Sunshine Nationals Set to Open 2025 World of Outlaws Season
Photo by Josh James Artwork
CONCORD, N.C. — Eleven weeks removed from the season-ending World of Outlaws World Finals, The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet are set to awaken from their winter slumber.
The 2025 World of Outlaws Late Models season will begin at Volusia Speedway Park’s DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals this week with four nights of on-track action, Jan. 22-25.
Teams will have an opportunity to get their machines dialed in during Wednesday’s practice night ahead of the first green flag of 2025. Thursday and Friday will feature full programs concluding with a 35-lap, $12,000-to-win, main event on both nights. The weekend wraps up on Saturday night with $20,000 on the line in a 50-lap Feature.
Crate Racin’ USA DIRTcar Pro (604) Late Models and 602 Late Models will join the Outlaws on all four nights, making for a true Late Model Palooza in the “Sunshine State.”
Here are the top storylines entering the weekend:
RECLAIMING THE CROWN: Bobby Pierce may have been the winningest driver in dirt Late Model racing in 2024, but he still rolled out of The Dirt Track at Charlotte with a bitter taste in his mouth.
“The Smooth Operator” entered the final night of the season at the World of Outlaws World Finals with a chance at topping Brandon Sheppard for the title. But a flat right-rear tire midway through the Saturday Feature ended Pierce’s shot at back-to-back World of Outlaws championships.
Pierce has already come back with a vengeance in 2025, winning four times in five races during his time in New Mexico at the Wild West Shootout to become the only repeat winner in dirt Late Model racing so far this season.
And much like most tracks on the schedule, Volusia Speedway Park has been good to Pierce over the past few years. The Oakwood, IL native is a four-time winner at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile,” with two of those coming last season in DIRTcar competition. His lone World of Outlaws win in Florida came in the 2023 edition of Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals with a thrilling last-lap pass over Brandon Overton.
One of the few things Pierce has never done at Volusia is park his No. 32 machine in Victory Lane during DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals, and he’ll look to check that box this weekend.
SQUIRREL GETTING HOT: He may not have been in contention for the championship, but Brian Shirley asserted himself as one of the fastest drivers on tour in the closing weeks of 2024.
The No. 3S team won four times in the final 10 races of the season, including a stretch of six podiums in seven races between Highland Speedway in August and Rocket Raceway Park in September. Those numbers aren’t typically representative of a driver who finished seventh in the final standings, but Shirley spent most of the season playing catch-up after failing to finish in the top five until Thunderhill Raceway in mid-June.
If the four-time DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion can carry his newfound speed through the entirety of his 2025 campaign, he could become Pierce’s top rival in an Illinois-on-Illinois battle for the championship. That process starts this week at Volusia, a track at which Shirley has yet to score a win at. He has come close though, racking up eight top fives since 2017.
WELCOME TO THE SHOW: A stout group of first-time Outlaws is set to duke it out for the MD3 Rookie of the Year Award in 2025.
Bakersfield, CA’s Ethan Dotson is set to tackle the full tour in his second season with South Carolina-based ASD Motorsports. The pairing scored four Late Model wins together across the southeast last fall, as well as a pair of top 10s with the Outlaws at Rocket and Charlotte.
While Dotson made his Late Model debut at Volusia in 2024, he has amassed plenty of experience and success at the track behind the wheel of a DIRTcar UMP Modified. He took the checkers in the 2022 Emil and Dale Reutimann Memorial, won preliminary Features three nights in a row the following year at DIRTcar Nationals, and collected one more split-field victory last November at the Reutimann.
Winona, MN’s Jake Timm is looking to take the Rookie of the Year trophy back to Minnesota for the second-straight year after Dustin Sorensen claimed last year’s honors. The Modified standout will be turning his first laps around Volusia in any vehicle this week, much like he will be at many tracks on the east coast.
Daniel Adam is set to begin his first World of Outlaws tour with his Volusia debut as well. The North Carolinian relocated to Illinois last year and spent last season competing across the Midwest, including a partial Hell Tour season. Adam collected his first Super Late Model win in August at a MARS event at Tri-City Speedway, where the Outlaws will compete for two nights in September.
Daniel Hilsabeck planned on making 2024 his rookie year with The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet, but a broken wrist suffered in a crash at Brownstown Speedway kept him out of the seat for two months and ended his bid. The Iowan will be back for more in 2025 starting at Volusia, where he will be aiming to make his first full-field Feature in his second year competing at the track.
SOPHOMORE SENSATIONS: In addition to the talented rookie class, several drivers will be looking to build on their freshman seasons and continue climbing the Series pecking order in 2025.
Senoia, GA’s Ashton Winger was the top rookie in 2020, but with that season being heavily altered by the pandemic, 2025 will be the first time he’s taken on the full 57-race grind. Since that maiden campaign, Winger has spent his summers on the road with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals, earning the 2023 championship and 14 Feature wins to his credit.
Winger enters the year hot off a 2024 season that included five Super Late Model wins between the Hell Tour, Spring Nationals, Clarksville Speedway’s Toilet Bowl Classic and the Fall Classic at Whynot Motorsports Park.
Reigning Rookie of the Year Dustin Sorensen will be back on the road with the Outlaws as he chases his maiden Series victory. In his first crack at Volusia last year, Sorensen collected his first Late Model top 10 and won twice in DIRTcar UMP Modified action at DIRTcar Nationals.
Cody Overton will be looking to improve on last year’s 13th-place points finish in his second year on tour with Tri-Star Promotions. He’ll roll into Volusia with a new-look No. 2 machine as he goes for his first win at the track since a 602 Late Model triumph in 2020.
