World of Outlaws Late Models Rolling Into March with Tennessee Doubleheader
Photo by Josh James Artwork
CONCORD, N.C.—The post-Florida break is over, and the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision season is returning to action with three-straight weekends of racing.
It all begins this week with visits to two of east Tennessee’s signature tracks. First up is a return to the high banks of Volunteer Speedway for the first time in five years for the Rocky Top Rumble on Friday, March 13. A 40-lap, $12,000-to-win World of Outlaws Feature will wrap up the night, which will also include a full program for the Sportsman Late Models.
Once action concludes at “The Gap,” the Series will make the 90-minute drive to the other side of Knoxville for the Saturday, March 14, stop at Smoky Mountain Speedway The Tennessee Tipoff will feature a 50-lap, $20,000-to-win main event for The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet, as well as racing in the Sportsman Late Model and Front Wheel Drive divisions.
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Here are this week’s top storylines:
TIGHT AT THE TOP: With eight races complete in 2026, only 10 points separate the top two contenders in the chase for a World of Outlaws championship.
After a dominant week at Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals, Nick Hoffman kept rolling at Hendry County Motorsports Park with finishes of fifth and first, extending his top-five streak to five entering this weekend’s festivities.
Friday brings the NOS Energy Drink No. 9 team into uncharted territory, as Hoffman has never raced at Volunteer before. But he knows his way around Smoky Mountain, where he started on the pole and finished third in last year’s World of Outlaws event and finished top 10 on both nights of the Mountain Moonshine Classic two years ago.
But as one would expect, two-time and defending champion Bobby Pierce isn’t going anywhere. The “Smooth Operator” earned a win and a runner-up at Hendry County and hasn’t finished off the podium in a World of Outlaws race since DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals in January.
With zero top 10s in four starts, Bulls Gap hasn’t historically been a great track for Pierce, but that’s a trend he plans on turning around on Friday. Such a turnaround won’t be necessary on Saturday, as Pierce won his Smoky Mountain debut in 2025.
SO FAR SO GOOD: After several seasons of running an independent schedule, no one knew exactly what to expect from the return of Tyler Erb to full-time national touring competition with the World of Outlaws. With the Florida portion of the season in the rearview, there’s reason for optimism for what lies ahead.
“Terbo” heads to Tennessee fourth in the standings, 39 points out of the lead. Leaving the “Volunteer State” in the top three is a realistic goal for the Best Performance Motorsports team, as Erb trails Tim McCreadie by only six markers. The No. 1 has had the speed to win as of late, with his four-night stint last week at Golden Isles Speedway including a 14th-to-second charge on Friday, as well as a battle for the lead with Jonathan Davenport on Thursday that ended with Erb spun backwards in front of the field.
Erb’s results at this weekend’s tracks have been mixed – he struggled in his first few trips to Volunteer, but has shown promise lately with his first top five at the track in the 2023 Spring Thaw and a sixth-place run in 2024. Over at Smoky Mountain, seven of his 11 Feature starts across numerous sanctions have resulted in top 10s.
He’ll likely need to build on those numbers to keep pace with McCreadie, who is a former winner at Volunteer and has finished top five in half of his 16 starts at Smoky Mountain.
MILLS MAFIA: Few drivers will ever be able to capture the attention of the entire dirt racing community quite like Trey Mills did last weekend.
The 17-year-old Floridian drove from seventh to the lead in the first 15 laps of the Golden Isles finale and stayed there for more than 20 laps. With the likes of Hudson O’Neal, Brandon Overton, Ricky Thornton Jr. and Brandon Sheppard breathing down his neck, Mills held his own and was in prime position to pull off the upset and score the biggest win of his young career.
That was until he drove a bit too deep into Turn 1 and pounded the wall, which led to contact from behind that sent Mills airborne and barrel rolling over the wall. Mills emerged from the car unhurt and owned up to the mistake, and quickly received an outpouring of praise from fans and fellow competitors.
Late Model racing’s newest fan favorite will resume his chase for the MD3 Rookie of the Year Award this weekend in Tennessee. Friday’s race will be his first appearance in Bulls Gap, while he finished 10th and 11th in his two Smoky Mountain starts with the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series.
BIG FROG, BIG SPEED: As the most experienced driver of this season’s five World of Outlaws rookies, Daulton Wilson entered 2026 as a popular pick to win top rookie honors. Through the first eight races, he’s already begun living up to those expectations.
After an up-and-down start at Volusia, the driver of the Big Frog/Viper Motorsports No. 58V earned his first World of Outlaws top 10 of the year in a big way with a podium run on Friday at Hendry County before coming home 11th on Saturday.
From there, the team continued their Speedweeks slate at their home track of Ocala Speedway and remained competitive, but didn’t have the luck to go with it. Wilson was forced to park the car while running fourth on Thursday due to an overheating engine, and then crashed out of his Heat Race on Saturday after qualifying third in his group.
