RPW Exclusive: Nick Hoffman Finds Success In The Sandpit at Hendry County
Column By: JACOB DOVE / RPW – CLEWISTON FL – The Thrill from Mooresville, Nick Hoffman picked up where he left off after a very successful start to the 2026 racing season with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series. Hoffman showed a lot of speed and consistency at Volusia Speedway Park, winning the big gator championship after having previous success in the UMP Modifieds. With 35 gators now in Hoffman’s pond, the Tye Twarog Racing #9 team headed south to Hendry County Motorsports Park with the World of Outlaws points lead.
Regarded as the “fastest sandpit in the south”, Hendry County Motorsports Park hosted its biggest national touring event ever in track history. The Clewiston, FL facility is the southernmost dirt track in the United States and not far from the famous Lake Okeechobee. It’s also one of the lost unique tracks with its bull ring style racing, sandy track conditions, sugar cane field surroundings, and upgraded facilities. Track owner Ken Kinney put a lot of money, time, and energy to make sure this event was going to put the track on the map. After two exciting nights of racing, Mr. Kinney can say they did exactly that.
Bobby Pierce took home Friday nights victory with Ethan Dotson and Daulton Wilson on the podium. Going into Saturday night, race fans packed the property with one of the largest crowds Hendry County has ever seen. The community greatly supported the Swamp Cabbage 100 and the grounds were buzzing with excitement. After the Scales Media and Race Pro Weekly’s Jacob Dove caught up with DirtVision infield reporter Ashton Smyth who was “very impressed by the facilities and the community support” of this racing event. From visits to the local elementary school, to the friendly competition of the bass fishing tournament on Lake Okeechobee, the local area saw a lot of attraction to what Hendry County has to offer.
27 Super Late Models were in attendance for the 60 lap Swamp Cabbage 100 feature event. Sam Seawright would set QuickTime on the night in qualifying and win his heat race. Nick Hoffman and Bobby Pierce would win their heat races as well to set them up front for the feature. It didn’t take long after the drop of the green flag for Ryan Gustin and Bobby Pierce to challenge Seawright for the lead. Pierce would get by both of them to set the pace out front. However, Hoffman would get around the #32 of Pierce to take the lead. Just when Pierce was battling back for the top spot, a caution would come out for local driver Eli Johnson, giving Hoffman his spot back. Laps were winding down as the top two drivers in the point ms standings battled it out for the $20,000 payday. Hoffman stuck to the bottom as Pierce banged off the cushion on the top to try to steal the win on the last lap. It wouldn’t be enough for Pierce and Hoffman would cross the line in first.
Nick Hoffman was very excited about his fourth victory of 2026. In 12 features so far he has 9 top fives and 12 top tens. He would go on to say in his post-race interview that he was very surprised by getting win at a track like Hendry, given its style of racing. It definitely changed his opinion and shared that he would like to comeback to race there again next year. We caught up with Hoffman during technical inspection and said, “That was a lot of fun. I could hear Bobby up top and knew he was probably getting closer and closer to me. Wasn’t sure if I should go up there and block his line but it all worked out”.
We would like to thank Ken Kinney and staff for putting on an awesome event this weekend and allowing us to cover it. We appreciate everyone who took time to talk to us and enjoy the exciting racing that took place. There’s no doubt a lot of people were concerned how the racing would be given Hendry’s track conditions but we can confidently say that it proved a lot of doubters wrong. The fastest sandpit in the south and southernmost dirt track in the USA is officially on the map and we hope to back again next year for the Swamp Cabbage 100.
