6/23/2022
Nick Hoffman
Hoffman Back to Victory Lane
Nick Hoffman stormed to his sixth-straight Summit Racing Equipment DIRTcar Modified Nationals win on Wednesday night at Adams County Speedway (Quincy, Ill.).
Nick won his heat race, which positioned him third on the starting grid for the 20-lap feature. Early in the $1,500-to-win affair he slipped back as far as fourth before mounting a charge to the front of the field.
Hoffman caught leader, Tyler Nicely a few laps before the race's midway point as the duo began to battle side-by-side for the lead. Nick ultimately edged ahead for good on lap 14 and went on to win his 11th overall feature of 2022.
Thursday night found Nick motoring to his seventh-straight series win and 12th overall triumph of the year, but he would have to dig deep to make it happen. Starting fourth in his heat race at Spoon River Speedway (Banner, Ill.), he finished third to lock into the ninth-starting spot for the 25-lap feature.
Steadily working his way through the pack in the caution-free, main event, Hoffman ultimately raced to the lead on the 21st circuit and went on to claim his 64th-career series win, which came over Will Krup, Tyler Nicely, Dave Wietholder, and Josh Allen.
Nicely, Austen Becerra, and Dave Wietholder completed the Top-5 finishers.
On Friday night the opening round of the St. Louis Firecracker Faceoff finale was held at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 (Pevely, Mo.), where Nick saw his win-streak snapped. He started third in the feature, and that's where he would finish behind Ricky Conoyer and Will Krup with Kyle Steffens and Kenny Wallace rounding out the Top 5.
On Saturday evening action resumed at the 1/3-mile oval. Hoffman looked to be returning to his winning ways before a last-lap mechanical issues brought his outing to a disappointing end. Nick held as much as a two-second lead in the feature before losing power on the final lap going down the backstretch.
It was determined after the race that a broken driveline was the culprit that ended his night early in the 16th position.
Full results from the week can be found at www.DIRTcarSummernationals.com.