Nick Hoffman Grabs Third Gator of 2026 in WOO Late Models at Volusia
Photo by Mike Ruefer
BARBERVILLE, Fla.—Nick Hoffman is no stranger to dominant weeks at Volusia Speedway Park. But none of them have been as meaningful as the one he’s having at the 2026 Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals.
For the third night in a row and the second as part of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision, the Mooresville, NC driver ended up in Victory Lane. That win streak has the seven-time Big Gator champion on the DIRTcar UMP Modified side headed toward his first as a Late Model driver, as he carries a 48-point lead in the weeklong standings into the final night of action on Saturday.
The path to Hoffman’s record-extending 35th Gator trophy started in the fourth spot, but he wouldn’t stay put for long. He cleared Austin Smith for third on Lap 2, and soon found himself in the middle of a three-way battle for the lead against Michael Leach and Ricky Thornton Jr. Hoffman disposed of Leach exiting Turn 2 with 11 laps complete, and two circuits later, he got around the No. 20RT for the lead.
A flurry of cautions kept the field together throughout the 35-lap contest, but Hoffman remained in control time and time again. Thornton proved to be Hoffman’s closest challenger, but he fell out of contention when he pounded the outside wall in Turn 2 with six laps to go, allowing Hoffman to cruise home uncontested.
“It’s just a matter of how you hit [Turn 1] and if you get tight,” Hoffman said. “I was so scared a couple times that I would get in there and just not be bent enough and get myself in a push, and then they would swarm me down the backstretch. Luckily I was able to get good restarts. The guys behind me, I knew which lanes they were choosing, but sometimes they would go bottom, top. I was trying to figure out if they were going to have a run on me or anything. I tried to change a little bit of where I was taking off so I could try and dictate that a little.”
Brandon Overton stood on the podium for the third time this week with a second-place run, while Bobby Pierce moved up from 21st to finish third for the second-straight night.
UP NEXT: Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals concludes on Saturday, Feb. 14, with a $20,000-to-win Feature for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision at Volusia Speedway Park. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.
Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.
RACE NOTES:
Cody Overton set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.
Tyler Erb won the Simpson Quick Time Award.
Tyler Erb won Heat 1.
Nick Hoffman won STAKT Products Heat 2.
Austin Smith won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.
Ricky Thornton Jr. won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.
Michael Leach won Heat 5.
Dan Ebert won Heat 6.
Dallon Murty and Tristan Chamberlain won the Last Chance Showdowns.
Michael Leach won the Bilstein Pole Award.
Dustin Sorensen won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.
Daulton Wilson won the MD3 Rookie of the Race Award.
Brandon Overton was the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher.
Bobby Pierce was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.
Tyler Erb was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.
Drake Troutman was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.
Dustin Sorensen was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.
Cody Overton was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.
Ricky Thornton Jr. was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.
Kyle Bronson was the Lifeline Ninth-Place Finisher.
Dan Ebert was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.
Brandon Sheppard was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.
Daulton Wilson was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.
Jake Timm was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.
Dennis Erb Jr. was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.
Frank Heckenast Jr. was the Arizona Sport Shirts 18th-Place Finisher.
WORLD OF OUTLAWS LATE MODEL SERIES RESULTS (57 entries)
Friday, February 13, 2026
WoO Late Model Feature (35 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[4]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[9]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[21]; 4. 1-Tyler Erb[6]; 5. 22*-Drake Troutman[26]; 6. 19-Dustin Sorensen[28]; 7. 97-Cody Overton[12]; 8. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 9. 40B-Kyle Bronson[23]; 10. 60-Dan Ebert[5]; 11. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[15]; 12. 58V-Daulton Wilson[22]; 13. 49-Jake Timm[29]; 14. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[25]; 15. 111-Max Blair[18]; 16. 11R-Josh Rice[8]; 17. 74X-Ethan Dotson[27]; 18. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[16]; 19. B1-Brent Larson[30]; 20. 11-Austin Smith[3]; 21. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[20]; 22. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[7]; 23. 16S-Sam Seawright[17]; 24. 19R-Ryan Gustin[10]; 25. 09-Michael Leach[1]; 26. 9M-Tim McCreadie[24]; 27. 157-Mike Marlar[13]; 28. 44-Chris Madden[11]; 29. 16-Tyler Bruening[14]; 30. 13-Dallon Murty[19]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 13-Dallon Murty[2]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[8]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 4. 74X-Ethan Dotson[7]; 5. 18-Chase Junghans[5]; 6. 1Z-Logan Zarin[3]; 7. 19-Dustin Sorensen[10]; 8. 77-Preston Luckman[12]; 9. 19M-Brenden Smith[1]; 10. 7-Ross Robinson[9]; 11. 55E-Eli Johnson[17]; 12. T1-Todd Morrow[15]; 13. 8-Matthew Larson[19]; 14. 14R-Reid Millard[16]; 15. 49M-Luke Morey[11]; 16. 31-Tyler Millwood[13]; 17. 0-Max McLaughlin[6]; 18. B1-Brent Larson[14]; 19. 23-Beckham Malone[18]
Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[1]; 2. 58V-Daulton Wilson[3]; 3. 9M-Tim McCreadie[5]; 4. 71-Hudson O'Neal[6]; 5. 49-Jake Timm[2]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[7]; 7. 22*-Drake Troutman[4]; 8. 93-Carson Ferguson[10]; 9. 8S-Kyle Strickler[12]; 10. 58-Garrett Alberson[16]; 11. 99-Devin Moran[15]; 12. 14-Trey Mills[8]; 13. 97D-Cade Dillard[17]; 14. 114K-Evan Koehler[9]; 15. 17-Austin Howes[19]; 16. 388-Jackson Hise[18]; 17. 24-Tyler Wyant[11]; 18. 99B-Boom Briggs[13]; 19. 11B-Stacy Boles[14]
WoO Late Model Heat Race 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[3]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[6]; 4. 19M-Brenden Smith[2]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 6. 74X-Ethan Dotson[8]; 7. 19-Dustin Sorensen[5]; 8. 31-Tyler Millwood[7]; 9. 14R-Reid Millard[10]; 10. 23-Beckham Malone[9]
STAKT Products Heat Race 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[4]; 3. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 4. 13-Dallon Murty[5]; 5. 18-Chase Junghans[8]; 6. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 7. 49M-Luke Morey[10]; 8. B1-Brent Larson[9]; 9. 55E-Eli Johnson[7]; 10. 8-Matthew Larson[6]
Keyser Mfg Heat Race 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Austin Smith[1]; 2. 44-Chris Madden[3]; 3. 16S-Sam Seawright[4]; 4. 1Z-Logan Zarin[5]; 5. 0-Max McLaughlin[6]; 6. 7-Ross Robinson[8]; 7. 77-Preston Luckman[7]; 8. T1-Todd Morrow[9]; 9. 114-Jordan Koehler[2]
Jarrett Rifles Heat Race 4 (8 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 11R-Josh Rice[3]; 3. 16-Tyler Bruening[4]; 4. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[5]; 5. 22*-Drake Troutman[2]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[8]; 7. 93-Carson Ferguson[6]; 8. 99B-Boom Briggs[7]; 9. 58-Garrett Alberson[10]; 10. 17-Austin Howes[9]
WoO Late Model Heat Race 5 (8 Laps): 1. 09-Michael Leach[1]; 2. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[2]; 4. 49-Jake Timm[5]; 5. 9M-Tim McCreadie[4]; 6. 14-Trey Mills[7]; 7. 24-Tyler Wyant[9]; 8. 11B-Stacy Boles[6]; 9. 97D-Cade Dillard[8]
WoO Late Model Heat Race 6 (8 Laps): 1. 60-Dan Ebert[1]; 2. 97-Cody Overton[2]; 3. 111-Max Blair[3]; 4. 58V-Daulton Wilson[4]; 5. 71-Hudson O'Neal[5]; 6. 114K-Evan Koehler[8]; 7. 8S-Kyle Strickler[9]; 8. 99-Devin Moran[6]; 9. 388-Jackson Hise[7]
Group A Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb, 15.467[11]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman, 15.468[5]; 3. 11-Austin Smith, 15.606[12]; 4. 19M-Brenden Smith, 15.638[23]; 5. 1S-Brandon Sheppard, 15.659[20]; 6. 114-Jordan Koehler, 15.661[22]; 7. 76N-Blair Nothdurft, 15.686[10]; 8. 32-Bobby Pierce, 15.718[27]; 9. 44-Chris Madden, 15.724[29]; 10. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 15.729[16]; 11. 76-Brandon Overton, 15.735[28]; 12. 16S-Sam Seawright, 15.740[3]; 13. 19-Dustin Sorensen, 15.802[24]; 14. 13-Dallon Murty, 15.812[1]; 15. 1Z-Logan Zarin, 15.855[15]; 16. 157-Mike Marlar, 15.903[7]; 17. 8-Matthew Larson, 16.069[8]; 18. 0-Max McLaughlin, 16.093[6]; 19. 31-Tyler Millwood, 16.174[18]; 20. 55E-Eli Johnson, 16.218[4]; 21. 77-Preston Luckman, 16.272[14]; 22. 74X-Ethan Dotson, 16.273[19]; 23. 18-Chase Junghans, 16.289[26]; 24. 7-Ross Robinson, 16.330[21]; 25. 23-Beckham Malone, 16.381[2]; 26. B1-Brent Larson, 16.472[17]; 27. T1-Todd Morrow, 16.665[25]; 28. 14R-Reid Millard, 16.822[13]; 29. 49M-Luke Morey, 17.167[9]
Group B Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 15.493[1]; 2. 09-Michael Leach, 15.611[7]; 3. 60-Dan Ebert, 15.619[19]; 4. 22*-Drake Troutman, 15.621[17]; 5. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 15.655[12]; 6. 97-Cody Overton, 15.681[23]; 7. 11R-Josh Rice, 15.726[24]; 8. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 15.775[3]; 9. 111-Max Blair, 15.779[10]; 10. 16-Tyler Bruening, 15.847[4]; 11. 9M-Tim McCreadie, 15.852[14]; 12. 58V-Daulton Wilson, 15.858[28]; 13. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain, 15.894[2]; 14. 49-Jake Timm, 15.968[21]; 15. 71-Hudson O'Neal, 15.988[16]; 16. 93-Carson Ferguson, 16.014[27]; 17. 11B-Stacy Boles, 16.021[8]; 18. 99-Devin Moran, 16.070[22]; 19. 99B-Boom Briggs, 16.075[9]; 20. 14-Trey Mills, 16.086[6]; 21. 388-Jackson Hise, 16.086[18]; 22. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 16.111[11]; 23. 97D-Cade Dillard, 16.115[5]; 24. 114K-Evan Koehler, 16.144[26]; 25. 17-Austin Howes, 16.223[25]; 26. 24-Tyler Wyant, 16.433[13]; 27. 8S-Kyle Strickler, 16.834[15]; 28. (DQ) 58-Garrett Alberson, 15.642[20]
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