MANSFIELD, Ohio — Not many drivers can say they’ve earned a six-figure check in one night at a dirt track, but Nick Hoffman is the latest addition to that list.
One night prior, Tyler Erb joined that exclusive club after local philanthropists Dan and Brenda Niss put up a donation that raised Friday’s winner’s payout to a staggering $100,000. As it turned out, they weren’t finished.
Saturday’s Blaster 57 Special finale for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision was already the biggest purse of the season at more than $240,000 in total, with $57,000 going to the winner and $5,700 just to start the feature.
However, midway through the program, track owner Matt Tifft announced that the Niss family had once again boosted Saturday’s top prize to $100,057. It was at that point when Hoffman started licking his chops.
Hoffman struggled on Friday and was never a serious contender for the big money. Saturday was a different story though, as Hoffman was the quick qualifier and won his heat. He drew a front-row starting spot on the outside of polesitter Garrett Alberson, but dropped back to third on the start after Alberson pulled away and fourth-starting Josh Rice cut through the middle and cleared Hoffman exiting Turn 2.
Hoffman stayed with Rice early, briefly nosing out in front on Lap 4. Rice quickly reclaimed the spot on that occasion, but Hoffman got another chance later in the race in a three-wide moment with the lap car of Tristan Chamberlain which Hoffman came out on top of. At that point, Hoffman had the biggest win of his career dangling in front of him and 20 laps remaining to snatch it.
A caution with 11 laps left put Hoffman right on Alberson’s tail, and he immediately seized the opportunity. Alberson went to the top of Turns 1 and 2 while Hoffman ducked low, and when Alberson hit a bump in Turn 2 and lost momentum, he left the door wide open for Hoffman to grab the lead and drive away to what was easily the biggest of his 17 World of Outlaws wins to date.
“It’s unreal,” Hoffman said. “I came here for the Dirt Million [in 2018], those were my first couple starts in a Late Model, and hell, that was eight years ago now. Been through a lot of stuff, a lot of different car owners, great car owners. If it wasn’t for all of them, I wouldn’t be here either. Man, I just don’t know what to say. Thank you Matt Tifft for putting up the extra money.
“Race track had character, I had a little bit of a different tire combination on than I feel like the rest of the field. So I knew that the late part of that race, it would come to me. Just pressured and pressured and was able to get by [Alberson].”
Alberson came up one spot short of what would have also been the biggest victory of his career, while Hudson O’Neal put the No. 71 SSI Motorsports machine on the podium in third. Erb backed up Friday’s win with a fourth on Saturday ahead of Brandon Sheppard in fifth.
The finish:
Feature (57 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[2]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 3. 71-Hudson O’Neal[8]; 4. 1-Tyler Erb[9]; 5. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[11]; 6. 32-Bobby Pierce[22]; 7. 14-Trey Mills[3]; 8. 19-Dustin Sorensen[17]; 9. 44-Chris Madden[7]; 10. 22*-Drake Troutman[18]; 11. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[5]; 12. 19R-Ryan Gustin[13]; 13. 58V-Daulton Wilson[24]; 14. 13-Dallon Murty[21]; 15. B1-Brent Larson[25]; 16. 74X-Ethan Dotson[23]; 17. 76-Brandon Overton[15]; 18. 11-Josh Rice[4]; 19. 99-Devin Moran[14]; 20. 1Z-Logan Zarin[26]; 21. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[12]; 22. 12-Ryan Montgomery[19]; 23. 111-Max Blair[16]; 24. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[20]; 25. 9M-Tim McCreadie[10]; 26. 1N-Michael Norris[6]
