After the Checkers
Hoffman in a league of his own at Volusia's DCN
By Kevin Kovac
DirtonDirt senior writer
Nick Hoffman celebrates with his son at Volusia. (Josh James)
BARBERVILLE, Fla. (Feb. 13) — Instant reaction and analysis from Friday’s Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals action at Volusia Speedway Park, a $12,000-to-win World of Outlaws Late Model Series event won by Nick Hoffman (RaceWire):
SHEER PERFECTION: This time Nick Hoffman of Mooresville, N.C., wasn’t surprised to emerge as a dominant victor of Friday’s 35-lap WoO feature at Volusia. He knew he was the class of the field. After never quite feeling comfortable in Thursday’s A-main despite not really facing a challenge, he moved up from the fourth starting spot in Friday’s headliner to grab the lead from Ricky Thornton Jr. on lap 11 and never looked back. While almost all of his pursuers were hammering the cushion or churning hard down low, Hoffman had his Tye Twarog-owned Longhorn Chassis cruising smoothly through the middle of the racetrack. “I just focus on that so much at a lot of places that I go,” Hoffman said. “You almost gotta be good right through the middle of the racetrack.” He has the approach figured out very well at Volusia, a half-mile oval where his performance record — 22 career UMP modified victories and now five in the Super Late Model division, including three straight in this year’s DIRTcar Nationals — is climbing toward legendary status.
WHAT A REBOUND: Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., conceded that he had nothing for Hoffman after he reached second place on lap 29, but he had no qualms with settling for a runner-up finish no matter how distant it was to the victor (3.523 seconds to be exact). It was, after all, quite a turnaround for the 34-year-old star, who on Thursday absorbed the first DNQ of his spectacular 2026 Georgia-Florida Speedweeks. “When we run second (to Hoffman) the other night (in Wednesday’s second 20-lap semifeature), everybody was like, ‘Man, this is bullshit,’” said Overton, whose run of four straight Speedweeks victories at three different tracks had made him and his supporters grow accustomed to winning. “And then last night we don’t make the race and everybody’s like, ‘Oh, s—. That is not good at all.’ So now tonight, it’s like we won again. Start ninth and run second, I’ll take it all damn day.”
BIG CHARGE: Third-place finisher Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., was another driver who tipped his cap to Hoffman, acknowledging that Hoffman simply mastered the middle of the racetrack in a manner that he, nor anyone else in the field, could come close to matching. But the 29-year-old’s second straight third-place finish — coming after he didn’t crack the top-five in his previous six feature starts this season at Volusia — was no small accomplishment. He was in a serious hole after slipping to a sixth-place finish in his heat with his car hampered by a bent lower control arm, but he fought back to grab a transfer spot in his B-main and work his way through the A-main field from the 21st starting spot to stand on the podium. “I kind of feel like T-Mac (Tim McCreadie) the other night (Thursday),” Pierce said. “He got second in the B-main and came from 22nd to second in the feature (to finish second) — it’s like, you never count your night over. You just gotta keep digging, keep trying, and that’s what we did. We started eighth in the B main, got to second with the help of a caution ... then we got up through there in the feature (reaching third on lap 29). Just gotta keep digging, refuse to lose.”
ABORTED GREEN FLAG: A caution flag was flying over the feature before front-row starters Michael Leach and Ricky Thornton Jr. had reached the start-finish line. The reason? With field seemingly anticipating a faster get-off, cars began jamming up through the pack until finally 11th-starter Chris Madden received a bump from Mike Marlar, who started 13th, and spun nose-first into the tires lining the opening in the infield wall in turn four. When Madden’s front end twirled back into track its right-front clipped the left-front of Brandon Sheppard’s Rocket Chassis house. Both drivers, as well as Dustin Sorensen, pitted for repairs; Madden retired shortly thereafter while Sorensen went on to finish sixth and Sheppard salvaged an 11th-place finish despite racing with significant damage to his car’s left-side bodywork.
NOTHING EASY: How difficult was it to make Friday’s feature field? Just consider the non-qualifiers included Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind. (Tuesday’s winner) and Devin Moran of Dresden, Ohio (six career Volusia victories). It was the second straight DNQ for Moran, who didn’t miss a single A-main during the previous two DIRTcar Nationals (11-for-11).
STAT OF THE NIGHT: With a victory in Saturday’s DCN finale, Nick Hoffman would become just the second driver in the event’s history to win four straight feature, joining Brandon Sheppard in 2019. He would also be the fourth driver to sweep every WoO feature contested during the DCN, joining Sheppard (’19), Shane Clanton (three in ’15) and Scott Bloomquist (two in ’11).
