World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Rust knocked off, Gustin chasing Volusia success
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Ryan Gustin at Central Arizona Raceway. (mikerueferphotos.photoreflect.com)
Ryan Gustin left the Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout at Casa Grande, Ariz.’s Central Arizona Raceway encouraged by his performance being one of six drivers to lead laps in the miniseries, capped by two podium finishes and five straight top-eight results.
That kind of start to the year provides the Todd Cooney Motorsports operation and Infinity Chassis-backed team something to build upon ahead of Thursday’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series season-opening Sunshine Nationals at Barberville, Fla.’s Volusia Speedway Park.
“I mean, absolutely. I don’t think, like, we’re in rough shape,” the 35-year-old Gustin said over the weekend about Georgia-Florida Speedweeks. “Obviously Volusia is a whole different animal than this place, but at the same time, like I said before we came out here, it’s just more or less knocking the rust off instead of sitting for a month-and-a-half, two months, whatever it is for you.
“Before you get to Volusia you're already kind of in race shape and whatnot by the time you get there. Ball’s already rolling. That'll be a huge help, too, I feel like.”
Unfortunately for Gustin, his miniseries in the desert ended with a thud as transmission issues sidelined the Marshalltown, Iowa, driver on lap 25 of Sunday’s 50-lap finale. Gustin knows nights like those must be kept to a minimum this season should he take the next step in his steadily-growing Dirt Late Model career, one that’s evolved from a borderline top-five driver in the WoO standings to a top-three points finisher and crown jewel winner in 2025.
“Absolutely. I mean, your bad nights need to be a, you know, a 12th or 15th once every month, if that, or less than that, really, to have a shot,” Gustin said. “When the guys are running in the top-five every night, if you have a bad one, it's easier to lose, you know, sight of them in a hurry, points-wise. You gotta be on it every night, and then, you know, minimize the bad nights.”
Gustin busted out of the gate impressively last year, reeling off a pair of WoO victories over the tour’s opening eight events, including a season-opening Sunshine Nationals victory at Volusia. His second victory came March 22 at Swainsboro (Ga.) Raceway, drawing within 30 points of Bobby Pierce, who also had two victories to show for, heading into April.
But then Gustin went 18 series races between touring victories, slipping outside of the WoO title hunt until his next triumph July 28 at Wilmot (Wis.) Raceway. Rekindling momentum, Gustin carried that race-winning speed into his biggest victory to date in Aug. 2’s $100,000 USA Nationals.
He also bagged a $50,000 payday in Oct. 11’s Bayou Classic at Boothill Speedway in Greenwood, La., before season’s end. Rightfully so, Gustin feels he’s in another contending position entering his sixth season on the WoO circuit, as long as there’s consistency to back it up. Although his five victories ranked tied for third on the tour in 2025, his 14 top-fives fell short of Pierce’s 27 and Hoffman’s 24 in that category.
Gustin’s well aware of his competition, too, which has heightened with the addition of Tyler Erb on the tour and Tim McCreadie’s return to prominence of sorts, the 2006 WoO champion who rattled off six tour victories last season.
“Honestly, none of you guys really talk about right now, is Tim McCreadie,” Gustin said. “He’s going to be tough. When he switched chassis brands there (to Longhorn), he was coming. So he's obviously going to be a big factor in it also. But yeah, I definitely feel like we're right there. Like, obviously, after Cedar Lake, we struggled for two months. That really took us out of contention, but we just, we got to not struggle, and I feel like, yes, we'll be right there with it.”
Gustin’s best chance to win at Arizona’s Wild West Shootout was in Friday’s 30-lap feature when he paced the opening 11 circuits. Looking to expand his notebook before Speedweeks, the Iowa driver admitted he stepped a little too far outside the box when searching for more speed.
“I messed the car up a little bit, honestly, for the feature. It’s kind of a test session too, you know, to a certain extent, getting ready for the Florida, which that was all on me,” Gustin said, explaining his backslide out of the lead in Jan. 16’s feature at Central Arizona in which he finished third. “It is what it is, I guess, but that's kind of why we're out here too at the same time as to learn and try to be the best we can be going into Florida.
“I didn't feel like I had a winning race car really from the drop of the green, just bottoming out pretty bad, sheer loose. Just not exactly balanced where we need to be. I mean, we're not real far off. I'm not trying to complain because third’s not bad, but at the end of the day, we're still here to win, too.”
Behind Gustin this year is newly hired 24-year-old crew chief Nicholas Carpenter along with familiar faces on the wrenches in Noah Bushman and Josh Murray. Carpenter previously worked with Gustin in 2023 at Dave Steine’s Tri Star Promotions team and spent the last two seasons crewing for Ethan Dotson at ASD Motorsports.
This is Carpenter’s debut opportunity as head wrench and Gustin believes he’s more than qualified for the position.
"He's always lightens the mood,” Gustin said. “He was with me in 2023, so it's nice to have him back. Like I said, we're looking forward to the rest of the year for sure.”
Bushman has been Gustin’s tire specialist since his modified days, while Murray returns for a third straight season with Cooney Motorsports. Murray, however, couldn’t make the trip to last week’s Wild West Shootout after his house caught fire.
The Hartford, Iowa, crewman did make the trip with Gustin’s Cooney-owned team this weekend at Volusia as they look for another victory at the speedy half-mile to open the WoO season.
“They had an unfortunate deal. Right before we left, he was working on a vehicle and ended up catching fire and it was attached garage to the house, and it ended up getting the house, too,” Gustin said. “So, like I said, obviously, just glad no one's injured on that deal and looking forward to having him back, too.”
