CONCORD, N.C. — Of the nearly 60 drivers competing to make the 21-car field in the World Short Track Challenge at Riverside Int’l Speedway, several star names found themselves watching from the stands – Seth Bergman, Matt Covington, Terry Gray and more.
One name not on that list? Austyn Gossel.
“If you were to choose anybody in the field, I was probably going to be the last one they would choose to make the feature,” said Gossel, who finished 16th in the 40-lap, $10,000-to-win affair. “We just had a really good car all weekend.”
The event didn’t get off to an ideal start for him on Friday with a B-Main exit, but the No. 16g team kept working at it until late in the Saturday program when they found themselves right where they needed to be.
“I didn’t get timed in good enough [on Friday] to be higher up in points and I think that really screwed us in the end,” Gossel said. “Then, I had a really good Heat Race. I went sixth to third, that gave me good points. Then, the B Main, I just missed the setup completely and got run over and messed up the nose wing, and that made it really hard to pass anybody.
“Going into the second night, we had a really good car. I had a bad start on the first start of the heat race, but then I was able to run them down, which I wasn’t really expecting. I had a really, really good car then and I probably just needed another lap or two and I probably could have got by them. It still set me up good in points. I started third in the B Main and finished second, and then in the Feature it was just hard to pass.
“I haven’t really been good in slick lately, that’s one thing we’re really going to need to step up on is being good late in the race instead of early. Cause it don’t pay nothing in the Heat Race.”
It’s all part of the learning process for the Windsor, Colo., driver, who is nearing the end of his first full season on the American Sprint Car Series National Tour. He hasn’t had to learn the ropes alone though, as Gossel emphasized the importance of having fellow competitors on tour willing to lend a hand.
“Having Hank [Davis] is a big help, we’ve been really good buddies ever since he started driving [for TwoC Racing],” Gossel said. “We talk about where I’m doing good and where I’m doing bad. Having him has really helped me confidence-wise and be a better driver at the end. He tells me where I’m good at and where I’m not good at, where I need to be and where I shouldn’t be.
“Even me and Zach Blurton, we’ve become really good friends this year. We talk to each other basically after every time we hit the track. Like, ‘Well, we tried this, and this didn’t really work out, we did this, and we didn’t really like that.’ Getting all these good people around me has really helped us out a lot.”
Gossel’s situation is different than the other rookies on tour as he and father, Bryan Gossel, make up the only two-car team on the National Tour.
“It has its pros and cons,” Gossel said. “We have our own way of doing things, me and Ryan have ours set up differently. Me and my dad run two different setups. He likes his a little tighter. I like mine a little looser.
“We weren’t going to be running two cars out of one rig like we had been the past three years, so [Bryan] decided to venture in and get himself a different setup, which has helped out a lot, stress level-wise.”
However, Gossel Racing has dropped down to a single-car effort after Bryan stepped out of the car due to injuries suffered in a crash at Arrowhead Speedway in September. While Austyn certainly misses having his dad on track with him, it has allowed the team to focus 100% of their efforts on the No. 16G, which has paid dividends toward Austyn’s performance.
“[Bryan’s] pretty good at reading the car,” Gossel said. “We talk about it every time the car’s off the track. What I should have done better, what I think the car needs. Having him just be able to focus on that has really helped me confidence-wise and performance-wise.”
Having his dad as his full-time crew chief hasn’t been the only factor in Gossel’s uptick in speed though. His engine program has also taken a turn for the better after a trying season filled with trouble.
“We’ve got this new motor program going out for us, I’m really liking this new piece we’ve got,” Gossel said. “I think it’s stepped up our program. I went through a spurt where I went through three motors in six weeks. I was out of motors, so this was our last-ditch effort to finish out the year.”
Entering the season, Gossel had a goal in mind of finishing top 10 in the final standings. Seven months later, he finds himself in the 11th spot, 111 points behind Terry Easum with six races left to make his original goal a reality.
“My expectations for this year were really not much, but I kind of had a goal, 10th in points would be reasonable for us,” Gossel said. “And we’re just right outside of 10th. We’ve been battling with Terry Easum quite a bit. Hopefully, if these next couple of weekends go good, I think we might have a shot.”