MODOC, S.C. — The season is down to its final five nights.
A journey that began nine months ago in Florida is approaching its climax in the Carolinas. But before this year’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision champion is crowned at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in two weeks, the penultimate weekend of action will take the series to new territory.
For the first time, the series is set to tackle Modoc Speedway. The Modoc 100 is the culmination of years of work for those involved in the track – after its closure at the end of the 2021 season, local businessman Ronnie Powell purchased the facility and commenced a $2 million renovation that turned Modoc into one of the premier dirt tracks in the southeast.
The track reopened its gates in March and will host the biggest weekend of racing in Modoc history when the World of Outlaws roll through the gates this weekend.
The festivities begin on Thursday, Oct. 22, when Ethan Dotson and Tyler Erb will meet fans and have their cars on display at North Augusta Customs from 4-7 p.m.
They’ll hit the track for the first time alongside the rest of the Outlaws on Friday, Oct. 23, for a 40-lap, $12,000-to-win, program. The weekend wraps up on Saturday, Oct. 24, when $25,000 will be on the line in the 60-lap finale.
The World of Outlaws will be joined on both nights by the Red Clay Series 602 Late Models and the Crown Vics.
KEEP IT ROLLING
Fall 2026 has been a good time to be Nick Hoffman.
After a summer filled with second- and third-place runs, the Tye Twarog Racing driver finally got the monkey off his back in the best way possible with his first World 100 victory. Hoffman cemented his spot as the hottest driver in the nation with a pair of World of Outlaws wins at one of his home tracks, I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park, followed by a podium finish in the Pittsburgher one week later.
Hoffman vowed to continue chasing as many wins as possible in his final weeks with Twarog’s team before his move to Spire Motorsports, and he plans to continue delivering on that promise in his Modoc debut this weekend.
WRAPPING IT UP
Bobby Pierce may already have one hand on his third World of Outlaws championship trophy, but he’s still focused on closing out the season in style.
A summer of dominance has turned into a trying fall by Pierce standards. Since his most recent World of Outlaws victory at Adams County Speedway on Aug. 28, the “Smooth Operator” has won only twice and failed to qualify for the final two crown jewels of the season, the World 100 and the Dirt Track World Championship. It’s a similar story to 2025, when Pierce’s lucrative spring and summer allowed him to win the title in convincing fashion despite going winless in the final nine races.
Like Hoffman, Pierce is also getting his first look at Modoc this weekend in pursuit of his first win in the state of South Carolina. One thing Pierce can look forward to is the dirt – Modoc’s renovation included a resurfacing with gumbo “gray clay” similar to what’s used at Senoia Raceway, where Pierce won with the World of Outlaws in March.
THE BACKYARD
For the first time since joining the World of Outlaws full-time last season, ASD Motorsports gets to battle the best on their home turf.
The team is based about 30 minutes from the racetrack in North Augusta, S.C., and their driver, Ethan Dotson, now resides in nearby Graniteville, S.C. With plenty of family, friends and fans getting a rare chance to see their team compete locally, the Modoc 100 has been circled on the ASD calendar since the day the schedule was released.
Dotson and the No. 74x crew have already gotten to turn some laps at the new-look Modoc, as they finished third when the Southern Nationals Series came to town in July.
With his first World of Outlaws win of the year out of the way at Shelby County Speedway in August, Dotson has the chance to go after a few more before the season is done while also focusing on locking up a career-high sixth-place points finish.
FINISHING AT HOME
Daulton Wilson also falls into the category of drivers who won’t have to put many miles on their odometer in the closing weeks of the 2026 campaign.
The Fayetteville, N.C., native has made plenty of starts over the past decade at both Modoc and The Dirt Track at Charlotte, the site of the season-ending Dave Smith Motors World of Outlaws World Finals (Wednesday-Saturday, Nov. 4-7).
In the case of Modoc, his record includes a top 10 with the Xtreme DIRTcar Series in 2021, as well as a trio of starts on the Ultimate Super Late Model Series trail. However, they all came on the former red clay surface, meaning Wilson will be a first-timer at Modoc 2.0 alongside most of the World of Outlaws roster.
With five races remaining and a 105-point lead in the MD3 Rookie of the Year battle, avoiding any major issues will likely be enough for Wilson to prevent Trey Mills from passing him.
But if the No. 58v can run up front consistently the rest of the way, Wilson stands a chance at eliminating the 55-point gap between himself and Dotson and moving up to sixth in the standings.
JOINING THE FUN
With race season winding down in many parts of the country, plenty of teams will join the World of Outlaws to get a few more nights in before putting the cars away for the winter.
They include a pair of southeastern heroes in Jonathan Davenport and Chris Madden. The former rivals have put their grudges aside and become a tight-knit pair as of late, as Madden now runs the Wells Motorsports No. 44 operation out of a building on Davenport’s property in Belton, S.C.
Both men are multi-time Modoc winners, although all of Davenport’s triumphs came more than 15 years ago with the FASTRAK Racing Series in his Crate Late Model days.
Hudson O’Neal also plans to be in action in the K&L Rumley Enterprises No. 6 at both Modoc and Charlotte. Days after hitting a mud clump while leading at West Virginia Motor Speedway, which damaged the nose and ended his chance at a $100,000 Dirt Track World Championship victory, O’Neal will be looking to right the ship in the car in which he’s had so much success this year.
All three of O’Neal’s World of Outlaws wins this season have come with Rumley, and he’s finished first or second in six of his 10 Series appearances in the No. 6.
Other drivers with plans to go World of Outlaws racing this weekend include Chris Ferguson, Carson Ferguson, Cody Overton, Ross Bailes, Luke Morey and many more.
