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Nick Hoffman celebrates with his sons on the victory stand after winning the World 100.
ROSSBURG - On and off the track Nick Hoffman had a life-changing, career-altering World 100 weekend at Eldora Speedway.
Two days after signing a contract to drive the Dirt Late Model for motorsports juggernaut Spire Motorsports next year, Hoffman drove around race-long leader Ryan Gustin on lap 89 and went on to capture the 56th annual World 100 and the $100,000 top prize.
"I'm trying to collect my emotions here," the 34-year old Hoffman said with tears streaming down his face in victory lane. "It's been a life-changing week, that's for sure. It's all going to take a while to set in."
Despite not winning a preliminary feature on Thursday or Friday, Hoffman entered the night as one of the pre-race favorites, and unlike many on this night, Hoffman, who won last Sunday's Baltes Classic, was able to finish his heat race in second to earn the ninth starting position in the 100 lapper.
Other pre-race favorites were not so lucky. Two-time World 100 winner Bobby Pierce, second generation driver Devin Moran and Josh Rice all suffered mechanical problems and dropped out of their heat races, ending their nights long before the feature event.
Veterans Chris Madden and Dale McDowell, who seen his record streak of 18 consecutive starts in the World 100 come to an end, were involved in separate crashes in the B-main.
Hoffman, of Mooresville, North Carolina, knew of the other contenders having problems and was relieved when he had made the 28-car starting field.
"I felt like everything was against me with Sheppy (Brandon Sheppard) spinning that six for the invert" Hoffman said of the deep heat race starting position of the top drivers from the preliminary nights. "Things broke our way in that heat race and were able to get it, which when you see what happened to those other guys, was a big relief."
Ryan Gustin and five-time World 100 winner Jonathan Davenport started on the front row of the main event with Gustin jumping to the lead at the drop of the green flag. Gustin and Davenport ran in the top two spots the entire first half of the race, as the pre-race favorites worked their way through the pack.
Hoffman, preliminary feature winners Sheppard and Hudson O'Neal, defending World 100 champion Ricky Thornton Jr. and Tyler Erb worked their way through the field and positioned themselves behind the lead duo.
"I didn't know if I had what it took when the race began," Hoffman said. "It was just biding my time. I feel like I've watched Dale (McDowell) do it a million times, he just creeps around the inside, saving his tires. I paced myself and kept Sheppy in my sights because I really thought he was the best car here all week and I figured he would be there at the end."
Ricky Thornton Jr. (20RT) tries to stay in front of Jonathan Davenport (49) during Saturday's World 100 at Eldora Speedway.
Thornton passed Davenport for second on lap 74, then Hoffman took third from Davenport on lap 79. Hoffman worked his way past Thornton on lap 88 and as he did, behind him Davenport's right rear tire blew, effectively ending his bid for a record-tying sixth globe trophy.
Lined up beside the race-long leader for the 12-lap dash to the finish, Hoffman drove around the outside of Gustin in turns one and two before Gustin slowed dramatically with a broken driveshaft.
"We broke something in the driveshaft there," an emotional Gustin said of his late-race heartbreak. "I felt like we did everything right all night. Things fell our way with the invert and we won our heat race and led all those laps, except the last 12 unfortunately."
Hoffman was confident he could have wrestled the lead from Gustin, even if he had problems.
"The caution came out and I just knew I could blitz pretty hard into one and two and he obviously had issues there, but I felt like I could sneak past him there."
Hoffman started on the inside of the front row on the next restart beside of Thornton. Hoffman powered away from the defending champion on the restart and was never seriously challenged over the final 12 laps, taking the checkered flag more than two seconds ahead of Thornton.
Nick Hoffman took the lead late in the race to win his first World 100 on Saturday at Eldora Speedway.
"I was able to get to J.D. (Davenport) there and started to run down Ryan and I felt pretty good about everything," Thornton said. "I felt like I had good speed and I really didn't think I had abused my tires the first 70 laps or so but then Nick got by and I knew we were in trouble. He was really good. Hats off to him and his team."
Erb, who pilots the St. Marys-based Best Performance Motorsports machine for car owner Eric Brock, started 17th in the main event, but was third for the final restart, but he couldn't challenge the first two at the finish and settled for a career-best third-place finish.
"I honestly didn't even know that Gustin was leading there at the end, until the restart," Erb said. "He obviously had a good and at one point I passed Nick and when he started coming back at me I thought it was Sheppy but Nick went passed us and I thought 'Well there's the race.' We had a great race, I just can't quite run the same lines those guys do."
Sheppard finished fourth, while O'Neal, the 2023 World 100 champion, completed the top five.
Tim McCreadie, Davenport, Max Blair, Ethan Dotson and Adam Stricker completed the top 10.
While Hoffman certainly has an eye on his future with Spire Motorsports and their connections to NASCAR and the doors it may open for him in the future, he was extremely happy to get the win on Saturday night for Coshocton-based car owner Tye Twarog.
"I really wanted to win this for him," Hoffman said. He has done so much for me and has been so supportive on this move. I am really glad we got to do this together."
"I would've never believed this could happen," Twarog said after his victory stage hug with Hoffman. "I am the happiest I have ever been in my life. I don't know where we are going to go from here. I may just walk away, I don't know. After you win the biggest dirt race there is there isn't whole lot else to do."
There is still more to do in the Eldora season, which continues in two weeks with the 44th annual 4-Crown Nationals. The three-day affair begins on Sept. 24 with the USAC Sprints and Midgets, continues on Sept. 25 with the High Limit Sprint Cars and GLSS 360 Sprints and then concludes on Sept. 26 with the USAC Midgets, Silver Crown and Sprint Cars as well as the High Limit Series.
