GREENWOOD, Neb. -- At last year’s Silver Dollar Nationals, Ryan Gustin made his Late Model debut at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood. On Saturday, the 22-year-old driver from Marshalltown, Iowa, was poised to celebrate his first-year Late Model anniversary with the most dramatic of victories.
But before arm-waving fans could even wrap their minds around Gustin’s improbable, thrilling charge from the 34th starting spot and into the lead, his chances at a $27,000 payday in Nebraska’s richest Dirt Late Model event vanished.
A storybook finish for the modified ace in a big purse Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event was cut short when he collided with the slower-running Kyle Berck in turns three and four, triggering a wreck that left Gustin’s No. 19r Gressel Racing machine with nosepiece damage that virtually ended his race.
That gave Jimmy Owens — another modified standout who turned out to be a pretty good Late Model driver — the lead and eventual victory, and the Newport, Tenn., driver and two-time Lucas Oil Series champion admitted being “a little lucky” with Gustin’s demise.
“That’s tough luck, you know, man,” Owens said. “That guy was running good. He’s a pretty talented driver and you hear a lot about him here and there.”
Third-place finisher and Lucas Oil Series points leader John Blankenship was also impressed by Gustin’s gangbusters charge from his 17th-row starting spot and into the lead on lap 47 of the 80-lap feature.
“He had a missile out there,” said Blankenship, who had taken note of Gustin’s talents in the weekend’s United State Modified Touring Series action. “I hated to see him go out.”
For Gustin, the night didn’t end in victory lane but back at the team’s trailer where dozens of fans dropped by to see the wunderkind of the Silver Dollar Nationals. And while he was disappointed, the thrill of overtaking some of Dirt Late Model racing’s top drivers — think Owens, Billy Moyer, Scott Bloomquist, Earl Pearson Jr., Don O’Neal and Jimmy Mars — wasn’t lost on him.
“It’s awesome, man,” Gustin said. “When you can go out there and race and pass and pass, that’s something to be proud of.
“I knew we were going to be pretty good right out of the gate up top, but I wasn’t so sure if we’d be all right when the top went away — but it never really did go away, so I think we’d have been all right, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
After taking the lead from Owens on lap 47 by driving under him in turn three, Gustin didn’t let off the gas in stretching his lead. But in using a similar move he’d used throughout the race — driving hard into turn three and sliding in front of his competitors — while trying to put Berck a lap down, Gustin made a race-ending mistake. He said he anticipated Berck running higher on the track.
“I was watching him and he ran the top every lap, and I was going to go in there and put a slide job on him,” Gustin said. “When Jimmy Owens is behind you, you’ve gotta go — there ain’t no waiting around. (Berck)� just cut 'er to the bottom and that was the end of it.”
Gustin gamely stayed on the track and out front for the next restart, but it was obvious his nosepiece and related damage would cause aerodynamic nightmares. Indeed, he skittered up the banking in turn one to give up the lead immediately, scraping the wall before slowing and pulling to the infield pits.
While greeting his fans afterwards, he did his best to take away positives on a night when car owner Ed Gressel missed the race after being hospitalized.
“I can’t think all the fans coming out enough, all these (crew members) have worked their butts off on these cars to get ’em ready,” Gustin said. “I wish the boss man could be here. Hopefully I guess he will be soon.”
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