BROWNSTOWN, Ind. — Nick Hoffman reminded everyone that he cannot be counted out of the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models championship battle on Saturday night at Brownstown Speedway.
Hoffman called back to his days of racing a UMP Modified at the quarter-mile bullring, where he won two Summer Nationals modified races, to capture his fourth feature win of the 2024 season.
Starting outside the front row, Hoffman had to maintain his spot inside the podium while Dustin Sorensen jumped out to the early lead.
Struggling to find the right place to run on the track, Hoffman had to fend for his position by sliding up and down the track against Bobby Pierce while Sorensen widened his gap on the two drivers.
With a flurry of cautions giving Hoffman a chance to snatch the lead, he ran the middle line around the turns to where he made speed down the straightaways to reach Sorensen but had to wait for the No.19 to make a mistake to get the lead.
That moment came with 18 laps to go, when Sorensen bobbled off the corner and cleared the air for Hoffman to drive by for the lead.
Managing traffic to extend the distance from Sorensen, Hoffman moved up to the high line of the track to swing by the slower cars ahead of him to capture his fifth career win to complete the first weekend of the Heartland Grand Tour.
The feature win helped “The Thrill from Mooresville” close back in on series points leader Brandon Sheppard by 12 points leaving Saturday night.
“At the start, we couldn’t get enough laps in to figure out where I needed to be on the race track,” Hoffman said. “I knew on the restarts, I wanted the bottom so I could get a launch off Turn 4 at least. I wasn’t very good the whole race, but I knew if I could get the middle lane running and making speed on the straightaway speed that way, I’d be better off.
“I was able to get by Bobby and make big circles and was able to get to (Sorensen), and it was a matter of him messing up one time for me to make enough gain to get clear of him and control the pace of the race at that point. I was able to cruise around the middle of the race track, so I definitely gotta put that in the notebook of what I need to do better with the car the next time we come back.”
Sorensen finished second.
“We’re definitely getting better than the last two nights,” Sorensen said. “Before tonight, I felt terrible, so we changed some stuff that was wrong with the car, and then I was really comfortable with the car again today. It’s nice to know that we’re still fast and these last two nights were flukes, hopefully.
“I gotta give a huge shoutout to my dad, Corey and Justin with me this weekend, and my mom back home. They’ve been working their butts off, it’s hot out here, and I’m excited to get back up north.”
Pierce finished third.
“It was kinda the same thing that happened yesterday where I wanted it to stay green and the caution would come out,” Pierce said. “I felt like every opportunity I had there, I was burning up my tires. Starting in the third row is tough because you have to work harder and the guys up front.
“I finally got it rolling, got to second, thought I had something for Dustin and then I kind of stalemated. Once the caution came out, I knew it wasn’t a good time so I didn’t know whether to pick the bottom or top. It was a tough race track, the car wasn’t bad but it couldn’t get the speed when it was that slick. Congrats to Nick on the win and Dustin for second.”
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[2]; 2. 19-Dustin Sorensen[1]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[6]; 4. 22*-Max McLaughlin[14]; 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard[9]; 6. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 7. 3S-Brian Shirley[8]; 8. 17M-Dale McDowell[18]; 9. 1G-Devin Gilpin[11]; 10. 32S-Chad Stapleton[12]; 11. B1-Brent Larson[23]; 12. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[10]; 13. 97-Cade Dillard[4]; 14. 93-Kent Robinson[21]; 15. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[17]; 16. 12-Jason Jameson[5]; 17. 40B-Kyle Bronson[7]; 18. 16-Tyler Bruening[13]; 19. 14M-Morgan Bagley[19]; 20. 11X-Ryan Lanphierd[22]; 21. 97JR-Cody Overton[15]; 22. 76-Shelby Miles[20]; 23. 29J-Jordan Wever[16]; 24. 14W-Dustin Walker[24]; 25. 24-Jared Bailey[25]