BARBERVILLE, Fla. - David Stremme shot out to the lead on the opening lap of Tuesday night’s DIRTcar UMP Modifieds feature at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park and held off Nick Hoffman to score his second career DIRTcar Nationals Gator trophy.
“We were pretty good tonight, but I feel like we still have a lot of work to do,” Stremme said. “We’re just ok and we know that. Its only night one. Things will change quite a bit the rest of the week and the competition here is pretty strong. Real happy though, have to thank all the sponsors.”
The first Feature of the DIRTcar Nationals would see NASCAR Xfinity Series star Justin Allgaier and Hoffman lead the mammoth 28-car field to the start. Stremme, who started on the inside of the third row, quickly shot around the front row and grabbed the early advantage while the rest of the field jockeyed for position. Hoffman fell back to as far as fifth, before regrouping and picking off cars one by one until he got back up to second.
As the laps clicked off, Hoffman closed the gap on Stremme and caught a break when the caution flag flew with just a single lap to go. That set up a one-lap shootout between Stremme and Hoffman. On the restart, Stremme would get away from both and cross the stripe first en route to his first DIRTcar Nationals Feature win since the 2015 season and second of his career.
Hoffman settled for second with Kyle Strickler in third, Chase Collins in fourth and Zeke McKenzie in fifth.
Justin Haley, Kenny Wallace, Michael Long, K.C. Burdette and Allgaier rounded out the top 10.
Night two for the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds will see the teams return for the next $1,000 payday, joined by the Arctic Car All-Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars for their first of two nights of action.
For more information, visit DIRTcarnationals.com.
DIRTcar Nationals
Volusia Speedway Park – Barberville, FL
UMP Modifieds – Feb. 6, 2018
1. David Stremme
2. Nick Hoffman
3. Kyle Strickler
4. Chase Collins
5. Zeke McKenzie
6. Justin Haley
7. Kenny Wallace
8. Michael Long
9. K.C. Burdette
10. Justin Allgaier
11. Ray Bollinger
12. Tyler Evans
13. Ryan Cripe
14. Jason Brookover
15. Larry Burkins
16. Paul Niznik
17. Tony Anderson
18. Josh Rice
19. Mike McKinney
20. Jason Beaulieu
21. Shon Flanary
22. Todd Neiheiser
23. Troy Johnson
24. Jason Garver
25. Jamie Carter
26. Brian Ruhlman
27. Rick Conoyer
28. Ken Schrader
