There’s something about Norman County Raceway that just suits Nick Hoffman.
In his first time racing at the Ada, MN facility in 2024, he left with the trophy. One year later, “The Thrill From Mooresville” is still the only driver to have won a World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision race at the track.
And unlike last year when he inherited the lead late in the race due to some misfortune for the cars in front of him, Hoffman was the man to beat all night, leading all 50 circuits on the way to the checkered flag.
“It’s the best I’ve ever felt in a Late Model,” Hoffman said following his second World of Outlaws win in as many nights. “Coming off the Dream, we were kind of riding a high there and then kept carrying it over the last two nights. It’s going really good, and everything’s kind of firing on all eight cylinders.”
Hoffman’s second-straight Bilstein Pole Award put him in clean air to start the Feature. After falling back to third on the start at River Cities Speedway on Friday night, Hoffman made sure he wouldn’t have to come from behind again. The gap to second grew as large as three seconds on the 37-lap green flag run that opened the race.
By the time Ashton Winger slowed down the backstretch with 13 to go to bring out the first caution, Ethan Dotson had gotten around Tyler Bruening and into second to put himself in position to challenge Hoffman on the restart. Hoffman denied that opportunity though, as he pulled away while Dotson, Bruening and Dennis Erb Jr. raced three-wide for second.
Three more cautions late in the going kept Hoffman on his toes in the closing laps, but just as he did on Friday, the No. 9 stayed on top and cruised to the ninth win of his World of Outlaws career.
“I kind of felt stale with about 20 to go, I was kind of floating around and very vulnerable if somebody could get another lane rolling,” Hoffman said. “I just couldn’t feel like I could get off four very well and I started running that slider line in one and two. When I was in lap traffic there, I was catching some pretty fast cars and was trying to judge off of them of where they were running. Obviously I ain’t going to pass them if they were running the bottom, so I’ve got to change lanes. All in all, it worked out really well.”
Dotson’s runner-up result was his first World of Outlaws podium since winning his first race at Farmer City Raceway, putting him two points behind Cody Overton in the battle for seventh in the standings.
“Put a soft tire on and it helped me early get by some cars, but later on it hurt me,” Dotson said. “Running the top the last five, I really wanted to get up there and try to get by them, but as bad as I’ve been running lately, I just needed to settle down and take what we can get.”
Erb hadn’t finished in the top five with the World of Outlaws all season before the weekend, but his third-place run at Norman County put him on the podium for the second-straight night to keep his newfound hot streak rolling.
“We’ll just keep plugging away here, our car’s working real good,” Erb said. “The caution came out at the wrong time or I think we would’ve had a pretty good shot there at the end. To be back up here and have two good nights in a row, it just shows you how good we’ve been here, and we’ll just keep it rolling.”
Overton finished fourth for his best night since DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals in January, while Jake Timm earned the first top five of his MD3 Rookie of the Year campaign in the fifth spot.
RACE NOTES:
Tanner English set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.
Tyler Bruening won the Simpson Quick Time Award.
Tyler Bruening won Real American Beer Heat 1.
Bobby Pierce won STAKT Products Heat 2.
Nick Hoffman won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.
Drake Troutman won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.
Brian Shirley won the Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdown.
Nick Hoffman won the Bilstein Pole Award.
Brent Larson won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.
Ethan Dotson was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.
Ethan Dotson won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.
Cody Overton was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.
Jake Timm was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.
Ryan Gustin was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.
Tanner English was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.
Brent Larson was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.
Tim McCreadie was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.
Drake Troutman was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will wrap up the weekend in Minot, ND at Nodak Speedway on Sunday, June 29. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.
If you can’t make it to the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 2. 74X-Ethan Dotson[7]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[11]; 4. 2-Cody Overton[5]; 5. 49-Jake Timm[13]; 6. 19R-Ryan Gustin[10]; 7. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 8. 96-Tanner English[12]; 9. B1-Brent Larson[18]; 10. 9M-Tim McCreadie[8]; 11. 19-Dustin Sorensen[14]; 12. 22*-Drake Troutman[2]; 13. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[16]; 14. 12-Ashton Winger[21]; 15. 8-Matthew Larson[24]; 16. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[23]; 17. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[15]; 18. 16-Tyler Bruening[3]; 19. 09-Michael Leach[9]; 20. 76-Blair Nothdurft[6]; 21. 3S-Brian Shirley[17]; 22. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[22]; 23. 28M-Sam Mars[20]; 24. 42S-Don Shaw[19]
