan Houser, 380 (1 win)
Cameron Merriman, 358
Austen Semmelmann, 356
Tyler Ducharme, 355
Adam Elby, 338
Tyler Schell, 333
Lewis Hewett, 324
Blake Cannon, 316
Alex Smolders, 312
Cole Neuhalfen, 306
Zack Novak, 300
John Battista, 293
Joel Berkley, 248
Shaun Timmerman, 239
Nick Cooper, 220
Rusty Kruger, 187
Colton Hardy, 185
Chase Cabre, 182
Mike Keegan, 170
Vinnie Sansone, 154
James Tiernan, 141
Schyler Brown, 131
Justin Thomas, 118
Britton Roxberry, 113
Logan Clampitt, 109
Anthony Jobe, 69
Billy Rowlee, 51
Matthew McKinney, 51
World of Outlaws action on iRacing will resume in June with the kickoff of the iRacing World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model World Championship, won last year by Swindell Speedlab Esports’ Blake Matjoulis. Many top sprint car drivers, including Bergeron, Edens, and Tucker, are expected to contend for that championship as well. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
