AUBURN, MI – Eighteen starts. Twelve Feature wins. Nick Hoffman is simply dominating.
With his third DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals victory of Racing Electronics Champions Week #5, the Mooresville, NC-driver now moves within one win of tying his own record for most wins in a single season.
Friday night’s victory at Tri-City Motor Speedway was the 38th of his Summit Modified career. Hot on the tail of his third tour championship, Hoffman was very satisfied with the track type and its racy nature.
“Tonight, it was a little bit slick in Qualifying and all the way through. Our stuff’s really good in any condition right now. I enjoy any condition, but this here is right up my alley. This is where I shine, and all of our racecars are really good right here,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman’s biggest competition of the night might have been from a driver he never actually dealt with in the Feature.
Michigan’s own Jeffrey Erickson Jr. became the biggest “what if?” of the evening after coming together with another car while leading his Heat Race, sending he and the other involved to the tail and forcing him to qualify through the Last Chance Showdown.
Erickson won the Last Chance, setting him 16th on the starting grid. By Lap 9 of the 25-lap Feature, he had cracked the top-five and was in hot pursuit of the leaders. Using the very bottom of the track, Erickson made a few more passes to take second on Lap 16 and made a beeline for Hoffman’s rear bumper, but ultimately came up one spot short.
Hoffman was already too far out ahead. He’ll take his big points lead and 12 trophies into the final race in Michigan, tying to tie his own single-season wins record at 13.
UP NEXT
The DIRTcar Summit Modified field is back in action Saturday night at Merritt Speedway as part of the Summer Nationals Late Model finale – the final race before a champion of their own is crowned next Fri-Sat, Aug. 28-29 at Cedar Ridge Speedway. Catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
ABBREVIATED RESULTS (click for full results)
Feature (25 Laps) 1. 7-Nick Hoffman [1][]; 2. 1E-Jeffery Erickson [16][]; 3. 5CS-Curt Spalding [5][]; 4. 15-Dave Baker [9][]; 5. 47-Collin Thirlby [6][]; 6. K19-Will Krup [3][]; 7. 49-Brian Ruhlman [15][]; 8. 19-Chad Bauer [8][]; 9. 24-Zeke McKenzie [11][]; 10. 99-Hunt Gossum [7][]; 11. 12M-John McClure [2][]; 12. 117-Kevin Reeve [12][]; 13. 99B-Brent Banning [10][]; 14. 9-Garrett Rons [18][]; 15. 26P-Nathan Patrick [17][]; 16. 23-Luke Hubbell [21][]; 17. 1-Brian Przepiora [22][]; 18. 4-Logan Beckwith [19][]; 19. 81-Rick Swartout [20][]; 20. 92-Caleb Kill [4][]; 21. 67B-Mason Bevard [14][]; 22. 8C-Corey Bevard [13][] Hard Charger: 1E-Jeffery Erickson[+14]
