NEW RICHMOND, Wis. — Ryan Gustin continues to win in a spectacular fashion with the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models.
The Marshalltown, Iowa, driver closed out a doubleheader Friday for the 37th annual USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway by triumphing in a duel among four-time series champion Brandon Sheppard and Jonathan Davenport.
Davenport began the night with the early lead while multiple championship contenders suffered issues. Bobby Pierce and Cade Dillard collided off turn four, and then Nick Hoffman suffered a flat right-rear tire under the same caution while running third.
When the restart ensued, Davenport hopped out to the lead while Sheppard and Brian Shirley worked to close the gap on the driver of the No. 49 Nutrien Ag Solutions late model with traffic in sight of the three drivers.
Then, Gustin came into the picture after gathering a charge from his ninth-place starting spot in the Feature to climb his way up toward the three drivers with 10 laps to go.
While Sheppard got by Davenport for the lead, Gustin worked his way around Shirley to create a three-horse battle for the Friday night win.
Using the lapped traffic to his advantage, Gustin slid by Davenport with five laps to go, then got creative, making an opening in traffic to craft a clear lane for the driver of the No.19r Todd Cooney Racing machine to battle Sheppard for the win.
Using a mix of the low lane, then crossing high to cut Sheppard out of leading, Gustin took the lead with two laps to go while the drivers continued to try anything left on the track to solidify their chance of winning.
As the checkered flag flew on the second Feature race of the day, “The Reaper” earned his third World of Outlaws CASE Late Models win of the season through trials and tribulations that he’ll have to face again to win $50,000 on Saturday night.
“I didn’t want to enter wherever they were,” Gustin said. “When one went high and one went low, I’d go right through the middle and hoped the lapped cars held them up enough. I noticed we closed in quick once the lapped traffic hit, and just not try to stuff it in the fence.
“Tonight was a big dash race for us, I don’t you’re gonna see that type of pace early (Saturday) night, but you gotta be there for the last 25 laps. The fans are in for a hell of a show, and I can’t wait to get going.”
While Sheppard wanted to finish the night with his fourth series win of the season on Friday, the gasser of the No. B5 Dude Wipes Sheppard Riggs Racing Longhorn Factory Team late model extended the points gap between himself and Hoffman to 48 points entering Saturday night’s $50,000-to-win showdown at Cedar Lake.
“We got a good balance under our car,” Sheppard said. “We just gotta do the best we can to make the right judgement calls. Hopefully, we have a good setup for (Saturday) to keep it consistent. Definitely let one slip away there. We’re thinking about the points, but you wanna win these races at the end of the day. We get to learn from our mistakes tonight and go try again (on Saturday).”
Davenport finished the night with a third-place result.
“A lot of the traffic was high or low, and the middle was rough for us,” Davenport said. “We were all trying to find the holes to get through. I thought I had good pace there, but they caught me faster than I realized. Those guys came through and showed me where I needed to be, and I couldn’t get back in front of them in time. We learned a lot about our car and about the race track. It’s definitely a different Cedar Lake than what I’m accustomed to, but we’ll take it in stride and be a little bit better (Saturday).”
Shirley brought home a fourth-place finish and Ricky Thornton Jr. wrapped up the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[9]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[13]; 6. 19-Dustin Sorensen[11]; 7. 71-Hudson O’Neal[14]; 8. 10-Garrett Smith[5]; 9. 74X-Ethan Dotson[12]; 10. 25-Jason Feger[10]; 11. 97JR-Cody Overton[26]; 12. 18C-Chase Junghans[19]; 13. 40B-Kyle Bronson[23]; 14. 18-Shannon Babb[17]; 15. 9-Nick Hoffman[3]; 16. 97-Cade Dillard[8]; 17. 32-Bobby Pierce[6]; 18. 16-Tyler Bruening[18]; 19. 1T-Tyler Erb[20]; 20. 57-Mike Marlar[22]; 21. 1-Tim McCreadie[7]; 22. 77-Jordan Yaggy[21]; 23. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[24]; 24. B1-Brent Larson[25]; 25. 31-Kye Blight[16]; 26. 22*-Max McLaughlin[15]