PLYMOUTH, Ind. — Nick Hoffman scored his 27th career series victory in the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals with a $1,500-to-win, 25-lap win at Plymouth Speedway Tuesday night.
The 28-year-old speedster – a two-time Summit Nationals champion, including last year’s title – drove the Justin Allgaier Motorsports-owned, Federated Auto Parts-sponsored No. 7 to the win after starting fifth.
The front row of the 22-car field, Mike McKinney and Curt Spalding ran side-by-side during the opening few laps with Spalding, the event’s fastest qualifier, finally wrestling away the lead using the high, outside groove. Five laps were in the books when the first yellow flag appeared. Hoffman took advantage of the restart and jumped into second place.
Hoffman put the pressure on Spalding, first trying the low groove and then the outside groove which worked for Hoffman’s bid for the lead. McKinney, who has already won two Summit Modified Nationals races this year, chased Hoffman with Spalding, two-time Plymouth modified champion Derek Losh and Will Krup giving chase. Krup moved his way towards the front, finally taking second with seven laps or so to go.
One more yellow flag flew with only four laps to go with Hoffman powering out front for the final laps with Krup, Hunt Gossum, Losh and McKinney making up the top five at the checkered flag.
“It took me a little bit to get to the lead,” Hoffman said. “I had to deal with Will (Krup) for the first five or six laps. The (first) caution (flag) kind of fell at the right time. I was able to maneuver on that restart to get to second. I pressured Curt (Spalding) pretty hard to get the lead. There were a few ‘rubber spots’ here and there especially on the straightaways. I made sure I hit those every time off the corner so I could kind of carry myself to the next corner.
“This is Justin Allgaier’s personal car. Obviously, one of my (Elite) chassis. It only has about eight or nine races on it. It was brand new in Florida.”
The finish:
Nick Hoffman, Will Krup, Hunt Gossum, Derek Losh, Mike McKinney, Rich Dawson, Ryan Thomas, David Stremme, Curt Spalding, Dylan Woodling, Garrett Jameson, Zeke McKenzie, Lucas Pace, Todd Sherman, Beau DeYoung, Dillon Nussbaum, Tony Anderson, Nick Allen, Bill Griffith, Clayton Bryant, Bradley Jameson, Corey Bevard.