BROWNSTOWN, Ind. — Picking up where he left off in 2020 aboard the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals tour, Nick Hoffman put on yet another dominant display in the season opener Tuesday night at Brownstown Speedway for his 37th career victory with the tour.
“This place is just so badass – it fits my driving style, fits our racecars, and it’s always in tip-top condition every time we come here,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman led flag-to-flag and went largely unchallenged through 25 laps but took a big risk in traffic that turned some heads in the grandstands.
Once he reached lapped traffic on the final green-flag run, the defending tour champion decided thread the needle and go right through the middle of two slower cars getting into turn three late in the race.
“I couldn’t really see my stick guy very well over there, so I didn’t really know how big of a lead I had. I just pressed the issue and [the lapped cars] left me a big enough hole right through the middle, so I was just going to try and slide that guy,” Hoffman said.
He made it through cleanly and cruised away from the rest of the top-five – Tyler Nicely, Steven Brooks, Jacoby Hines and John DeMoss – to collect his first $1,500 winner’s check of the season.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps) – 1. 2-Nick Hoffman[1]; 2. 25-Tyler Nicely[5]; 3. 5-Steven Brooks[7]; 4. 115-Jacoby Hines[6]; 5. 9H-John Demoss[10]; 6. D48- Derek Groomer[3]; 7. 66-Cole Falloway[2]; 8. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[4]; 9. 29J-Jordan Weaver[9]; 10. 45-Kyle Hammer[11]; 11. 8K-Levi Kissinger[15]; 12. 79-Caleb DeMoss[17]; 13. 59R-Jacob Rexing[13]; 14. 16C-John Clippinger[20]; 15. 3W-Dylan Woodling[18]; 16. 28B-Lucas Pace[22]; 17. 46-Tim Rivers[14]; 18. 9-Garrett Rons[21]; 19. 2ND-Jake Leitzman[19]; 20. 0-Travis Kohler[16]; 21. 22-Matt Boknecht[12]; 22. 21A-Nick Allen[8]