Once again, holding the title of the youngest full-time Outlaw, 17-year-old Tristan Chamberlain is back for his second season with the Series piloting the Wane Gibson-owned No. 20TC. “Tricky Tristan” picked up his first World of Outlaws podium in the closing stages of 2024 at Rocket, and he’ll look to carry that momentum into the opening weeks of 2025 in his second outing at Volusia.
FLORIDA FAVORITES: The list of names to keep an eye on at Volusia would not be complete without “The Thrill From Mooresville” Nick Hoffman.
The driver of the Tye Twarog-owned No. 9 won his first Late Model race in Barberville last season, but that’s merely the tip of his career iceberg there. Hoffman has won 22 times in a Modified at Volusia, including two Reutimann Memorials in 2021 and 2023.
Brandon, FL’s Kyle Bronson is always a threat when the Outlaws roll into his home state, and the Sunshine Nationals have been especially kind to him. Bronson’s lone World of Outlaws win at Volusia came in the 2021 running of the race, and he’s a five-time winner in the DIRTcar Pro Late Model division, including a weekend sweep in 2020.
WHEN AND WHERE:
Thursday-Saturday, Jan. 22-25 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, FL
2025 WORLD OF OUTLAWS LATE MODELS SCHEDULE
Wednesday, Jan. 22 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL (Practice)
Thursday, Jan. 23 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL
Friday, Jan. 24 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL
Saturday, Jan. 25 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL
Thursday, Feb. 13 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL
Friday, Feb. 14 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL
Saturday, Feb. 15 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL
Friday, Mar. 14 / Smoky Mountain Speedway / Maryville, TN
Saturday, Mar. 15 / Smoky Mountain Speedway / Maryville, TN
Friday, Mar. 21 / Swainsboro Raceway / Swainsboro, GA
Saturday, Mar. 22 / Swainsboro Raceway / Swainsboro, GA
Friday, Apr. 4 / Atomic Speedway / Chillicothe, OH
Saturday, Apr. 5 / Atomic Speedway / Chillicothe, OH
Thursday, Apr. 10 / Farmer City Raceway / Farmer City, IL (Practice)
Friday, Apr. 11 / Farmer City Raceway / Farmer City, IL
Saturday, Apr. 12 / Farmer City Raceway / Farmer City, IL
Friday, Apr. 25 / Talladega Short Track / Eastaboga, AL
Saturday, Apr. 26 / Talladega Short Track / Eastaboga, AL
Thursday, May 1 / Mississippi Thunder Speedway / Fountain City, WI
Friday, May 2 / Mississippi Thunder Speedway / Fountain City, WI
Saturday, May 3 / Mississippi Thunder Speedway / Fountain City, WI
Thursday, May 15 / Raceway 7 / Conneaut, OH
Friday, May 16 / Marion Center Raceway / Marion Center, PA
Saturday, May 17 / Marion Center Raceway / Marion Center, PA
Sunday, May 18 / Bedford Speedway / Bedford, PA
Friday, June 20 / Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 / Pevely, MO
Saturday, June 21 / Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 / Pevely, MO
Monday, June 23 / Independence Motor Speedway / Independence, IA
Thursday, June 26 / I-94 EMR Speedway / Fergus Falls, MN
Friday, June 27 / River Cities Speedway / Grand Forks, ND
Saturday, June 28 / Norman County Raceway / Ada, MN
Sunday, June 29 / Nodak Speedway / Minot, ND
Thursday, July 3 / Deer Creek Speedway / Spring Valley, MN
Friday, July 4 / Deer Creek Speedway / Spring Valley, MN
Saturday, July 5 / Deer Creek Speedway / Spring Valley, MN
Friday, July 11 / Sharon Speedway / Hartford, OH
Saturday, July 12 / Sharon Speedway / Hartford, OH
Friday, July 25 / Fairbury Speedway / Fairbury, IL
Saturday, July 26 / Fairbury Speedway / Fairbury, IL
Monday, July 28 / Wilmot Raceway / Wilmot, WI
Thursday, July 31 / Cedar Lake Speedway / New Richmond, WI
Friday, Aug. 1 / Cedar Lake Speedway / New Richmond, WI
Saturday, Aug. 2 / Cedar Lake Speedway / New Richmond, WI
Wednesday, Aug. 13 / Highland Speedway / Highland, IL
Thursday, Aug. 14 / Spoon River Speedway / Lewistown, IL
Friday, Aug. 15 / Maquoketa Speedway / Maquoketa, IA
Saturday, Aug. 16 / Maquoketa Speedway / Maquoketa, IA
Friday, Aug. 22 / Arrowhead Speedway / Colcord, OK
Saturday, Aug. 23 / Arrowhead Speedway / Colcord, OK
Friday, Sept. 12 / Needmore Speedway / Norman Park, GA
Saturday, Sept. 13 / Senoia Raceway / Senoia, GA
Friday, Sept. 26 / Tri-City Speedway / Granite City, IL
Saturday, Sept. 27 / Tri-City Speedway / Granite City, IL
Friday, Oct. 3 / Humboldt Speedway / Humboldt, KS
Saturday, Oct. 4 / 81 Speedway / Wichita, KS
Friday, Oct. 10 / Boothill Speedway / Greenwood, LA
Saturday, Oct. 11 / Boothill Speedway / Greenwood, LA
Wednesday, Nov. 5 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC
Thursday, Nov. 6 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC
Friday, Nov. 7 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC
Saturday, Nov. 8 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC
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