SWAINSBORO, Ga. — Last year, the story of Ryan Gustin’s season was how he struggled to find his rhythm until the second half of the campaign.
He wasn’t going to let that be the narrative again in 2025.
With eight World of Outlaws Late Models races in the books, “The Reaper” became a two-time winner this season with a victory in the Battle of the Crossroads finale Saturday night at Swainsboro Raceway.
“Confidence is extremely high. I feel like we’ve got the best team in the country right now,” Gustin said. “These guys work their butts off day in and day out, car owner gives us everything we need. Definitely can’t thank these guys enough for everything they do for us.”
Gustin started the race from the outside of row two behind Drake Troutman and Garrett Smith. Troutman won the drag race to Turn 1, while third-starting Ashton Winger got to his inside exiting Turn 2.
After racing side-by-side for more than a lap, Troutman broke away to the early lead until a caution three laps in reset the field. Gustin got around Winger on the outside entering Turn 1 on the restart before switching to the inside lane to go to work on Troutman. One lap later, Gustin cleared the No. 22* exiting Turn 2 to take over the top spot.
Gustin’s gap to the field quickly grew to two seconds 10 laps in, but then closed back to within a second once the No. 19r caught slower traffic. Gustin’s advantage evaporated entirely when Trey Mills slowed in Turns 3 and 4 to pause the race 18 laps in, but Gustin took full advantage of the clean air after the restart in rebuilding a gap.
One more yellow flag flew with six to go to give the field one last chance at Gustin, but the Marshalltown, Iowa, driver would not be denied, as he powered away once again on the way to his 12th win in the series.
Despite this weekend being Gustin’s debut at Swainsboro, the Midwesterner instantly clicked with the Georgia facility and walked away with a pair of podium finishes. After entering the weekend fourth in the standings, Gustin is now tied with Nick Hoffman for second, 30 points behind Bobby Pierce.
“As far as keeping the race car in the race track, steering and all of the above, that’s what you’ve got to have at these southern race tracks,” Gustin said. “You’ve got to be able to keep the right-rear under you and still steer it through somewhat of a push, and we were able to do that all weekend.”
While he was unable to run down Gustin in the late stages, Winger was able to hold onto second to obliterate his previous season-best of 17th from Friday night and turn his season around after a dismal start.
“From the beginning of the year, I wasn’t even fast enough to get an emergency provisional,” Winger said. “I could make a little time down [in Turns 1 and 2] when I would hit it right or he would get it wrong. It got kind of tight over there leaving 2, the way the wall comes at you here, it goes from three lanes to one and a half. Figured I needed a good run, tried to use my head.”
Behind them, Pierce charged up from 10th to third for his third-straight World of Outlaws podium. All three of those runs came at southern racetracks outside of Pierce’s comfort zone, which gives the 2023 series champion a wave of confidence heading back into familiar territory.
“I’m super happy with a first, first and third on this swing,” Pierce said. “If I could have ran some top fives, I would have been like ‘alright, that’s pretty good, I’ll take it.’ Definitely pretty excited to get back to racing around home and some tracks that we know.”
Troutman came home fourth at the end of 50 laps, while Hoffman rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Ryan Gustin, Ashton Winger, Bobby Pierce, Drake Troutman, Nick Hoffman, Dennis Erb Jr., Tim McCreadie, Dustin Sorensen, Dalton Cook, Jimmy Owens, Michael Page, Tanner English, Sam Seawright, Trey Mills, Ethan Dotson, Daniel Adam, Jake Timm, Max Blair, Tristan Chamberlain, Brian Shirley, Brent Larson, Kyle Bronson, Cody Overton, Cory Hedgecock, Garrett Smith, Austin Smith.
