PEVELY, Mo. — The driver who grew up in the shadow of the arch is now the King of the Arch.
Nick Hoffman was on a rail on Friday night at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park, and he didn’t miss a beat in the second half of the weekend doubleheader on Saturday.
From fourth in the starting order, Hoffman needed a few more laps than he did on Friday to find his way to the front. Out front, it was a race between Dallon Murty up high and Jason Feger down low in the opening laps, with Murty pulling away for the early advantage.
While hugging the wall the same way he did on Friday, Hoffman picked off Feger for second with eight laps on the board. Six circuits later, Hoffman had caught Murty when the slower car of Kayden Clatt on the cushion forced Murty to get off the top and down to the same lane as Hoffman.
With Hoffman’s line suddenly impeded, he had to move up a lane to make the pass for the lead. A strong run through the middle of Turns 3 and 4 gave Hoffman enough momentum to clear Murty for the lead on Lap 18, moving into the spot that he never relinquished the rest of the way.
That didn’t mean Hoffman went unchallenged late in the race, however. Feger got back around Murty for second with 25 laps remaining, and inside of 10 to go, he was on Hoffman’s back bumper.
A caution for Logan Zarin spun backwards in Turn 3 set up a three-lap sprint to the finish, which Hoffman came out on top of for his eighth win of the season with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision.
“Jason’s one of my buddies and it’s fun racing with him,” Hoffman said. “That’s a hell of a run for them guys, too. I seen him peeking down there and I knew I had to get back in line just to defend. So, I had to turn left down the front straightaway and block. I was really happy that [Rickey] Frankel turned the No. 1Z around there, because I wanted to get reracked there. I felt like I was in trouble there if he could have got the middle rolling. It just worked out for me.”
Feger settled for second ahead of Drake Troutman, who knocked his deck out pounding the cushion on the last restart climbing up to third. Dallon Murty reset his World of Outlaws career best in fourth, while Bobby Pierce recovered from a spin earlier in the race to finish fifth.
The finish:
Feature (55 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[4]; 2. 25-Jason Feger[1]; 3. 5-Drake Troutman[10]; 4. 13-Dallon Murty[2]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce[13]; 6. 19-Dustin Sorensen[12]; 7. 14-Trey Mills[3]; 8. 19R-Ryan Gustin[5]; 9. 9M-Tim McCreadie[7]; 10. 1-Tyler Erb[14]; 11. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[16]; 12. 58V-Daulton Wilson[9]; 13. 11-Gordy Gundaker[11]; 14. B1-Brent Larson[15]; 15. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[24]; 16. 09-Michael Leach[6]; 17. 33-Rickey Frankel[19]; 18. 1Z-Logan Zarin[21]; 19. 18J-Chase Junghans[17]; 20. 74X-Ethan Dotson[23]; 21. 33H-Wil Herrington[8]; 22. 18-Shannon Babb[20]; 23. 55E-Eli Johnson[25]; 24. 10J-Jordan Bauer[22]; 25. 50-Kayden Clatt[18]
