CORNING, Iowa — Bobby Pierce charged from the 12th starting position to pass Nick Hoffman for the lead on lap 35 and race to a $15,000 victory in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series debut at Adams County Speedway on Tuesday night.
The victory came in the biggest race in the speedway’s history and marked the first appearance by a national touring series at Adams County Speedway since the Hav-A-Tampa Racing Series competed there on August 22, 2000.
Garrett Alberson slipped past Hoffman coming to the white flag to finish second, while Hoffman, whose car developed mechanical issues over the final 10 laps, held on to complete the podium in third after leading 26 of the race’s 40 laps.
Hoffman narrowly held off Brian Shirley, who advanced from the 18th starting position to finish fourth. Mike Marlar rounded out the top five.
New track record holder Dillon McCowan, seeking his third consecutive Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory, jumped to the early lead and paced the opening eight laps before Hoffman took over on lap nine. The pair battled out front until Pierce began his charge through the field.
After McCowan slipped off the racing surface in turn two while running fourth, Pierce moved into second following an intense battle with Alberson and Marlar. Pierce then tracked down Hoffman, exchanging the lead before taking over for good on lap 35 despite navigating through oil from Hoffman’s ailing machine.
The victory was Pierce’s 31st career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series triumph and his second series win of the 2026 season, adding to his Show-Me 100 victory on Memorial Day weekend.
“I don’t know if I could have caught him (Hoffman). When I got to second, that’s when I saw him smoking and that was the first time I finally got clean air between me and him. I thought, ‘I’ve got to track down the No. 9,’ and I could see the smoke,” Pierce said.
“I’m surprised he held on that long. I don’t know what his issue was, but it was obviously an oil line. It was oil and not tire smoke because it was getting on my shield. It was creating a slick patch, and every time I followed him off the corner, I would lose ground. He was hanging on. You don’t want to see that happen because maybe we could have raced it out. If he didn’t have issues, it would have been tough. I’m not sure, but we’ll never know.”
Alberson capitalized on Hoffman’s troubles with an aggressive move entering turn three on the final lap to secure the runner-up finish.
“After not getting the start I wanted in the heat race, Dillon (McCowan) did a really good job and it didn’t put us back too far. Starting fifth was good,” Alberson said. “Hats off to Adams County. This track was awesome. It was cool to see all of these fans out here, and I hope everybody had a good time because I really enjoyed the race track.
“I got lucky, and I hate it for Nick that he was having problems. I did such a bad job timing that last restart that I didn’t think I even had a shot at third. I got one good run off turn two that kept me ahead of Mikey (Marlar), then I saw Nick slowing into turn three, so I just sent it in there.”
Hoffman, the reigning C.J. Rayburn Memorial winner at Brownstown Speedway, was looking for his second career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory.
“I got out front and my crew was showing me I had a decent lead, so I was just trying to save my tires and keep the temperatures under control,” Hoffman said. “Then Bobby started coming, the gap closed, and I had to start hustling the car. He slid me, and after a couple of laps of running really hard the temperature got pretty hot.
“When that caution came out, I really didn’t want to see it because the car got hot under yellow. I was able to cool it back down and it still had oil pressure at the finish. I don’t know if it burned a piston or what happened, but it started laying down over the last few laps.”
Half Mile Hustle | Feature Finish (40 Laps):
Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Earnings
1 – 12 – 32 – Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – $15,000
2 – 5 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $7,800
3 – 2 – 9H – Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – $5,000
4 – 18 – 3S – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – $4,800
5 – 10 – 157 – Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – $3,000
6 – 3 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – $3,400
7 – 8 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $3,200
8 – 4 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – $3,100
9 – 14 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $3,400
10 – 7 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – $2,900
11 – 1 – 8 – Dillon McCowan – Urbana, MO – $2,800
12 – 11 – 11 – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – $2,600
13 – 13 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $2,800
14 – 6 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – $2,300
15 – 24 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – $2,200
16 – 21 – 19R – Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – $1,300
17 – 17 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – $2,400
18 – 16 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – $1,100
19 – 23 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $1,800
20 – 15 – 17SR – Brody Smith – Dade City, FL – $1,000
21 – 20 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $1,800
22 – 9 – 99-18 – Jesse Sobbing – Malvern, IA – $1,000
23 – 19 – 4 – Tad Pospisil – Norfolk, NE – $1,000
24 – 22 – 28 – Dennis Erb Jr – Carpentersville, IL – $1,000
