Paragon Speedway
Better qualifying, better results for Gustin
By Bryan Ault
Special to DirtonDirt
Ryan Gustin (joshjamesartwork.com)
PARAGON, Ind. (April 18) — Qualifying up front often leads to staying up front, and that’s precisely what Ryan Gustin of Marshalltown, Iowa, did during Friday's Northern Allstars Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Marvin O’Neal Memorial. | RaceWire
Snatching the lead from polesitter and fast qualifier Tyler Erb of New Waverly, Texas on the first lap, he paced the field to take home the checkered flag and a $10,071 payday in a caution-plagued 50-lap feature. Gustin, who captured his first victory in seventh months, was able to stay in the track’s upper groove and keep Erb, Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill. and a hard-charging Josh Rice of Crittenden, Ky. at bay.
“It’s a heck of a racetrack, man,” the 35-year-old Gustin said in victory lane. “I feel like you could race all over. It’s kind of top dominant, but the same for everybody. It was a fun racing little joint.”
The victory at Paragon was Gustin’s second win in three trips to the high-banked track with long straightaways and tight turns that’s better known as a sprint-car track. Gustin's first victory at the 3/8-mile oval was an Ultimate Heart of America Series win in 2023. The paper-clip oval had some familiarity of the Hawkeye State driver.
“I guess it kind of fits my style I grew up on, you know, kind of bigger, half-miles, a tight-corner type of deal,” the World of Outlaws Late Model Series regular said in a postrace interview. “It’s just kind of a scaled-down deal on what I grew up on, I guess. I don't know, for some reason, it fits my style. It's kind of got the same progressive banking to it. It's just a little wider, and longer corners, I guess, but a little shorter.”
“This one, any time you win a memorial race, is always special for sure,” Gustin said. “Knowing the O'Neal family and stuff, you know, to win Hudson's grandpa's race and Don's father's race is pretty special.”
The win was also Gustin’s first since a $50,000 triumph at the Bayou Classic at Boothill Speedway in Greenwood, La., last October, providing a big relief for the longtime modified ace who made his foray into the full-fendered division in 2021.
“It feels really good,” Gustin said. “You know, we've had a pretty rough year, really, so we've been able to get our first one the year. It feels pretty good. The biggest thing, I feel like, is we can't qualify and then when we do qualify, we don't capitalize on it like we need to, you know? We'll start on the front and go backwards, and these races are tough to win from 15th anymore. Like, if you get a top-five from 15th, it was a really good night. So, we’ve got to get that part better. We obviously qualified good tonight, won our heat race and won the feature. That's what you to do. You got to start up front with these deals for sure.”
“I’ve just got to keep working,” added Gustin, whose shifter linkage broke after the race, requiring his car to get a push to victory lane. “We was putting in a lot of hours this week, working on this thing and just making sure everything was right and where it needed to be, and obviously, we had some things fall off or what, but as far as the making the race car faster part, you know, it is what we really focused on.”
Gustin hopes to take his momentum back to the World of Outlaws circuit. He's sixth in the WoO series points, just behind Erb, and trails points leader Nick Hoffman of Mooresville, N.C. by 178 points. Gustin has four top-fives in national touring competition, but hasn’t started up front as often as he’d like.
Qualifying up front Friday was key for Gustin, and he’s hopeful that trend continues in WoO competition next weekend at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Ala.
“That's what I was thinking about earlier, after qualifying, is really this place, you know, you kind of qualify here like Talladega,” he said. “It's kind of almost the same shape and stuff as Talladega, just maybe a little longer straightaways. I think we definitely got something when we go back there.”
He’s also eager to revisit ovals in the upper Midwest, including upcoming WoO trips to Independence (Iowa) Motor Speedway and Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wis., to conclude April. Those are tracks where he had extensive modified experience. Gustin is hopeful the victory at Paragon will swing momentum in his favor.
“I'm looking forward to obviously going to Fountain City,” he said. “That's one of my better racetracks, I feel like, and then we got to swing up through Iowa. You know, I got laps at those places where a lot of guys don't. Granted, it's maybe not been in a Late Model. It's been 100 years ago, it feels like, but laps are laps.”