The Tennessee red dirt has been good to Wilson in the past – he finished in the top 10 in three of his last four starts at Volunteer and recorded top fives at Smoky Mountain in 2023 and 2024.
HUDDY’S HEATER: There’s one driver that the entire Late Model world has been chasing in 2026, and that’s Hudson O’Neal.
The Martinsville, IN driver leads the nation with seven wins across four different tracks and two different teams in SSI Motorsports and K&L Rumley Enterprises. The season may only be two months old, but O’Neal is already almost halfway to matching his single-season high of 15 wins that he set with Rocket1 Racing in 2023.
There’s no reason to believe O’Neal can’t grab an eighth, or even ninth victory against the World of Outlaws this weekend. He’s never finished worse than eighth in seven starts at Volunteer, and he’s a two-time Smoky Mountain winner from 2019 and 2021.
In addition to the World of Outlaws regulars, plenty of other stars have announced their plans to try to stop O’Neal this weekend, including Jimmy Owens – in a Vic Hill-owned machine rather than his usual Koehler Motorsports ride – plus Dale McDowell, Ricky Thornton Jr., Chris Madden and more.
WHEN AND WHERE:
Friday, March 13, at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, TN
Saturday, March 14 at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, TN
CURRENT POINT STANDINGS:
1. Nick Hoffman (1043 points)
2. Bobby Pierce (-10)
3. Tim McCreadie (-33)
4. Tyler Erb (-39)
5. Drake Troutman (-45)
6. Ryan Gustin (-57)
7. Dustin Sorensen (-62)
8. Ethan Dotson (-75)
9. Dennis Erb Jr. (-79)
10. Daulton Wilson (-94)
FEATURE WINNERS (6):
Nick Hoffman – 3
Bobby Pierce – 1
Brandon Sheppard – 1
Tim McCreadie – 1
Hudson O’Neal – 1
Chris Madden – 1
FEATURE TOP FIVES (14):
Nick Hoffman – 7
Bobby Pierce – 5
Brandon Sheppard – 4
Drake Troutman – 4
Tim McCreadie – 3
Tyler Erb – 3
Hudson O’Neal – 2
Chris Madden – 2
Ethan Dotson – 2
Dennis Erb Jr. – 2
Ryan Gustin – 2
Ricky Thornton Jr. – 2
Brandon Overton – 1
Daulton Wilson – 1
FEATURE LAPS LED (11):
Nick Hoffman – 136
Bobby Pierce – 42
Chris Madden – 36
Hudson O’Neal – 35
Tim McCreadie – 28
Ryan Gustin – 22
Brandon Sheppard – 18
Michael Leach – 10
Drake Troutman – 7
Sam Seawright – 5
Ricky Thornton Jr. – 2
BILSTEIN POLE AWARDS (7):
Nick Hoffman – 2
Chris Madden – 1
Drake Troutman – 1
Ryan Gustin – 1
Brandon Overton – 1
Michael Leach – 1
Sam Seawright – 1
SIMPSON QUICK TIME AWARDS (6):
Chris Madden – 3
Drake Troutman – 1
Tyler Erb – 1
Brandon Overton – 1
Sam Seawright – 1
Cody Overton – 1
HEAT RACE WINS (19):
Nick Hoffman – 5
Chris Madden – 5
Tyler Erb – 4
Bobby Pierce – 3
Brandon Sheppard – 2
Drake Troutman – 2
Ryan Gustin – 2
Brabdon Overton – 2
Hudson O’Neal – 1
Ricky Thornton Jr. – 1
Daulton Wilson – 1
Cody Overton – 1
Michael Leach – 1
Donald McIntosh – 1
Sam Seawright – 1
Dan Ebert – 1
Dustin Sorensen – 1
Blair Nothdurft – 1
Austin Smith – 1
LAST CHANCE SHOWDOWN WINS (11):
Josh Rice – 3
Ethan Dotson – 2
Bobby Pierce – 1
Tim McCreadie – 1
Dennis Erb Jr. – 1
Ricky Thornton Jr. – 1
Luke Morey – 1
Dallon Murty – 1
Cody Overton – 1
Tristan Chamberlain – 1
Logan Zarin – 1
2026 WORLD OF OUTLAWS LATE MODEL SERIES PRESENTED BY DIRTVISION SCHEDULE
Wednesday, Jan. 21 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL (Practice)
Thursday, Jan. 22 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Chris Madden (1)
Friday, Jan. 23 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Hudson O’Neal (1)
Saturday, Jan. 24 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Tim McCreadie (1)
Thursday, Feb. 12 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Nick Hoffman (1)
Friday, Feb. 13 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Nick Hoffman (2)
Saturday, Feb. 14 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Brandon Sheppard (1)
