October 4, 2024 | By Lyndal Scranton

Gustin outduels Chris Simpson for Night 1 victory at Lucas Oil MLRA Fall Nationals at Lucas Oil Speedway

WHEATLAND, Mo. — Ryan Gustin regained the lead for good on lap 21 and held off Chris Simpson over the final nine laps to find victory lane Thursday night in the Lucas Oil Speedway Fall Nationals opener at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Gustin, of Marshalltown, Iowa, picked up $5,000 for his 11th career MLRA feature win, five of which have come at Lucas Oil Speedway. He beat Simpson, of Oxford, Iowa, by half a second with local weekly track champion Justin Wells of Aurora improving 10 positions to capture third.

"It's a love-hate relationship here," Gustin said of his Lucas Oil Speedway MLRA history. "Sometimes we're almost unstoppable here and other times we don't make the show. Hopefully, we can just keep it rolling and be here the rest of the weekend."

The 8th annual Super Stocks Big Buck 50 Presented by Whitetail Trophy Hunt also got going Thursday night with practice and time trials to set the lineup for heat races and two dash races on Friday night. The MLRA also will have another full program on Friday, paying $5,000 to win.

Both divisions will wrap things up Saturday night with 50-lap, $10,000-to-win main events.

From the start of the MLRA feature, it was a battle between Gustin and Simpson. As the green flag flefw, Simpson led the opening lap, but inside front-row starter Jon Binning spun in turn two of lap two for the race’s first caution. Several cars dodged Binning in what could have been a multi-car incident.

The restart saw Simpson off and running to a 1.1-second lead over Gustin by lap five with Stormy Scott third. The fourth-starting Gustin started to cut into the margin and was right behind Simpson by lap eight when the second caution appeared for a Jeff Herzog spin.

Gustin fired strong on the restart and took to the high side and was able to clear Simpson for the lead coming off turn two on lap 11. Simpson battled back on the inside and the two raced side by side for the next three laps before Gustin edged out to a three-car-length lead.

Simpson trailed by a half-second when the third caution waved on lap 16 as Chad Simpson, the MLRA championship leader, spun in turn two as he was running eighth.

Chris Simpson regained the top spot on lap 20, but Gustin went right back around him on the outside the next time around. That would be the final lead change as those two pulled away from the field as action remained green the rest of the way.

"I seen (Simpson's) signal guy move him down, so I figured we were just gonna crack the whip and run the cushion and hope for the best," Gustin said. "It all worked out."

"Ryan was below me and I was like if Ryan's good down there then I can be really good down there," Simpson said. "I moved down on that restart, but I probably should have run that top one lap, just to stop him from getting a run."

Gustin desperately held on as the duo dealt with lapped cars on the final lap. Simpson's momentum was stopped entering turn three by a slower car.

"Either way it was a good race," Simpson said. "I was a little better than him in (turns) three and four. I think we might have had something on that last lap, but (a car) was in the way. But we'll take it. It's a three-night weekend. To get second tonight is still a good night for us."

Gustin prevailed by two car lengths as the pivotal weekend in the MLRA championship chase began. Chris Simpson began the action third in points, 200 behind the leader, his brother Chad Simpson who settled for 14th after his spin.

Chad Simpson unofficially leads Tony Jackson Jr. by 55 and Chris Simpson by 130 with five series races remaining.

Wells, the Lucas Oil Speedway Weekly Series Late Model champ, finished four seconds back in third. Wells beat Stormy Scott and Jackson, who were fourth and fifth.

Afterward, Wells told a story about running an MLRA race at Lucas Oil Speedway shortly after the track opened nearly 20 years ago. He led most of it before being passed late by Rex McCroskey, a two-time MLRA series champ, who died over the weekend.

"I led that thing almost to the end and No. 64 passed me," said Wells, who had a small No. 64 in blue over his larger, yellow No. 49 on his race car as a tribute to McCroskey. "I just want to say, 'Rex, thanks for being a good guy. We're gonna miss you.' He was a good racer."

Stormy Scott of Las Cruces, N.M., set fast overall qualifying time with a 14.793 on Group A. Chris Simpson's 15.155 paced Group B.

In the Super Stocks qualifying, both top qualifiers in the respective groups hail from Jonesboro, Ark. Jeremy Russell paced Group A with a lap time of 19.478 seconds and Jared Hays led Group B with the fast time overall at 19.130.

Sixty-three Super Stocks posted qualifying laps on Thursday night in the renewal of the Big Buck, which last was held in 2020.


LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (Oct. 3, 2024)

MLRA Fall Nationals/Super Stocks Big Buck 50 Presented by Whitetail Trophy Hunt

MLRA Late Models

A Feature - 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[4]; 2. 32-Chris Simpson[2]; 3. 49W-Justin Wells[13]; 4. 2S-Stormy Scott[5]; 5. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[11]; 6. 22H-Dustin Hodges[15]; 7. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[16]; 8. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[24]; 9. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[21]; 10. 15L-Payton Looney[8]; 11. 8-Dillon McCowan[23]; 12. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[17]; 13. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[22]; 14. 25-Chad Simpson[9]; 15. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[19]; 16. 1XMJ-Matt Johnson[12]; 17. 50C-Kayden Clatt[10]; 18. (DNF) 15T-Tyler Kuykendall[3]; 19. (DNF) 36M-Logan Martin[6]; 20. (DNF) 2T-Tyler Stevens[14]; 21. (DNF) 9G-Joseph Gorby[18]; 22. (DNF) 93-Brandon Overton[7]; 23. (DNF) 11-Jeff Herzog[20]; 24. (DNF) 65-Jon Binning[1]

Fast Shafts B Feature 1 - 1. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[2]; 2. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[1]; 3. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[4]; 4. 8-Dillon McCowan[9]; 5. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 6. 1S-Shawn Knuckles[7]; 7. 10M-Jacob Magee[5]; 8. (DNF) 1T-Tucker Cox[8]; 9. (DNF) 7W-Cole Wells[6]

Wieland B Feature 2 - 1. 9G-Joseph Gorby[8]; 2. 11-Jeff Herzog[2]; 3. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[5]; 4. 16-Rusty Griffaw[1]; 5. 29-Keith Hammett[6]; 6. 5V-Austin Vincent[3]; 7. 7M-Allan Middendorf[7]; 8. (DNS) 7J-Ryan Johnson; 9. (DNS) 15S-Clayton Stuckey

Flo Sports Heat 1 - 1. 65-Jon Binning[2]; 2. 2S-Stormy Scott[1]; 3. 25-Chad Simpson[3]; 4. 49W-Justin Wells[4]; 5. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[7]; 6. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[6]; 7. 10M-Jacob Magee[8]; 8. (DNF) 1S-Shawn Knuckles[9]; 9. (DNS) 8-Dillon McCowan

Simpson Racing Products Heat 2 - 1. 15T-Tyler Kuykendall[1]; 2. 93-Brandon Overton[5]; 3. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[2]; 4. 22H-Dustin Hodges[7]; 5. 1XM-Aaron Marrant[3]; 6. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[6]; 7. 7W-Cole Wells[8]; 8. 1T-Tucker Cox[4]

Earnhardt Technologies Heat 3 - 1. 32-Chris Simpson[1]; 2. 36M-Logan Martin[2]; 3. 50C-Kayden Clatt[3]; 4. 2T-Tyler Stevens[6]; 5. 16-Rusty Griffaw[5]; 6. 5V-Austin Vincent[4]; 7. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[7]; 8. 7M-Allan Middendorf[8]; 9. (DNS) 7J-Ryan Johnson

Lucas Oil Heat 4 - 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 2. 15L-Payton Looney[3]; 3. 1XMJ-Matt Johnson[1]; 4. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[5]; 5. 11-Jeff Herzog[7]; 6. 15S-Clayton Stuckey[6]; 7. 29-Keith Hammett[8]; 8. 9G-Joseph Gorby[4]

Group A My Race Pass Qualifying - 1. 2S-Stormy Scott, 00:14.793[6]; 2. 15T-Tyler Kuykendall, 00:14.890[15]; 3. 65-Jon Binning, 00:15.144[4]; 4. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr, 00:15.178[9]; 5. 25-Chad Simpson, 00:15.247[12]; 6. 1XM-Aaron Marrant, 00:15.310[14]; 7. 49W-Justin Wells, 00:15.339[17]; 8. 1T-Tucker Cox, 00:15.410[5]; 9. 8-Dillon McCowan, 00:15.454[13]; 10. 93-Brandon Overton, 00:15.464[11]; 11. 46-Earl Pearson Jr, 00:15.560[16]; 12. 11G-Gordy Gundaker, 00:15.594[1]; 13. 11T-Trevor Gundaker, 00:15.645[8]; 14. 22H-Dustin Hodges, 00:15.651[2]; 15. 10M-Jacob Magee, 00:15.740[3]; 16. 7W-Cole Wells, 00:15.740[7]; 17. 1S-Shawn Knuckles, 00:16.341[10]

Group B My Race Pass Qualifying - 1. 32-Chris Simpson, 00:15.155[7]; 2. 1XMJ-Matt Johnson, 00:15.231[2]; 3. 36M-Logan Martin, 00:15.283[10]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:15.352[6]; 5. 50C-Kayden Clatt, 00:15.455[9]; 6. 15L-Payton Looney, 00:15.463[11]; 7. 5V-Austin Vincent, 00:15.484[3]; 8. 9G-Joseph Gorby, 00:15.507[13]; 9. 16-Rusty Griffaw, 00:15.579[5]; 10. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain, 00:15.631[1]; 11. 2T-Tyler Stevens, 00:15.711[8]; 12. 15S-Clayton Stuckey, 00:15.750[12]; 13. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck, 00:15.818[14]; 14. 11-Jeff Herzog, 00:15.891[17]; 15. 7M-Allan Middendorf, 00:17.012[15]; 16. (DNS) 29-Keith Hammett, 00:18.000; 17. (DNS) 7J-Ryan Johnson, 00:18.000


