CLARKSVILLE, TN – July 26, 2020 – Originally, the two-day venture out to the Volunteer State for some DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals action wasn’t even on defending champion Nick Hoffman’s projected schedule. After all, only a driver’s best eight finishes count toward the overall points standings.
But it’s the drive to win and passion for competition that makes a champion a champion, and Hoffman showed exactly what that looks like Sunday night, as he completed the weekend sweep of the Modified action with his second win in two days at Clarksville Speedway.
“We weren’t really planning on coming here as of last week, so to come here and win both nights is pretty good,” Hoffman said in Victory Lane. “It says a lot about the guys that help me and put this thing together for me. We’ve been working out tails off to get this thing right and I think we’re really close right now.”
50 Feature laps were contested over the two days in Tennessee, 50 laps led for the Mooresville, NC-native. He’s now tied with fellow championship contender Mike McKinney for most wins overall this season at three, and it’s shaping up to be a dogfight for the points championship.
In what was almost a mirror image of Saturday night, Hoffman jumped out to the early lead and went 25 laps virtually unchallenged for the lead by the rest of the top-five, which included names like Trent Young, Josh Harris, McKinney and Will Krup.
In the laps before the final caution late in the race, Hoffman had drawn-up a lead of almost two seconds around the quarter-mile. Using the middle of the track as his preferred lane, Hoffman and his Elite Chassis seemed to just float around the red clay high banks where others just chased.
“It felt better out there than it did on the bottom, and I didn’t know where them guys were running. I would just open up my [corner] entry and kinda make it hard for someone to pass me if they had a run,” Hoffman said.
After suffering his second DNF of the season early in Saturday night’s Feature, McKinney was able to rebound Sunday night with a fourth-place finish behind Trent Young and Josh Harris. Harris, who made the trip down for Sunday only, tied his best finish of the year with the Summit Modifieds in third.
UP NEXT
The DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals are off on Monday and Tuesday before a return to action in Round #14 Wednesday night at LaSalle Speedway in LaSalle, IL. Catch all the action live on DIRTVision with a Fast Pass subscription!
Qualifying Flight-A
1. 7-Nick Hoffman, 13.478; 2. 96M-Mike McKinney, 13.535; 3. 55-Michael Lee, 13.639; 4. 43-Ricky Knight, 13.719; 5. 94-Cory Balkey, 13.879; 6. 2-Peyton Walker, 14.099
Qualifying Flight-B
1. 7D-Trent Young, 13.729; 2. 16C-John Clippinger, 13.779; 3. 98-Zac Harris, 13.907; 4. 55M-Blaze Melton, 13.975; 5. O2-Chris Cook, 14.169; 6. 15-Clayton Miller, 99.999
Qualifying Flight-C
1. K19-Will Krup, 13.489; 2. 22-Josh Harris, 13.722; 3. 13-Charlie Mefford, 13.731; 4. 24-Zeke McKenzie, 13.815; 5. 12-Lucas Lee, 13.883; 6. 99-Hunt Gossum, 13.949
Heat #1 – Flight (A) (8 Laps) – Top 6 Transfer
1. 7-Nick Hoffman [1]; 2. 96M-Mike McKinney [2]; 3. 55-Michael Lee [3]; 4. 94-Cory Balkey [5]; 5. 43-Ricky Knight [4]; 6. 2-Peyton Walker [6]
Heat #2 – Flight (B) (8 Laps) – Top 6 Transfer
1. 7D-Trent Young [1]; 2. O2-Chris Cook [5]; 3. 16C-John Clippinger [2]; 4. 15-Clayton Miller [6]; 5. 98-Zac Harris [3]; 6. 55M-Blaze Melton [4]
Heat #3 – Flight (C) (8 Laps) – Top 6 Transfer
1. 22-Josh Harris [2]; 2. K19-Will Krup [1]; 3. 12-Lucas Lee [5]; 4. 24-Zeke McKenzie [4]; 5. 99-Hunt Gossum [6]; 6. 13-Charlie Mefford [3]
Feature (25 Laps)
1. 7-Nick Hoffman [2][]; 2. 7D-Trent Young [3][]; 3. 22-Josh Harris [1][]; 4. 96M-Mike McKinney [4][]; 5. K19-Will Krup [6][]; 6. 55-Michael Lee [7][]; 7. 99-Hunt Gossum [15][]; 8. 16C-John Clippinger [8][]; 9. 12-Lucas Lee [9][]; 10. 24-Zeke McKenzie [12][]; 11. O2-Chris Cook [5][]; 12. 98-Zac Harris [14][]; 13. 15-Clayton Miller [11][]; 14. 13-Charlie Mefford [18][]; 15. 2-Peyton Walker [16][]; 16. 43-Ricky Knight [13][]; 17. 55M-Blaze Melton [17][]; 18. 94-Cory Balkey [10][]
KSE Hard Charger Award: 99-Hunt Gossum[+8]