Everything about this year made it seem like Hayden Cardwell wasn’t destined for a championship. However, true champions are made in the face of adversity. And that was never more than apparent this season after he became the first two-time champ of the American All-Star Series Presented by PPM Racing Products.
Uncertain Start to the Season for Hayden Cardwell
Hayden Cardwell missed the series’ first race of the year, as he was uncertain of his plans for the season while driving a BMF Race Cars house car. He gave the second race for the series a try at Lake Cumberland Speedway, which he won. With one drop race and two bonus races, Cardwell felt he had a shot at making a run for the American All-Star Series championship.
That win, however, would be his only one for the year. The season before, he visited victory lane seven times across several tracks and series.
“I was leading a $15,000 [to-win race] at Beckley [Motor Speedway] and a $10,000 [to-win race] at Lake Cumberland, and we had bad luck with lapped cars at both of them,” said Cardwell, of Knoxville, Tennessee. “It was a struggle all year, but we kept our foot down and came on top.”
Keep the Faith
While AJ Hicks led the point standings for most of the season, he wasn’t winning events, either, but he was consistent. Hicks did, however, race that first race, which gave him more of a cushion when it came to a drop race.
(For more on Hicks’ year, read “AJ Hicks: The Hardest-Fought Trophy on the Mantel.”)
“The whole time we felt like we a shot,” Cardwell said. “This is my fourth full year racing late models, and this is by far the worst luck I’ve ever had. At times, we [didn’t feel like we had a shot], because we had so much bad luck, but we just kept with it, kept getting better.”
Twist of Fate for Hayden Cardwell
Just before the second-to-last race at Natural Bridge Speedway, Cardwell and BMF Race Cars mutually agreed to go their separate ways. When word got out, Brandon Ramsey offered his CVR car to Cardwell to race. Cardwell, crew, and CVR scrambled to get it ready.
“It didn’t have a motor in it, there wasn’t shocks on it,” said Cardwell. “The body was blew out because that car had not been raced in a while. We tore it completely apart — the rear end came out, the front suspension off, took the axles out and double-checked the whole car in about a day.”
That was on the Thursday prior to Natural Bridge’s Saturday race. Cardwell took a provisional, started 22nd, and raced his way to 10th-place spot. Meanwhile, Hicks suffered a blown engine the night before, swapped a new one in, made a driver error during the feature and cut down a tire, finishing 22nd.
At the season finale at Beckley Motor Speedway, Hicks suffered a drivetrain failure, relegating him to a last-place finish. Hayden Cardwell placed runner-up to secure the championship.
My, how fates can change so quickly.
“Never give up,” Cardwell said. “Running for a points championship is very stressful. You run up and down the road every week or so. You have two-day weekends, three-day weekends. I give props to the guys who stick with the series all year, even though they know they don’t have a shot at winning the points. It takes a lot of work for any team. You just got to keep working and the results will come.”
Outside Groove Note of Transparency: Outside Groove is a sponsor of the American All-Star Series. The American All-Star Series paid for the production of this article. The content is not subject to the approval of the American All-Star Series.
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
