Thursday, February 9, 2023

Gustin Finds Victory Lane as East Bay Rolls On

 The Winter Nationals for the Lucas Oil Late Model Series would continue on Wednesday night, February 8th and for the third straight night, a new winner would emerge. Iowa's Ryan Gustin would produce the dominating run on Wednesday, leading thirty nine of forty laps to get the win as he held off Tyler Erb and Kyle Bronson to record the seven thousand dollar win. While Gustin would lead the majority of the main event, he had one hiccup following a restart when he let Bronson slide under him to take over the top spot but Gustin then recovered to retake the lead and hold the top spot the rest of the way. 

The spectacular weather continued on Wednesday with nary a cloud in the sky and temperatures hovering just at the eighty degree mark. As he reach the midpoint of this week's racing, the car count would elevate to its highest point yet as sixty five drivers would sign in to race, meaning that sixty per cent of the drivers in the pits would not make the main event. Jimmy Owens and Brandon Overton(in their own cars), along with Jonathan Davenport would make their first starts of the week. Also entering for the first time was Stormy Scott who just arrived and Brandon Sheppard's father Steve, would take one of Brandon's cars, re letter it to his own #5s, and race on Wednesday. About the only driver in the pits who hasn't put his car on the track yet has been Shane Clanton but that is expected to change by Thursday. 

The light issue from last night was rectified although the other Musco light outside turn four wasn't working on this night so I'm not sure if they had to borrow from one pole to get the other one working. That light, however, wasn't near as key to illuminating the track. One of the portable lights inside turn one was still operating with the others positions just in case they were needed, which they weren't. A flatbed load of three more portable lights was trucked in on Wednesday afternoon and placed back in the dark corners of the pits to replace the ones that were pirated for the Tuesday night emergency.

As they continue to search to find the right mixture of water on the track to return the "old East Bay", they really had the track slopped up tonight. One had to feel sorry for the old time cars that come in to do the track prep as they were heavily layered with sloppy mud as they rolled the track. All cars were again required to roll the track and when it gets wet like this, for some reason Lucas officials feel they have to run double sets of hot laps for the Late Models, as if the quickest time in hot laps was worth anything. What it does do is negate much of their efforts to get more moisture into the track by all the extra hot laps and the end result was minimal at best. Once again, the vast majority of the racing was done right on the bottom of the track and while a couple drivers entertained the crowd by pounding the cushion, they really didn't gain much from it while beating the stuffing's out of their equipment. Perhaps the biggest story of the week so far and one that even the "experts" are having trouble answering is, "What has become of the old East Bay we knew.?"

There was quite a shakeup in time trials though, as under dogs Jensen Ford and Blair Nothdurft would be quick timers in the two groups, with Ford quickest overall at 15.001 seconds. Ford, however, wouldn't even make the feature as he finished out of the top three in his heat and hammered the wall in a B Feature. Nothdurft would squeeze by with a third place run in his heat to make the show. 

Six heats and three B Features would set the running order for the main event with Mike Spatola and Ross Robinson earning the provisional starting spots and twenty six drivers starting the main.  

Gustin would start on the pole and take the early lead as Tyler Erb tried the outside right at the start but found himself fading so he tucked in line behind Kyle Bronson. Only six laps would be completed before Benji Hicks would clobber "The Dreaded Infield Tractor Tire" in turn one, nearly tearing the whole front end off his car. 

Gustin would continue to lead on the restart with Bronson and Erb following while Jonathan Davenport, Garrett Smith and Brandon Overton would trade the fifth spot. By the halfway point of the race, the top five were pretty settled in with Smith getting moved back in the order by Davenport and Overton. 

The only change in the leadership of the race would be following a lap twenty one yellow when Logan Roberson would slow on the track. On the restart, Gustin would slip off the bottom and Bronson would dive under him to nose ahead. Gustin then probably made the move of the race as he moved to the outside of Kyle, drove in into turn one very hard where the car stuck and he was able to power back around Bronson to regain the lead, after which he dove back to the bottom. 

There was one more late yellow with only two laps to go but with a single file restart, it was up to Gustin to just protect the bottom and that's what he did to take the win. Erb had played on occasion with trying to work the high side and one of those attempts allowed him to nose ahead of Bronson for second before he dove back to the low side and he would take the runner up slot. 

Much of the late race entertainment was provided by Brandon Sheppard who decided to run the top side, come Hell or High Water. It did work to a point as he was able to gain a few positions late in the race but it was a rough ride, as he indicated following the race. However, he was never a threat to make that top side work to the top three and his run was more for entertainment purposes for the crowd, who are starving to see some rim riding work. Sheppard would end up fourth behind Bronson with Davenport completing the top five. Only six drivers weren't on the track at the finish and all were on the lead lap. 

Track officials made a nice recovery as with all the packing and hot lapping before qualifying, the first race didn't hit the track until 7:55 pm while the rest of the show was completed in less than two hours. Another huge early week crowd was on hand with the combination of great weather and the imminent closing of East Bay both likely factors.  

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