Casey Roderick took the win in Saturday night’s chaotic and caution-filled IHRA Pro Late Model feature event at Cordele.
Roderick, the 2024 ASA Stars Champion, had Nick Loden hot on his heels for the majority of the race. The pair would battle and trade shots throughout the race, but Roderick was able to pull away in the last 10 laps.
“What a blast that was,” Roderick said in victory lane. “You know we fought hard out there with Loden, and he put up a fight. I enjoyed the heck out of that. That was some old school racing right there, and that’s what I like.”
Casey also praised the IHRA for the series, and for what they have done, noting a few small details he would like to see changed to improve the series.
“The whole weekend’s been fun, tuning this thing old school. It puts a lot of the driver back in play, it feels like. I really like what they’re trying to do with IHRA, we got some bugs to work out, there are a few little things that gotta be done differently car-wise to accommodate the tech rules and all, feel like we crushed ourselves a little bit just to get through tech to be a little better.”
Despite finishing second, Loden was in good spirits after the race and praised Rodereck and the battle they had.
“Racing with Casey was the most fun I’ve had racing in years,” Loden said. “That was pretty awesome. [I] would’ve liked to win but it was still a good finish. He out drove me there at the end. I think our cars were pretty equal. I gave it all I had, but he inched me out once I got the right rear hot, and I just couldn’t run with him in the last ten laps, but it was fun.”
Mark Day rounded out the podium after a topsy-turvy day.
“I’d love to get through one of these races without spinning out and having to go to the rear, but hey, it happens,” Day said. “Our car was pretty tight; we made some bad decisions for qualifying, and it continued to be tight. When we pitted, we swapped the left sides and increased some stagger in the back, and it got better, but we were stuck really hard on the right front tire, and I didn’t think I’d even be that good at the end of the race, just figured I killed the right front and was doomed to mid pack or whatever.”
“I’ve got to thank William Scoggin, he’s the reason that we’re running this series, he’s the one funding this deal, I only have two guys and my granddaughter, and one of them has to go spot, so I have one guy in the pits. We’re just a little deal, struggled a bit, but hey, we made the best of it tonight.”
Roderick led the race early from pole position, while Loden cut through the field after starting fifth. On lap 7, the first caution of the day came out for the No. 15 of Avery Demland and the No. 8 of Mark Day. It would become a red flag due to a fluid clean-up on the track. Carter Whalen’s car was unable to re-fire, furthering the caution period. He was able to get the car refired and rejoined the field.
The second caution fell on lap 13 as the No. 55P of Palmer Haag went off the track in turn 3. Roderick got the jump on the restart and solidified the lead as a major stack-up occurred, with Whalen and Chad Chaffin receiving damage. Chad would later get black-flagged for door damage.
Demland brought out the third caution on Lap 17. After a quick clean-up, Roderick was slow on the ensuing restart, causing a check up in front of the field that sent the previous race winner of Brandon Carr spinning after rear contact, collecting Rod Butcher, Demland, Haag, and Ryan Herbert.
On the next restart, Loden got a good launch on the outside, fighting side by side with Roderick. They battled briefly with Loden cementing his lead for the time on lap 20.
On lap 51, Roderick retook the lead after hunting Loden down, with another caution flying four laps later due to Taylor Hull leaking fluids.
Roderick kept the lead on the restart and held strong for 13 laps until the next yellow flag flew for Demland going off the track in Turn 3. Roderick once again held the lead on the restart, but Loden got to his bumper in Turn 3 and moved Roderick up the track, to no avail.
Caution number six flew on lap 74 for a stalled Joshua Horniman. Martin Nesbitt ran out of fuel on this caution, forcing him to pit. The field came back to green on lap 75 with Roderick and Loden running door-to-door, and Loden took the lead on lap 76, while Mark Day took over third from Palmer Haag, and Stuart Dutton followed Mark Day through for 4th position.
Loden and Roderick traded the lead for the next ten laps, until Roderick was able to pull away and win.
Dutton and Haag would round out the top five, and last week’s winner, Brandon Carr, finished P6.
IHRA Pro Late Models
Cordele Motor Speedway
April 18, 2026
- Casey Roderick
- Nick Loden
- Mark Day
- Stewart Dutton
- Palmer Haag
- Brandon Carr
- Jeremy Williams
- Toro Rodriguez
- Steven Chunn
- Gus Moody
- Taylor Hull
- Martin Nesbitt
- Joshua Horniman
- Carter Whalen
- Avery Demland
- Scott Sutherland
- Chad Chaffin
- Ryan Herbert
- Rod Butcher
