In the final moments before Nick Hoffman strapped in for the biggest race of the season, his 5-year-old son, Roxzen, had a request for his dad.
“Before the race, the drone show’s going on, and he’s like, ‘Dad, look at that trophy. We need that trophy,” Hoffman said. “I said, ‘I’m going to get it for you, buddy.’”
About an hour later, dad delivered on his word. Hoffman’s first World 100 triumph was the culmination of his life’s work in racing that began three decades ago, when he was the same starry-eyed kid dreaming of success on the biggest stages.
The Belleville, IL native spent his early years traveling around the Midwest with his father, Darrell, chasing the DIRTcar UMP Modified scene, until a job opportunity in NASCAR led Darrell to move the family to Mooresville, NC when Nick was 10.
Once he found himself in the middle of the pavement racing universe, Hoffman couldn’t help but envision a future of racing on Sundays. He was a regular at the Summer Shootout on the 1/4-mile at Charlotte Motor Speedway before climbing the ranks and eventually making a trio of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts for Mittler Brothers Motorsports in 2010 and 2011.
Meanwhile, Hoffman’s dirt roots never left him. He dove into the Modified world in high school as a driver and soon decided it was time to take the next step. In 2012, a 19-year-old Hoffman built his first Modified chassis, took it to Eldora Speedway, and promptly won the DIRTcar Fall Nationals, one of the division’s most prestigious events. Hoffman’s phone started ringing off the hook with fellow competitors placing orders, and Elite Chassis began growing into its current position as one of Modified racing’s top manufacturers.
At the same time, Hoffman began proving that he could drive them just as well as he could build them. His decade of dominance included three DIRTcar national championships, four DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals titles and seven Big Gators from the season-opening Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park.
Hoffman is proud of his reputation as one of Modified racing’s most successful and influential figures, but the desire to test himself at the Super Late Model has always been there. His full-fendered career began at Florence Speedway in the 2016 North-South 100 in the Jones Oil Company machine, the first of several part-time efforts Hoffman accepted alongside his Modified duties.
His efforts in both cars caught the attention of one of the sport’s all-time greats, Scott Bloomquist. When medical issues forced Bloomquist to step out of the seat in 2021, he chose Hoffman to be his substitute. Hoffman made the most of the year he spent under Bloomquist’s wing, making his first Feature starts in several of Late Model racing’s biggest events including the Prairie Dirt Classic, the USA Nationals and the Eldora Million.
The opportunity allowed Hoffman to catch the eye of many people in the Late Model world for the first time, including that of Tye Twarog. When Devin Moran departed Twarog’s team at the end of the 2022 season to move to his current home at Double Down Motorsports, Twarog saw enough potential in Hoffman to go all-in on him.
By January 2023, all of Twarog’s equipment was in North Carolina, and Hoffman was signed up for his rookie season with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision. He came out of the gate in 2023 with his first World of Outlaws win at Stateline Speedway, the MD3 Rookie of the Year Award and the fifth spot in the final standings.
Hoffman’s win total and points position has improved every year since, and less than four years after his full-time Late Model career began, he had already become a nightly win contender anywhere he went.
“I believed in myself, and confidence is key in this whole game,” Hoffman said. “I knew I could do it at some point, whether it’s race for championships or race for crown jewel wins. I believed in myself, and finally, the opportunity comes with Tye, and he basically handed me the keys to the program. That was the turn of my Late Model career, getting to where I am today, being able to control my own destiny, basically. It’s spiraled really fast. In four years, the statistics have gone up every single year, we’ve gotten better every single year. It’s pretty wild to me.”
In the midst of Hoffman’s six-win 2026 World of Outlaws campaign, his phone rang with a call from Jeff Dickerson, co-owner of Spire Motorsports. The team was looking to expand into full-time dirt Late Model racing in 2027, needed someone who could lead the program, and believed Hoffman checked all the right boxes.
Despite having no thoughts of leaving Twarog’s team beforehand, Hoffman knew he had an opportunity too good to pass up. While announcing the news on Thursday at Eldora, Hoffman emphasized his gratitude toward Twarog for his role in getting him to his current position.
“This was not possible without Tye Twarog,” Hoffman said in Thursday’s press conference. “I probably would have never been on [Spire’s] radar without him. I drove for a lot of great Late Model car owners throughout my years. Scott Bloomquist, Cody Sommer, Tye, the Hatcher family, the Jones family that took a shot on me when I was young and just a Modified guy. Drove for a lot of great people, a lot of part-time stuff. Finally, Tye comes to the plate and gives me a full-time ride, allows me to run it out of North Carolina, and that’s when you see a change in my whole Late Model career. We’ve gotten better every single year, and everything he’s done for me, it’s been unbelievable. The guy has basically treated me like a son and just handed me all this equipment and we’ve done the most with it. I know he’s proud of me and everything we’ve done.”
