OGILVIE, Minn. — The box score says Bobby Pierce started first and finished first, but that doesn’t even begin to tell the full story.
It had been seven years since the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision last visited Ogilvie Raceway, and expectations were high at the track that’s known to give drivers plenty of room to race. When the lineup was published that had Pierce and Jonathan Davenport beside each other on the front row, the fans knew they were in for a treat.
Davenport got the advantage on the start, but the slider fest commenced behind him between Pierce and Tyler Erb as they went back and forth for second.
Pierce eventually prevailed in that battle and began reeling in Davenport, and he threw his first bomb on Davenport going into Turn 3 on Lap 6. Davenport returned the favor the next time around, and the lead swapping continued almost every corner for the next few circuits.
A bad run off of Turn 4 cost Davenport the lead for a few laps, but he regrouped and pounded the cushion around Turns 3 and 4 to roar past Pierce on Lap 13. The leaders finally got a chance to catch their breath when the caution flag waved for a slowing Drake Troutman 18 laps in while Davenport was barely ahead.
Davenport’s chances of victory came to an abrupt end on the ensuing restart, as he overdrove the first corner, pounded the wall and ripped the quarter panel off of his No. 49 car, causing enough damage to put him out of the race.
That moved his good friend Nick Hoffman into contention for the win, and Hoffman took full advantage by pulling away on the restart. His time out front didn’t last long with both Pierce and Ryan Gustin on his tail, and Pierce made the race-winning pass with 10 to go and held on for win No. 12 of the 2026 World of Outlaws season.
“JD, we had a heck of a race,” Pierce said. “That was so much fun. Hoffman, Gustin, that was probably race of the year for those first 30 laps. Thanks to those guys for racing me very clean, just going at it. ‘Terbo,’ we were throwing some sliders. It’s great to have a racetrack to do that on. Ogilvie tonight was so wide, bottom, top, middle, just everything allowed us all to race around, multiple lanes.”
Hoffman came home right behind his championship rival in second ahead of Gustin in third, who appeared on the podium for the first time in over a month. Erb trailed in fourth, while Trey Mills tied his World of Outlaws career best in fifth.
The fnish:
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[3]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 4. 1-Tyler Erb[4]; 5. 14-Trey Mills[11]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[7]; 7. 19-Dustin Sorensen[21]; 8. 13-Dallon Murty[17]; 9. 9M-Tim McCreadie[9]; 10. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[23]; 11. 16-Tyler Bruening[20]; 12. 11-Gordy Gundaker[14]; 13. 28M-Sam Mars[22]; 14. 58V-Daulton Wilson[15]; 15. 1Z-Logan Zarin[16]; 16. 49T-Jake Timm[5]; 17. 7-Ross Robinson[13]; 18. 74X-Ethan Dotson[6]; 19. B1-Brent Larson[18]; 20. 55E-Eli Johnson[24]; 21. 97-Cody Overton[10]; 22. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 23. 22*-Drake Troutman[12]; 24. 37X-Skeeter Estey[19]