Hickamo Super Stocks

Qualifying Group A - 1. KEG1-Jeremy Russell, 00:19.478[5]; 2. 4G-Gary Clark, 00:19.536[4]; 3. 94C-JT Carroll, 00:19.613[16]; 4. 73-Daniel Deason, 00:19.671[28]; 5. 251-Brian Schutt, 00:19.694[7]; 6. 94K-Kenny Carroll, 00:19.771[11]; 7. 27D-Derek Henson, 00:19.784[20]; 8. 69-Brian Brown, 00:19.879[25]; 9. 59R-Jacob Rexing, 00:19.898[9]; 10. C5-CLAUDIE COOK, 00:19.923[1]; 11. 2X-Whitney Nunally, 00:19.966[21]; 12. 12A-Scotty Allen, 00:19.971[17]; 13. 30C-Clayton Campbell, 00:19.989[12]; 14. 88-Jason Winkle, 00:20.051[19]; 15. 1J-Josh Jones, 00:20.070[31]; 16. 44-James Nighswonger, 00:20.106[10]; 17. 18-Jon Hays, 00:20.120[15]; 18. 1-Nick Gibson, 00:20.200[29]; 19. 67-Devin Irvin, 00:20.274[13]; 20. 1T-Bradley Tucker, 00:20.342[6]; 21. 56-Mark Davis, 00:20.376[3]; 22. 83-James Ellis, 00:20.432[27]; 23. 12J-Justin Jarrett, 00:20.440[18]; 24. 77-Jeff Douty, 00:20.533[8]; 25. 23N-Jase Nelson, 00:20.538[23]; 26. 88R-Alex Reddmann, 00:20.693[24]; 27. 18K-Kyle Cotter, 00:20.892[32]; 28. 43-Kevin Koontz, 00:21.700[14]; 29. 07-Peyton Taylor, 00:25.000[2]; 30. 116-Zack Smith, 00:25.000[22]; 31. 99W-Edwin Wells, 00:25.000[26]; 32. CU2-Jeremy Creasey, 00:25.000[30]

Qualifying Group B - 1. 4-Jared Hays, 00:19.130[21]; 2. 21-Darin Porter, 00:19.594[12]; 3. 69C-Caleb Brown, 00:19.693[19]; 4. 2-Colton Bourland, 00:19.739[8]; 5. 40-Taylor Carver, 00:19.769[5]; 6. B4-Terry Schultz, 00:19.775[6]; 7. 11T-Richie Tosh, 00:19.848[4]; 8. 216-Chris Junkersfeld, 00:19.880[27]; 9. 26M-Donnie Miller, 00:19.890[9]; 10. 66-Matthew Kay, 00:19.924[10]; 11. 11-Derek Brown, 00:19.967[17]; 12. 21W-Ted Welschmeyer, 00:19.999[11]; 13. G1-Tony Anglin, 00:20.014[1]; 14. 04-Blaine Ewing, 00:20.049[14]; 15. 12V-Nathan Vaughn, 00:20.096[30]; 16. GO-Jimmy Ngo, 00:20.122[31]; 17. 35-Johnny Coats, 00:20.138[15]; 18. 10K-Kyle Davis, 00:20.164[26]; 19. 219-Jared Neiswander, 00:20.173[18]; 20. 68-Dean Wille, 00:20.176[20]; 21. 27S-Will Smart, 00:20.187[3]; 22. 10-Steve Beach, 00:20.218[13]; 23. 53-Danny O'Neal, 00:20.297[2]; 24. 164-Michael Muskrat, 00:20.372[16]; 25. 28K-Chris Kircher, 00:20.398[25]; 26. 27B-Jerett Evans, 00:20.412[29]; 27. 15M-Michael Matthews, 00:20.635[7]; 28. 3-Dale Douty III, 00:20.730[28]; 29. 16-Logan Thompson, 00:20.739[24]; 30. 94-Elmo Floyd, 00:20.818[22]; 31. X221-Jerry Brown, 00:20.971[23]


Pits will open at 4 p.m. Friday with grandstands at 4:30, hot laps at 6:30 and racing at 7:05.


Friday admission:

Advance Discount Tickets online only (13 and up) - $27
Adults (13 and up) - $30
Seniors (62 and up)/Military - $27
Youth (6-12) - $10
Kids (5 and under) - FREE
Family Pass - $70
Pit Pass - $40


Saturday admission:

Advance Discount Tickets online only (13 and up) - $27
Adults (13 and up) - $30
Seniors (62 and up)/Military - $27
Youth (6-12) - $10
Kids (5 and under) - FREE
Family Pass - $70
Pit Pass - $45


Camping:

Reserved with Electric and Water - $40/Night (Limited Availability) Reserved Dry Spots - $25/Night (Limited Availability) Dry Camping - $15/Night

For ticket or camping information on any Lucas Oil Speedway event, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 295-6043 or via email at nmcmillan@lucasoilspeedway.com.

For information about Lucas Oil Speedway, including schedules, point standings and other news, please visit LucasOilSpeedway.com.