With 17 World of Outlaws wins under his belt over the past four seasons, the next objective on Hoffman’s trajectory became a crown jewel victory, particularly one at Eldora. It was only a few years ago that such an accomplishment was more of a pipe dream than a realistic goal, but as Hoffman’s prominence continued to grow, so did his prospects of glory at the “Big E.”
In the last three Eldora majors prior to the 2026 World 100, Hoffman finished third on each occasion. The thrill he felt after his Dirt Late Model Dream career best in 2025 turned to frustration that he was still on the last step of the podium in June at this year’s Dream.
That frustration could also describe the summer leading up to the World 100. Hoffman’s $100,000 victory at Mansfield Speedway on May 30 still stands as his most recent World of Outlaws win more than three months later, and he’s finished second to points leader Bobby Pierce five times since then.
At long last, Hoffman got back to Victory Lane on Sept. 6 in the Baltes Classic at Eldora, the Labor Day weekend prelude to the World 100. A split-field, $5,000 win won’t go down in history as one of Hoffman’s greatest accomplishments, but it put Hoffman and team in the right frame of mind going into the most important week of the year.
“That win Sunday did a lot for me,” Hoffman said. “I was running second and third a lot, and to finally get the job done Sunday and be able to beat [Ricky Thornton Jr., defending World 100 champion]. He made a mistake, but I was still able to win, and that kind of changed my whole week outlook, like, ‘OK, we’re good enough.”
That confidence stayed with Hoffman through two nights of preliminary action on Thursday and Friday. He may not have won on either night, but Hoffman remained confident that he would be in the mix when it mattered most in the closing laps on Saturday.
From ninth in the starting order, Hoffman was in no hurry to slice his way through the field at the drop of the green flag. He instead went the opposite direction down to 12th in the first 30 laps, but began picking cars off one by one in the second half using lessons learned from his late mentor.
“Them guys were driving by me, and I was just trying to stay patient, stay with it,” Hoffman said. “Just stayed against that infield wall and not wheelspin down the straightaways or anything to try and keep my edges on my tires. That’s what Scott always preached to me is make sure you’ve got edges, especially if we got a late-race caution or anything like that. Just was patient, kept my tires underneath me. Once it got down to business and I needed to try and circle out and make speed, I knew that bottom lane was not the fastest way around the racetrack. It was a matter of, I just needed to cruise for a while, and then once I got to the point where I felt like I needed to move out to make speed, I was able to do so.”
When race-long leader Ryan Gustin’s driveshaft broke with a dozen laps remaining, it set up a shootout between Hoffman and Thornton, who had already been going back-and-forth for second before the yellow. Hoffman’s conservative, momentum-based approach meant he had more tread left for the final sprint than Thornton did, allowing him to pull away and score the biggest win of his career.
“I don’t even know how to explain it, really,” Hoffman said. “It’s unbelievable. I was at a loss for words up on the stage, I don’t even remember what I said. It’s unbelievable, this is what you dream of as a kid growing up trying to race and make a living. This is my first crown jewel, the biggest crown jewel. I told Randy [Weaver] I could walk away from dirt Late Model racing and feel like I was successful now.”
It was fitting that Thornton was the man who Hoffman had to beat to take the crown of World 100 champion. The two drivers have a high degree of respect for each other, and their paths have crossed several times over the years. Thornton was certainly disappointed to come up one spot short of back-to-back globes, but he couldn’t help but be happy for a Modified ace who used the right combination of talent and work ethic to reach the mountaintop – mainly because that story sounds a whole lot like his own.
“I feel like we’re kind of a similar Modified background, just doing what you can to make it to that next level,” Thornton said. “I was fortunate enough to get in a Late Model and Nick was fortunate enough to get in a Late Model now. It’s been a lot of work and a lot of learning. It’s pretty cool to see Nick get his first big crown jewel like this. I mean, if he wants to retire, I don’t think any of us are going to complain.”
“Me and Ricky, people don’t even know this, but we were rFactor kids,” Hoffman added “We didn’t meet until we were probably 20, 21 range, but we raced rFactor and iRacing and stuff together and did a lot of sim racing together. There’s quite a few of us that grew up doing that. We kind of had the same path with the Modifieds, and we were both fortunate to win a lot of races. But when you start winning Late Model races, that’s when your name changes and you start to build a lot of confidence that you’re good enough to do this deal.”
More than anything, Hoffman’s career-defining night will be looked back on as the ultimate thank-you gift to Twarog for four years of investment into his career. A lifelong Ohioan, Twarog’s quarter-century of work as a team owner has all been in pursuit of his dream of having his name on a World 100-winning car.
That dream came true on Saturday night, when Twarog stood in Victory Lane staring at the globe with the same awe as Roxzen Hoffman an hour earlier.
“What else would you want? I can look at that trophy every day of my life,” Twarog said. “It’s just unbelievable. I believed in Nick from day one, I gave him all my equipment. We’ll see what happens. Whatever happens next year, I’m excited.”
Hoffman will begin the final stretch of the 2026 World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision season at one of his home tracks, I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park, in the King of the Arch on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 25-26. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.
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