Thursday, Feb. 19 / Hendry County Motorsports Park / Clewiston, FL (Practice)
Friday, Feb. 20 / Hendry County Motorsports Park / Clewiston, FL / Bobby Pierce (1)
Saturday, Feb. 21 / Hendry County Motorsports Park / Clewiston, FL / Nick Hoffman (3)
Friday, March 13 / Volunteer Speedway / Bulls Gap, TN
Saturday, March 14 / Smoky Mountain Speedway / Maryville, TN
Thursday, March 19 / Magnolia Motor Speedway / Columbus, MS (Practice)
Friday, March 20 / Magnolia Motor Speedway / Columbus, MS
Saturday, March 21 / Magnolia Motor Speedway / Columbus, MS
Friday, March 27 / East Alabama Motor Speedway / Phenix City, AL
Saturday, March 28 / Senoia Raceway / Senoia, GA
Thursday, April 9 / Farmer City Raceway / Farmer City, IL (Practice)
Friday, April 10 / Farmer City Raceway / Farmer City, IL
Saturday, April 11 / Farmer City Raceway / Farmer City, IL
Friday, April 24 / Talladega Short Track / Eastaboga, AL
Saturday, April 25 / Talladega Short Track / Eastaboga, AL
Tuesday, April 28 / Independence Motor Speedway / Independence, IA
Thursday, April 30 / Mississippi Thunder Speedway / Fountain City, WI
Friday, May 1 / Mississippi Thunder Speedway / Fountain City, WI
Saturday, May 2 / Mississippi Thunder Speedway / Fountain City, WI
Wednesday, May 13 / Georgetown Speedway / Georgetown, DE
Thursday, May 14 / Selinsgrove Speedway / Selinsgrove, PA
Friday, May 15 / Marion Center Raceway / Marion Center, PA
Saturday, May 16 / Marion Center Raceway / Marion Center, PA
Sunday, May 17 / Bedford Speedway / Bedford, PA
Thursday, May 28 / Wayne County Speedway / Orrville, OH
Friday, May 29 / Mansfield Speedway / Mansfield, OH
Saturday, May 30 / Mansfield Speedway / Mansfield, OH
Friday, June 12 / West Virginia Motor Speedway / Mineral Wells, WV
Saturday, June 13 / West Virginia Motor Speedway / Mineral Wells, WV
Friday, June 19 / 141 Speedway / Maribel, WI
Saturday, June 20 / 141 Speedway / Maribel, WI
Monday, June 22 / Ogilvie Raceway / Ogilvie, MN
Wednesday, June 24 / I-94 emr Speedway / Fergus Falls, MN
Friday, June 26 / River Cities Speedway / Grand Forks, ND
Sunday, June 28 / Nodak Speedway / Minot, ND
Tuesday, June 30 / Norman County Raceway / Ada, MN
Thursday, July 2 / Deer Creek Speedway / Spring Valley, MN
Friday, July 3 / Deer Creek Speedway / Spring Valley, MN
Saturday, July 4 / Deer Creek Speedway / Spring Valley, MN
Wednesday, July 8 / Stateline Speedway / Busti, NY
Friday, July 10 / Sharon Speedway / Hartford, OH
Saturday, July 11 / Sharon Speedway / Hartford, OH
Friday, July 24 / Fairbury Speedway / Fairbury, IL
Saturday, July 25 / Fairbury Speedway / Fairbury, IL
Thursday, July 30 / Cedar Lake Speedway / New Richmond, WI
Friday, July 31 / Cedar Lake Speedway / New Richmond, WI
Saturday, Aug. 1 / Cedar Lake Speedway / New Richmond, WI
Thursday, Aug. 20 / Maquoketa Speedway / Maquoketa, IA (Practice)
Friday, Aug. 21 / Maquoketa Speedway / Maquoketa, IA
Saturday, Aug. 22 / Maquoketa Speedway / Maquoketa, IA
Wednesday, Aug. 26 / Southern Iowa Speedway / Oskaloosa, IA
Friday, Aug, 28 / Adams County Speedway / Corning, IA
Saturday, Aug. 29 / Shelby County Speedway / Harlan, IA
Friday, Sept. 25 / I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park / Pevely, MO
Saturday, Sept. 26 / I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park / Pevely, MO
Friday, Oct. 2 / Boothill Speedway / Greenwood, LA
Saturday, Oct. 3 / Boothill Speedway / Greenwood, LA
Friday, Oct. 23 / Modoc Speedway / Modoc, SC
Saturday, Oct. 24 / Modoc Speedway / Modoc, SC
Wednesday, Nov. 4 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC
Thursday, Nov. 5 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC
Friday, Nov. 6 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC
Saturday, Nov. 7 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC
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