BARBERVILLE, FL \u2013 Jan. 25, 2019\n\u2013 As usual, the DIRTcar UMP\nModifieds will kick off 12 straight nights of racing at Volusia Speedway Park\non Tuesday, Feb. 5. The busiest division in Florida during the month of\nFebruary, and perhaps the most competitive of all, will take on the legendary half-mile,\nhigh-banked dirt oval for seven straight nights from February 5-11. The UMP\nModifieds will race in 10 total features in the chase for the 2019 DIRTcar\nNationals title while celebrating their 15th year at the event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the past 14 years, the UMP Modified\ndivision has produced 46 different feature winners along with 10 different\nchampions. Car counts have averaged in the 70s with 111 feature races\nconducted. Only three drivers have captured more than one championship, and it\nwasn\u2019t done for the first time until 2013, when NASCAR legend Ken Schrader\naccomplished the feat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
No driver, though, has been more\nsuccessful at DIRTcar Nationals than three-time defending Champion Nick\nHoffman. The 26-year-old has ascended to the status of \u201cBest Gator\u201d with a record\n14 wins. The Mooresville, NC resident scored his first ever DIRTcar Nationals\nfeature on February 20, 2012, the inaugural Gator Championship night, and the\nfirst of what would be three Gator Championship night wins for him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Single victories in 2013 and 2015\nset the stage for the past three seasons of domination by the driver originally\nfrom Belleville, Illinois. Four feature wins each in both 2016 and 2017, as\nwell as three more in 2018 have propelled the driver of the popular #2 Elite\nChassis entry to the last three DIRTcar Nationals titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMan, this is so awesome. To win\na Big Gator is pretty special no matter how many times you do it,\u201d said Hoffman\non stage at Volusia in 2018 after winning his third consecutive DIRTcar\nNationals title. \u201cThese championships are so hard to come by, and to be able to\ndo it three years in a row says a lot about this car and this team. There\u2019s so\nmany people that make this happen, and I truly can\u2019t thank everyone enough.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hoffman stands alone as a\nthree-time DIRTcar Nationals champion in his division. Only Schrader (2008\n& 2013) and NASCAR shoe Ty Dillon (2012 & 2014) have more than one\nDIRTcar Nationals title. Seven other drivers have single championships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2018 battle for the Big Gator\nwas a good one between Hoffman and Kyle Strickler. On opening night, NASCAR\nstar David Stremme ended a winless streak that stretched back to 2015 with his\nsecond career DIRTcar Nationals victory. Hoffman responded by winning the next\ntwo nights. A pair of first-time feature winners emerged in Larry Mott and\nFrank Paladino; Tyler Nicely ended a two-year drought with a feature win; and\nStrickler closed out the busy schedule ending another three-year winless streak\nwith his first Gator since 2015. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Big Gator Qualifier nights would\nsee Nicely strike first with his second feature win of the week and third of\nhis career, while Hoffman bagged win #3 and career victory #14 the next night.\nOn the final night of competition, Strickler stopped Hoffman\u2019s bid for a third\nstraight Gator Championship night win by scoring the final night feature\npayday, his second feature win of the week and fourth overall of his career.\nHowever, Hoffman had accumulated enough points over the seven straight nights\nof racing to secure his third straight overall championship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heading into the 48th annual\nDIRTcar Nationals, Hoffman will once again lead the charge, with plenty of\ncompetition from two-time 2018 feature winners Strickler and Nicely. With a\nsingle win in 2018, Stremme will look to add to his totals and chase after his\nfirst DIRTcar Nationals title, while Clarklake, MI veteran Brian Ruhlman, who\nwent winless in 2018 after collecting single victories in 2017 and 2016, works\nto end a mini-slump and compete for his first championship at Volusia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two former NASCAR stars who\nalways make life difficult for the UMP Modified contingent are Schrader and\nKenny Wallace. Schrader has two career victories at the DIRTcar Nationals, but\nit\u2019s been a long time \u2014 six years to be exact \u2014 since the two-time DIRTcar\nNationals Champion (2013 & 2008) took the checkered flag. It\u2019s been even\nlonger for Wallace. After his three-win year of 2012, the Arnold, MO veteran\nhas gone winless at Volusia but is still tied for seventh all-time in career\nDIRTcar Nationals feature wins with four. He shares that mark with Strickler. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
NASCAR Xfinity Series star Justin\nAllgaier also has a single win at Volusia in 2016, and he would love to snap\nthat skid as his Daytona schedule allows. Two-time NASCAR Gander Mountain Truck\nSeries Champion Matt Crafton has made infrequent appearances at Volusia over\nthe years and is still in search of his first Gator. So is Stanley, NC rising\nstar Taylor Cook, a two-time winner in the Summit Racing Equipment Modified\nNationals, as that elusive first Volusia victory has also, so far, eluded him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After DIRTcar Nationals, the UMP\nModified teams turn their attention to the remainder of the 2019 racing season\nand the widely popular Summit Modified Nationals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n