Owning the title as the all-time DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals winner, Nick Hoffman has waited since running Late Models in 2018 to visit Victory Lane for the first time.
On Sunday night, the Mooresville, NC driver took his Tye Twarog Racing machine to the win in the DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models finale at Wayne County Speedway for redemption after losing the same win last year to a flat tire.
Polesitter Trey Mills, front row starter Jason Feger, and 2024 champion Tyler Erb swapped lanes through slide jobs on the opening three laps, with Feger taking the lead as Erb took second, and Mills in third.
Feger held the No. 1 Rocket Chassis at bay until the first caution flew on Lap 14 for a flat right rear tire on Mills’ No. 14JR while racing against Nick Hoffman in third place.
On the restart, Erb attempted a slide job on Feger, but the Bloomington, IL driver kept the lead as Hoffman drove under Erb around Turns 3-4 to take second while Mark Whitener crossed Erb in Turn 1 by driving to the cushion, then slicing to the bottom to outrun him across the backstretch.
At the front, Feger continued to show the way as Hoffman tried to contend for second place and Zack Mitchell in third.
In the closing 15 laps, Hoffman moved up from the bottom lane and found momentum on the top as he made steady gains in the chase towards Feger.
As Feger suffered from an ailing right rear tire, Hoffman’s NOS Energy Drink No. 9 showed the way around the cushion as Mitchell followed behind.
On Lap 35, Feger’s right rear tire came apart as Hoffman, Mitchell, and Ryan Gustin led the field back to the final restart of the Feature.
Hoffman withstood Mitchell’s final attempts at the lead by keeping his Longhorn Chassis glued to the cushion as the “Thrill from Mooresville” captured his first career Hell Tour win.
“Last year, I came here and did that one start at Wayne County, led and got a flat (tire),” Hoffman said. “I kind of knew what not to do, and that kind of same situation happened tonight where Feger was out front. He ends up getting that flat and I inherit the lead. I felt like he was going to be a sitting duck late in that race, and it got to be that point where my stuff was still good at the end.
“It’s kind of a relief off your shoulders because there’s a lot of Modified guys that have won both, but for me being the guy that’s won the most Modified races, I got to get one of these Late Model ones.”
Though Feger ended the night in 15th place, Erb finishing 18th gifted the “High Side Hustler” his second career overall title with the Summer Nationals by 93 points leaving the Buckeye State finale.
While Mitchell finished second to Hoffman, he secured the Week 5 points championship after scoring his first three Summer Nationals wins through six career starts.
Up Next: While the DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models season has ended, the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals finish the 2025 campaign at Fairbury Speedway for the Prairie Dirt Classic alongside the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Models presented by DIRTVision on Friday-Saturday, July 25-26.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 9H-Nick Hoffman[3]; 2. 57M-Zack Mitchell[12]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 4. 75-Dillon McCowan[11]; 5. 2-Cody Overton[15]; 6. 157-Mike Marlar[9]; 7. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[16]; 8. 74X-Ethan Dotson[17]; 9. 5-Mark Whitener[5]; 10. 14JR-Trey Mills[1]; 11. 20B-Todd Brennan[13]; 12. 5M-Ryan Markham[21]; 13. 1*-Kyle Moore[7]; 14. 31M-Tyler Millwood[19]; 15. 25F-Jason Feger[2]; 16. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[10]; 17. 14C-Corey Conley[18]; 18. 1-Tyler Erb[4]; 19. 10-Nathan Loney[14]; 20. 14-JR Gentry[6]; 21. 29-Christian Hanger[22]; 22. 17SS-Brenden Smith[23]; 23. 51-Devin Shiels[20]
