WHEATLAND, Mo. — Ryan Gustin’s domination of the Lucas Oil MLRA Fall Nationals continued Friday night at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Gustin, of Marshalltown, Iowa, beat Chris Simpson — just as did on Thursday – to pick up another $5,000 prize. Gustin will go for the sweep on Saturday night with $10,000 at stake while Simpson, and others, try to turn the tables.
“This would have been two wins for us if Ryan would have stayed home,” 10th-starting Chris Simpson said with a chuckle. “But we’ll take it. He’s a hell of a racer and he’s proven this year that he’s the best of the best.”
Gustin earned his 12th overall feature win of the season and his 12th career Lucas Oil MLRA victory. Half of those MLRA wins have come at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Gustin took the lead from Chad Simpson on lap 13 and dominated the 30-lapper from there, winning by 5.37 seconds over Chris Simpson in a race that had only one caution, on lap seven.
“Hats off to everybody that helps out on this deal,” Gustin said. “We did some things tonight that we’d never done before and didn’t know if it was going to work or not. We figured we might as well see if it works tonight versus trying for $10,000 tomorrow.
“We might have went a little bit too far and might back off it just a little bit. The car was good. The Infinity Chassis is on rails the Jay Dickens motor is running smooth.”
The fourth-starting Gustin took over second from Stormy Scott on lap three and was a half-second behind early leader, pole-starting Chad Simpson as the Late Model action got going.
Sailing around the oval on the high side, Simpson led by .425 seconds over Gustin when caution flew on lap seven after Payton Looney walloped the wall in turn four while running fifth.
As action resumed, Chad Simpson regained his modest margin over Gustin with sixth-starting Tyler Kuykendall up to third. Gustin nearly took the lead on lap 11 with a daring slider in turns three and four, but wound up having to regroup.
“He was good,” Gustin said of Chad Simpson. “I about put it through the fence there with that slider. I didn’t know if it was gonna stick or not, but it did.”
Gustin finally took over the lead on lap 13, going past Simpson on the inside of turn two when the race-long leader slipped a bit high. Once in front, it didn’t take Gustin long to drive away. He opened a three-second lead by lap 18 and, with the race remaining caution-free, was clear by 4.059 seconds by lap 25.
Gustin kept pouring it on to outdistance Chris Simpson by nearly a straightaway by the finish with Chad Simpson falling back to third.
“When your car is that good, it makes it easy as the driver,” Gustin said.
Chad Simpson enjoyed a solid points night with his third-place finish. Justin Wells was fourth and Kuykendall fifth.
“It’s way better than probably the last five races we’ve had,” Chad Simpson said. “We’re getting our stride back. We’re getting closer, but still just a tick off. Ryan comes in here and he’s one of the best out there right now. We’re close. We’re not far off.”
Chad Simpson was able to increase his points lead from 55 points to 90 in the MLRA title chase over Tony Jackson Jr., who was ninth.
Gary Clark and Terry Schultz nailed down front-row starting positions for the Super Stocks Big Buck 50 Presented by Whitetail Trophy Hunt main event.
Clark captured the Steve Scott Concrete Dash, featuring first and second-place finishers from the first four heat races held on Friday. Clark’s win over Jacob Rexing earned him the inside starting spot on row one.
The finish:
Feature – 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[4]; 2. 32-Chris Simpson[10]; 3. 25-Chad Simpson[1]; 4. 49W-Justin Wells[8]; 5. 15T-Tyler Kuykendall[6]; 6. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[7]; 7. 2S-Stormy Scott[2]; 8. 93-Mason Oberkramer[5]; 9. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[15]; 10. 8-Dillon McCowan[11]; 11. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[9]; 12. 22H-Dustin Hodges[12]; 13. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[21]; 14. 11-Jeff Herzog[18]; 15. 2T-Tyler Stevens[13]; 16. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[20]; 17. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[17]; 18. 1XMJ-Matt Johnson[16]; 19. 29-Keith Hammett[22]; 20. 78S-Steve Stultz[23]; 21. (DNF) 36M-Logan Martin[14]; 22. (DNF) 31C-Cole Henson[19]; 23. (DNF) 15L-Payton Looney[3]; 24. (DNF) 67-Jimmy Vanzandt[24]