Cedar Lake Speedway was the host of the third round of the 2023 iRacing World of Outlaws ButtKicker Late Model Series. For the second week in a row, it was 2019 series champion Blake Matjoulis taking the checkered flag, holding off defending champion Evan Seay once again throughout the night.
Seay looked to be the dominant force as he qualified with the fastest time and won his heat race, earning him eight points and the pole position. In comparison, Matjoulis only managed to earn the sixth best qualifying time, which would line him up in second for the second heat race. Starting alongside Logan Rumsey, Matjoulis made quick work to claim the top spot, leading all eight laps of the heat.
The other two heats were won by JD Brown and James Edens, both from the first starting spot in their respective races, as they would line up in the second row for the feature. The final two rows of the 20-car grid would consist of Ethan Toedter and Dezmond Busby, winners of the two last chance races, and in the final row, Chase Hardy and Logan Herbert.
Seay led the field to the green flag, but Matjoulis was quick to get alongside. Before the end of the first lap, Matjoulis managed to slide across into the lead, moving the defending champion back into second and a battle with Brown and Edens. The only caution flew on the fourth lap, and it started with a bad nudge from Toedter into Kaden Honeycutt. Busby would also grab a piece, and on his way back down collected Hardy, who would flip. Honeycutt and Hardy would retire at that point.
On the restart, Matjoulis managed to pull Seay and continue leading. Despite not grabbing the pole position, Matjoulis led every lap and scored his second win of the season. Seay would again finish in second.
Despite a pair of runner-up finishes to Matjoulis in the last two weeks, Seay continues to control the top of the point standings, but now only by seven points leaving Cedar Lake. Kendal Tucker maintains third in the points with a sixth place run. Edens jumps up to fourth with his podium finish, just ahead of Rumsey in fifth by two points.
iRacing World of Outlaws ButtKicker Late Model Series Round 3 results at Cedar Lake were as follows:
| Fin. | St. | No. | Name | Laps | Interval | Led | Best | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 127 | Blake Matjoulis | 50 | 0.000 | 49 | 13.526 | 78 |
| 2 | 1 | 33 | Evan Seay | 50 | -0.224 | 0 | 13.500 | 75 |
| 3 | 4 | 52 | James Edens | 50 | -0.999 | 0 | 13.602 | 72 |
| 4 | 3 | 21 | JD Brown | 50 | -1.628 | 0 | 13.592 | 69 |
| 5 | 7 | 48 | Dylan Yeager | 50 | -1.972 | 0 | 13.541 | 65 |
| 6 | 5 | 00 | Kendal Tucker | 50 | -2.083 | 0 | 13.634 | 62 |
| 7 | 8 | 80 | Dylan Wilson | 50 | -2.323 | 0 | 13.628 | 59 |
| 8 | 6 | 41 | Logan Rumsey2 | 50 | -2.629 | 0 | 13.629 | 56 |
| 9 | 9 | 09 | Tanner Tomasi | 50 | -2.779 | 0 | 13.689 | 52 |
| 10 | 10 | 92 | Tristan Ladouceur | 50 | -4.426 | 0 | 13.659 | 49 |
| 11 | 12 | 23 | Chase Barbara | 50 | -4.720 | 0 | 13.642 | 47 |
| 12 | 11 | 31 | Robbie Buchanan Jr | 50 | -5.845 | 0 | 13.666 | 45 |
| 13 | 15 | 19 | Mike Augustine | 50 | -6.284 | 0 | 13.700 | 42 |
| 14 | 14 | 3 | Barrett Bishop | 50 | -6.488 | 0 | 13.705 | 40 |
| 15 | 16 | 20 | Colton Zimmer | 50 | -7.800 | 0 | 13.668 | 38 |
| 16 | 18 | 82 | Dezmond Busby | 50 | -8.128 | 0 | 13.734 | 35 |
| 17 | 20 | 6 | Logan Herbert | 50 | -8.532 | 0 | 13.667 | 33 |
| 18 | 17 | 223 | Ethan C Toedter | 50 | -11.185 | 0 | 13.761 | 31 |
| 19 | 13 | 10 | Kaden Honeycutt | 4 | -46L | 0 | 13.929 | 30 |
| 20 | 19 | 99 | Chase Hardy | 4 | -46L | 0 | 13.825 | 27 |
iRacing World of Outlaws ButtKicker Late Model Series points through Round 3 are as follows:
1. Evan Seay, 228
2. Blake Matjoulis, 221
3. Kendal Tucker, 200
4. James Edens, 173
5. Logan Rumsey, 171
6. Barrett Bishop, 170
7. JD Brown, 147
8. Dylan Wilson, 146
9. Dylan Yeager, 133
10.Chase Barbara, 128
Cedar Lake is complete, so next up, the iRacing World of Outlaws ButtKicker Late Model Series is heading to Port Royal Speedway for the fourth round. A brand-new track to the iRacing World of Outlaws Late Model ranks, Port Royal is one of the newest dirt ovals on the platform, having released just over a year ago in June 2022. Tune in live on Monday, July 31, for the show starting at 9PM ET on DirtVision and at twitch.tv/iracing.
For more information on the iRacing World of Outlaws ButtKicker Late Model Series, visit www.iracing.com/woolm. For more information on the World of Outlaws, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
