Nick Hoffman shared that it was with 20 or 25 laps to go that he knew he was the car to beat during the World 100 at Eldora Speedway on Saturday night.
During an appearance on The Dirt Parlor following his career-defining $100,000 win, Hoffman revealed when he knew the race was his, “Probably about 20 to 25 to go. Somewhere right around that range was when I started to be able to see the leaders again. Because with 40 to go, I think I was still 10 seconds back or whatever. I was a pretty large margin back. And I didn’t know it at the time, you’re just making laps and trying to make speed, but all of you guys told me, ‘Do you realize how much faster you were than the field at that point?’ Like I was coming at a high rate of speed and I’m just clicking off laps, trying to go as hard as I can to get back to them.”
Nick Hoffman. Photo by Event Horizon Photography.
From there Hoffman explained that he felt that even if Jonathan Davenport did not bring out the caution with 12 to go and Ryan Gustin had not broken his driveshaft on the subsequent restart he was the one to beat.
“Even if it stayed green I still felt like I had the car. That I was going to be able to drive by them guys,” he said. “And then that caution comes out to rerack us and we go into one and Gustin breaks. But at that point me and Ricky were both driving by both sides of him at that point. And it was going to turn into a two-car race versus me and Ricky.”
“He was running the top, but I was just looking under caution, the top was so thin, he was going to end up knocking the spoiler off of it if he just kept making laps up there,” Hoffman continued. “And then I knew the race would end up being mine as long as nothing stupid happened.”
To that point, Thornton shared in FloRacing’s post-race press conference, “I feel like I got up there and hustled pretty hard for three or four laps and I didn’t make any ground. And it’s like, man, it was just so technical off of two that if you hit it right you’re going to be good, if you hit it wrong, you’re going to be in the fence pretty easy. So, I tried it. And I didn’t feel like I was gaining anything. So I’m like, ‘I guess I’ll move back around the middle and try to protect after that.'”
Hoffman then explained just why he was able to charge so hard at the end and best Thornton in their duel for the win, “He ended up getting back in line behind me and I was able to just charge harder than them guys could at that point in the race because I just spent so much time of that race just running right against that infield wall and just literally getting water on my left side tires. There was so much water against that infield wall that I would wheel spin a lot of times just because I was in water or mud and it just saved my stuff. So at the end I could really hustle. You look back, my fastest lap was on lap 91, which was faster than most of the field ran the entire race. And it was just a matter of having tires left.”
That race strategy was based on the meticulous note taking he did at the track over the last three years whether it was for the Dream, the World 100, or The Dirt Track World Championship.
“I feel like I take really good notes like what the racetrack [is] speed-wise, what we qualify at, what the racetrack looks like, what track prep they did before the feature just to know. Saturday night, they didn’t do anything. And I’ve got in my notes when they did the nail drag and what it did to our tires and just trying to take all that stuff and just lay it out in front of me and pick and choose little things from each one.”
“And that’s what I was kind of doing through my prelim nights,” he continued. “And then I felt like I hit on something really good Friday. So I literally did the exact same thing Saturday just knowing the only difference is I was going to have a full fuel load, which changes the characteristics.”
Not only did he race through the mud and water during the race, but he revealed he did so afterwards he had won to ensure he was not light at the scales.
“And then I added a 12 lbs. piece of lead to the car just to make damn sure I wasn’t going to end up like Shannon Babb and end up light on them scales if I got to that point. And so after I won the race, I found the biggest mud puddle and I went splashing through that just to make sure. And then I roll across over 200 lbs. heavy, I think, is what they said.”
On top of his meticulous note taking, Hoffman also credited his time racing with Scott Bloomquist and the experiences he had with him. He also explained that he learned from watching Dale McDowell and Jonathan Davenport and the success they’ve had at the track for so many years.
“And when I drove for Scott, where his cars were better than everybody else, the characteristics and the things that they do different than a Longhorn or a Rocket and try to apply a little bit of that, why Scott’s car drives around Eldora so well. I still think that was probably the best car I’ve ever drove around Eldora, was Scott’s stuff. Steered so nice, had so much grip down the straightaways, and Shane and Dale still show that them things— .That one night Shane takes care of Todd Morrow’s car too. I guess he’s in a Longhorn now, but you had Benedum, Dale McDowell, and Todd Morrow all within the top 5 in qualifying. That’s pretty impressive for Shane.”
Nick Hoffman. Photo by Event Horizon Photography.
“Everybody knows Scott was so picky about his tire stuff. He was good, so far ahead of everybody as far as tires, how to groove tires, sipe tires, from one track versus the next, conditions, everything. He was just so smart,” Hoffman added. “The biggest thing at Eldora, he preached and was like, ‘You got to have the edges left on your tire.’ So I know if Dale was in that race, I was going to have to deal with him at some point and it was going to make my race a lot more difficult because we were going to be fighting for the same real estate. And so, I’ll say I’m glad he wasn’t in the race. It sucks that streak ends. It’s very impressive what Dale has done. Still could’ve contended for the win on Saturday if he doesn’t get taken out by a stupid deal. So I was glad to not see him in the field. Let’s say that. It’s just impressive. I’ve said in a couple interviews, I’ve watched him do that for so many years and it pays off for him. He hasn’t won the race, but he’s there at the end and contending. He gets a late race caution with 12 to go, he probably wins the race too.”
“You seen the pictures. My left side was muddy because I was just making sure I was splashing through that [crap] pretty often. And it just paid off. Any of those tidbits of learning about how JD raced around that place and the years that he won and what paid off for Dale. Just trying to take all of it and put it to use. And at the end of the day you still got to get lucky. Some things got to fall your way and it just did for me this week,” he concluded.
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