Fairbury Speedway
Steady Hoffman never far from the front
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Nick Hoffman (joshjamesartwork.com)
FAIRBURY, Ill. (May 9) — Thirty-seven in a row. That’s how many top-10 finishes Nick Hoffman now has following Saturday’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series runner-up at Fairbury Speedway. Did the Mooresville, N.C., driver know he’d been on such an astounding streak entering the evening?
“No, I didn’t actually. Ah, man, really?” Hoffman said before the drivers' meeting Saturday when asked if he realized his top-10 streak.
Racking up top-10 finishes is certainly valuable, but it’s not something that Hoffman often tallies — “I don’t even look at the top-10s,” he said. Regardless, it’s quite remarkable that the last time he finished outside the top 10 was Sept. 13 at Senoia (Ga.) Raceway on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, a 15th-place finish in which he started sixth and actually had a 12-race top-10 streak end.
“I do know when I got a streak going of top-fives and stuff, and then I know it’s going really good. I do look at the podiums,” Hoffman said. “I think there was a streak I had gone at six straight podiums. And then I got beat and run fourth the other night.”
However one chooses to measure consistency — podium streaks, top-five finishes or sheer volume of top-10 runs — it all carries weight for a driver like Hoffman as he chases his first national Dirt Late Model title on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series. He’s also gone 56 consecutive starts without a DNF, dating back to July 12 last year at Sharon (Ohio) Speedway.
“I’ve always said it, like (Brandon) Sheppard won a ton of races, but Sheppard won those championships because he’d run top-three every freaking night,” Hoffman said. “And so that’s what I look at is I just, you got to be there and be consistent.”
Right now, Hoffman’s doing all he can to live up to that title-worthy standard, most proud of the fact that he carries an average finish of 3.3 on the World of Outlaws circuit and has finished on the podium in half of his 26 series starts.
“That’s what it takes to try and win a championship,” the WoO points leader said. “So I did not know the top 10-deal. That’s pretty wild. Now that that’s in my mind, if I’m running 11th, I’m throwing a bomb for a slider just to make sure I keep that going. But yeah, that’s pretty wild.”
Hoffman has elevated his game every season since landing his first full-time Late Model ride with Tye Twarog Racing in 2023, when he recorded five victories, including one at the national level. In 2024, he won eight times, six of those against national touring competition.
Last season, Hoffman amassed nine victories, including a career-best eight on the national touring scene. This year, he has six wins in 26 starts — all but one with the World of Outlaws — a surge that has him leading the WoO standings by three points over Bobby Pierce.
“I’ve gotten to the point now in my Late Model career where I’m very confident and I always say the confidence in my driver goes more than probably anything,” Hoffman said. “And then two, I’ve got laps at all these racetracks now, and I got a decent notebook and stuff. Just like tonight, I went back to what I almost won the (Prairie Dirt Classic) here two years ago and I’m starting the night exactly like that. And just see what it does, you know?”
Hoffman’s plan yielded another convincing result Saturday as he started seventh and methodically worked his way forward, eventually slipping past Clay Harris with 10 laps remaining to seize second place with Brandon Sheppard squarely in his sights.
He couldn’t overtake Sheppard — now a winner of three of his last five races — but Saturday continued Hoffman’s upward trend.
“Yeah, you’d like to win more races, but we pretty much finish on the podium every night, it seems like,” Hoffman said. “So, yeah, it’s good. Haven’t had any DNFs yet, and nothing stupid happen. So it goes back to having the right equipment and the right guys as far as that goes.”
Hoffman’s philosophy on consistency has been shaped in part by studying champions outside the Dirt Late Model discipline, too.
He’s long admired the composition of 10-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car champion Donny Schatz and reigning two-time WoO champion David Gravel, drivers who rarely beat themselves and seemingly never squander points nights because of a reckless mistake.
To Hoffman, that same brand of discipline — limiting DNFs, avoiding unnecessary trouble and maximizing nights that aren’t perfect — is what separates contenders from champions.
“So throughout the years, I’ve watched Donny Schatz and now David Gravel on the sprint car side. And then on the Outlaw side, Bobby (Pierce has) been pretty good with not having DNFs. Same on the Lucas (Oil) side with Ricky (Thornton Jr.) and Devin (Moran),” Hoffman said. “All these guys just win championships. That’s what it takes, you know? You can’t have anything stupid happen.”
Although neither incident appeared to be of their own doing, the off nights endured Saturday by Hudson O’Neal (19th after being collected in a wreck), reigning Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champ Devin Moran (20th after a midrace flat tire) and Ricky Thornton Jr. (25th after a midrace wreck) served as a prime example of how costly nights could potentially add up.
“You watch a lot of these races, and these guys that are up front contending for championships don’t pull off any stupid mistakes or put themselves in a position where they’re going to crash,” Hoffman said. “I do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen. So some nights, it might mean that you don’t end up winning the race, but you end up second or third. I feel like that’s what wins championships.”
Even with the strongest stretch of his national touring career unfolding before him, Hoffman knows momentum in Dirt Late Model racing can disappear as quickly as it comes.
Part of what’s fueled his surge, he believes, is racing more than ever before — including the first he’s set on following the entire 11-race FloRacing Night in America schedule — because he finally feels Tye Twarog Racing is in a stable enough place to expand its slate without compromising its World of Outlaws pursuits.
While the added races create more opportunities for Hoffman to thrive, they also bring added wear, travel and chances for things to go awry, realities he understands but isn’t overly concerned about. At the same time, Hoffman knows how unforgiving the grind can be and how quickly confidence can be tested in the sport’s deepest waters.
“You know, at some point, you’re gonna get in a trough and it’s gonna be a couple bad days. So, right now it’s all going good,” Hoffman said. ”We are racing more, so I do feel like that helps. I’m more confident than I’ve ever been racing Late Models. Driver confidence is probably the most important thing that leads to success.
“And, yeah, right now, I’m very confident. I know I can beat anybody in this pit area on the right night. but these races are very difficult and this deal will humble you right in a second.”
Hoffman figures to harness that confidence and ride high into June 3-6’s Dream Week at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, where he’ll once again arrive as a bona fide threat against the sport’s biggest stars.
He finished third in Eldora’s Dream and World 100 last season, then backed it up with a fifth-place finish in October’s Dirt Track World Championship. Better yet for Hoffman, that same Eldora car is prepped and waiting for another shot at the famed Ohio oval.
“It’s ready to go already,” Hoffman said. “So, yeah, I’m very confident going to Eldora. I think that everybody knows I’ve been working with (Jonathan) Davenport, and he’s the best there, so that helps. I just take a little bit of tidbits that I learn from him, and apply it to my program. I think a lot of my success comes from that also.
“So anything you can do to try and better yourself, and you get a guy like J.D. around you, and then hanging out with Scott (Bloomquist) that little bit of time I got to hang around him, it’s all related to my success at Eldora. So, yeah, I’m excited to get over there. I’m really pumped up about it. We’re racing more than we probably ever have. And I think that all leads to why we’re running so well.”
