2/16/2022
RacinBoys
Gustin wins emotional late model feature
By Mike Warren, DIRTcar PR (Barberville, FL) -- The Marshalltown, IA driver held off challenges from Devin Moran, Tim McCreadie, and Brandon Sheppard on the path to victory
Ryan Gustin came into DIRTcar Nationals with one mission— to win a race for his friend and sponsor Leon Ramirez.
The Marshalltown, IA driver accomplished that mission Tuesday at Volusia Speedway Park, holding off several challenges to grab the $7,000 payday and his first DIRTcar Nationals win.
Tears flowed from Gustin’s eyes as he spoke in Victory Lane, winning in honor of Ramirez, who passed away last Sunday.
“This one right here is for Leon Ramirez,” Gustin said. “He was a very good friend, a great sponsor, and this one’s for the whole Ramirez family. I wanted to win one really bad for them, and we did it. Hopefully, we can keep on doing it.”
Gustin charged through the field at the first green flag, driving from sixth to second in one lap. At that point, only Brandon Sheppard stood between him and the checkered flag.
A restart with 16 laps to go gave Gustin the opportunity he needed—setting up a battle for the top spot.
Gustin outran Sheppard and Tim McCreadie in the middle of an epic three-wide war, taking advantage through Turns 1 and 2 and thundering down the backstretch with the lead.
While a victory was close, Devin Moran hoped Gustin’s chances would slip away. The Dresden, OH driver used the bottom to try and pass him, but nothing stopped the Iowa campaigner from taking the checkered flag.
The emotional win also boosted Gustin’s confidence as his crew found something to build on.
“It feels really good,” Gustin said. “We’ve been working really hard; I think we stumbled upon some things that work really good. I just can’t thank everyone enough who’s behind this.”
Moran finished second, one night after a third-place run. After back-to-back podium finishes, he currently leads the chase for a “Big Gator” trophy. The defending DIRTcar Nationals Champion hoped Gustin would make a mistake but couldn’t get past him in the end.
“[Gustin] just did a good job,” Moran said. “I tried to get him to make a bigger mistake than what he did, but congratulations to them guys; I know it’s a big win for them.
“We’re just staying consistent; the car is just really, really good, and we just got to keep working on it. I can’t quite finish the corner, so there’s some things we need to work on.”
Tanner English crossed the line third, moving up eight spots from his eleventh starting position. The Benton, KY driver, stated the restarts were critical to his ascension through the field.
“The restarts helped out a bunch for me,” English said. “I knew I had a good car, but we just had to get close to them so I could pass them, and we just rolled around the bottom, and I didn’t see anyone else as low as I was.”
Ashton Winger finished fourth, and Tim McCreadie rounded out the top five.
Ryan Gustin accomplished the mission he set out for himself at DIRTcar Nationals—giving himself a boost of confidence along the way. It’s a win he’ll never forget, celebrating on the Volusia stage with Leon Ramirez smiling down.
The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series takes center stage for the rest of the week as the “Big Gator” quest continues. They’ll be joined on the card by the Super DIRTcar Series. For Tickets: CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online on with the DIRTVision App.
RESULTS
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[6]; 2. 9-Devin Moran[8]; 3. 99-Tanner English[11]; 4. 89-Ashton Winger[3]; 5. 39-Tim McCreadie[5]; 6. 44-Chris Madden[16]; 7. 17M-Dale McDowell[9]; 8. 1-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 9. 16-Tyler Bruening[25]; 10. 111V-Max Blair[18]; 11. 15-Donny Schatz[23]; 12. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[10]; 13. 18D-Daulton Wilson[13]; 14. 31-Tyler Millwood[1]; 15. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[17]; 16. 11-Gordy Gundaker[26]; 17. 157-Mike Marlar[12]; 18. 58-Mark Whitener[19]; 19. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[4]; 20. 76-Brandon Overton[14]; 21. 8-Kyle Strickler[22]; 22. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[15]; 23. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[7]; 24. 97C-Cody Overton[24]; 25. 3S-Brian Shirley[20]; 26. 25-Shane Clanton[21]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 58-Mark Whitener[1]; 2. 8-Kyle Strickler[3]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[12]; 4. 7-Ross Robinson[4]; 5. 18-Chase Junghans[10]; 6. 10-Garrett Smith[5]; 7. 97-Cade Dillard[7]; 8. 16-Tyler Bruening[11]; 9. 36-Logan Martin[8]; 10. 2-Dan Stone[9]; 11. 29-Darrell Lanigan[2]; 12. 38-Garrett Mosley[13]; 13. 30-Todd Cooney[6]
Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[2]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 3. 6-Nick Hoffman[5]; 4. 11H-Spencer Hughes[4]; 5. 45-Kyle Hammer[3]; 6. 14-Trey Mills[10]; 7. 130-Chase Osterhoff[7]; 8. 99B-Boom Briggs[11]; 9. 1R-Josh Richards[8]; 10. (DNS) 40B-Kyle Bronson; 11. (DNS) 94-Jason Miller; 12. (DNS) 14R-Reid Millard
Last Chance Showdown 3 (10 Laps): 1. 25-Shane Clanton[1]; 2. 97C-Cody Overton[2]; 3. 32-Chris Simpson[5]; 4. 11-Gordy Gundaker[3]; 5. 14M-Morgan Bagley[7]; 6. B1-Brent Larson[9]; 7. 25B-Mike Benedum[6]; 8. 33-Jeff Mathews[11]; 9. 0G-Deshawn Gingerich[10]; 10. 44B-Colten Burdette[4]; 11. 4G-Kody Evans[8]; 12. 22AD-Jacob Ulrich[12]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Tyler Millwood[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 3. 18D-Daulton Wilson[3]; 4. 58-Mark Whitener[8]; 5. 8-Kyle Strickler[4]; 6. 10-Garrett Smith[5]; 7. 97-Cade Dillard[7]; 8. 2-Dan Stone[6]; 9. 16-Tyler Bruening[10]; 10. 38-Garrett Mosley[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 89-Ashton Winger[2]; 2. 17M-Dale McDowell[4]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[5]; 4. 29-Darrell Lanigan[3]; 5. 7-Ross Robinson[1]; 6. 30-Todd Cooney[6]; 7. 36-Logan Martin[9]; 8. 18-Chase Junghans[7]; 9. 1T-Tyler Erb[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[2]; 2. 99-Tanner English[4]; 3. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[6]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 5. 45-Kyle Hammer[3]; 6. 6-Nick Hoffman[7]; 7. 130-Chase Osterhoff[9]; 8. 94-Jason Miller[5]; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs[8]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 9-Devin Moran[3]; 3. 76-Brandon Overton[4]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[5]; 5. 11H-Spencer Hughes[7]; 6. 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]; 7. 1R-Josh Richards[6]; 8. 14-Trey Mills[8]; 9. 14R-Reid Millard[9]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[1]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[3]; 3. 44-Chris Madden[4]; 4. 25-Shane Clanton[5]; 5. 11-Gordy Gundaker[7]; 6. 32-Chris Simpson[6]; 7. 14M-Morgan Bagley[8]; 8. B1-Brent Larson[2]; 9. 33-Jeff Mathews[9]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[4]; 3. 111V-Max Blair[1]; 4. 97C-Cody Overton[6]; 5. 44B-Colten Burdette[3]; 6. 25B-Mike Benedum[5]; 7. 4G-Kody Evans[7]; 8. 0G-Deshawn Gingerich[8]; 9. 22AD-Jacob Ulrich[9]
Group A Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 8-Kyle Strickler, 00:16.156[22]; 2. 17M-Dale McDowell, 00:16.224[13]; 3. 99-Tanner English, 00:16.299[4]; 4. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 00:16.306[23]; 5. 29-Darrell Lanigan, 00:16.355[19]; 6. 45-Kyle Hammer, 00:16.364[14]; 7. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:16.426[2]; 8. 89-Ashton Winger, 00:16.430[24]; 9. 39-Tim McCreadie, 00:16.472[6]; 10. 31-Tyler Millwood, 00:16.473[28]; 11. 7-Ross Robinson, 00:16.491[1]; 12. 15-Donny Schatz, 00:16.503[27]; 13. 10-Garrett Smith, 00:16.510[8]; 14. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 00:16.514[25]; 15. 94-Jason Miller, 00:16.525[16]; 16. 2-Dan Stone, 00:16.537[18]; 17. 30-Todd Cooney, 00:16.574[20]; 18. 76N-Blair Nothdurft, 00:16.600[12]; 19. 97-Cade Dillard, 00:16.686[9]; 20. 18-Chase Junghans, 00:16.693[21]; 21. 6-Nick Hoffman, 00:16.728[10]; 22. 58-Mark Whitener, 00:16.769[7]; 23. 1T-Tyler Erb, 00:16.831[11]; 24. 99B-Boom Briggs, 00:16.881[15]; 25. 38-Garrett Mosley, 00:16.973[5]; 26. 36-Logan Martin, 00:17.041[3]; 27. 130-Chase Osterhoff, 00:17.211[17]; 28. 16-Tyler Bruening, 00:17.445[26]
Group B Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 76-Brandon Overton, 00:15.994[9]; 2. 44-Chris Madden, 00:16.009[3]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar, 00:16.117[27]; 4. 9-Devin Moran, 00:16.244[25]; 5. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:16.361[12]; 6. 44B-Colten Burdette, 00:16.422[8]; 7. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:16.458[7]; 8. B1-Brent Larson, 00:16.461[14]; 9. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:16.465[15]; 10. 1-Brandon Sheppard, 00:16.472[23]; 11. 46-Earl Pearson Jr, 00:16.494[6]; 12. 111V-Max Blair, 00:16.501[20]; 13. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:16.534[4]; 14. 25-Shane Clanton, 00:16.540[17]; 15. 25B-Mike Benedum, 00:16.672[1]; 16. 1R-Josh Richards, 00:16.717[13]; 17. 32-Chris Simpson, 00:16.764[22]; 18. 97C-Cody Overton, 00:16.787[18]; 19. 11H-Spencer Hughes, 00:16.790[26]; 20. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 00:16.812[19]; 21. 4G-Kody Evans, 00:16.885[5]; 22. 14-Trey Mills, 00:16.967[21]; 23. 14M-Morgan Bagley, 00:17.015[2]; 24. 0G-Deshawn Gingerich, 00:17.308[24]; 25. 14R-Reid Millard, 00:17.323[16]; 26. 33-Jeff Mathews, 00:17.348[11]; 27. 22AD-Jacob Ulrich, 00:18.894[10]
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
