FARLEY, Iowa — Ryan Gustin was certainly proud to register the richest victory of his Dirt Late Model career in Saturday’s 47th Yankee Dirt Track Classic at 300 Raceway. Beating the red-hot Bobby Pierce for the $50,047 pot of gold in the 60-lap XR Super Series feature was wonderful as well.

But the 33-year-old standout from Marshalltown, Iowa, might have been excited most by a fact that many observers probably didn’t even realize.

“Believe it or not, this is my first Late Model win in Iowa,” Gustin said to begin his postrace interview. “So this is pretty cool to win this one in front of all these fans. This is awesome.”

Gustin owns scads of open-wheel modified triumphs in his native Hawkeye State, but breaking through in the full-fender ranks since he began dabbling in them over a decade ago and has been full-time for the past five years has been difficult. Not that he’s had an overwhelming number of opportunities in his home state, but, when the division has come to his backyard, he’s fallen short.

There was no such problem for Gustin in the finale of the holiday weekend XRSS doubleheader at the track formerly known as Farley Speedway. He overtook Oakwood, Ill.’s Pierce for the lead amid slower traffic on lap 17 and dominated the remainder of the distance.

Gustin sailed away from the 27-year-old Pierce following a lap-53 restart to beat Friday’s $15,000 feature winner by a healthy margin of 3.056 seconds. It was Gustin’s second career win on the XR circuit — he was previously victorious on July 7 at Fairmont (Minn.) Raceway — and his ninth overall checkered of the 2024 season, which marks his first driving for fellow Iowan Todd Cooney.

Ethan Dotson of Bakersfield, Calif., slipped past Tyler Erb of New Waverly, Texas, for third place on lap 51 and finished in the final podium position. Tyler Bruening of Decorah, Iowa, placed fourth to put two Hawkeyes in the top-five while Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., quietly raced to a fifth-place result.

Gustin started the race outside of Pierce on the front row and was concerned when he allowed Pierce to surge into the early lead. He stayed within striking distance of Pierce, however, and made his move on lap 17 when he blasted around the outside of turn two to assume command.

“I knew that start was gonna be important and I butchered it,” Gustin said. “(Pierce) got a helluva jump on me.

“We were both up there kind of riding that cushion (in the race’s early stages), and I knew (the surface) was gonna rubber and I’m sure he did. We just got to them lapped cars and he went one way and I went the other and it worked out. If the shoe had been on the other foot it could’ve been him up here (as the winner) also.

“That’s how it goes,” he added. “Tonight was our night and I love it.”

Five caution flags between laps 17 and 53 continually offered Pierce a shot to regain the lead, but Gustin never wavered. The winner didn’t receive a serious challenge as he kept his Infinity by Wells Chassis bolted to the locked-down lane of rubber around the 3/8-mile oval.

Gustin’s primary focus in the feature’s late stages was making sure he kept enough tread on his right-rear tire to reach the finish line.

“Obviously when it’s rubbered up like that, I’ve lost a bunch of ‘em throughout the years blowing out right-rears,” Gustin said. “I remember me and my dad traveling all over, running this USMTS (modified) deal … when I was young and would blew a right-rear every night, he would rip me a new one the whole way home. Finally he beat it into my head how to drive in the rubber and that one was for him.

“The rubber kept moving down (the track in the corners) throughout the night. It kind of rubbered up a lane off the top there and kept moving down and moving down. You could enter in it but you had to exit kind of back down the hill.

“All in all, I’d say we got pretty close to halfway before it rubbered,” he continued. “We were in position and we’ll take it.”

Pierce gave major props to Gustin after he couldn’t find the speed in his Longhorn Chassis to complete a sweep of the weekend.

“Gustin had a pretty heads-up move there getting around me (for the lead on lap 17),” Pierce said. “It was kind of one of them deals there — do you go this way or that way on ‘em, and it’s just the way the cards fell. He did a good job.

“After that the track really locked down good. I was trying to just maintain the tires, not have a blow out. I was seeing all sorts of guys towards the end there — (Brandon) Sheppard, (Frank) Heckenast (Jr.), both Erbs (Tyler and Dennis Erb Jr.), a lot of good cars have flats. It could be one of us, so I was trying to be easy on it.

“Them restarts I was really hoping I could do something with (Gustin), but heck, he restarts so good. It just goes,” he added. “We kind of take a while to get going and it’s like he’s got an 800 gear in there and he just goes. We had the chances on the restarts to maybe do something but we just couldn’t get it done.”

Dotson started and finished third, though he fell to fifth at the initial green flag and ran fourth for laps 24-50. It was his best run in eight career XRSS starts, topping his sixth-place finish in Friday’s feature.

“I came here in a modified a while back and I feel like they’ve turned this place around like a hundred percent,” said Dotson, who drove a Longhorn Chassis for ASD Motorsports. “It sucked it rubbered, but they worked hard on it so they were about 40 laps short of having a good race.

“I didn’t know how my tires were,” he added. “I was just trying to go as slow as I could without getting passed. It was rubber racing.”

Five caution flags dotted the event with Chad Mahder’s turn-two spin on a lap-27 restart the only slowdown not caused by a driver stricken with a flat right-rear tire. Cory Hedgecock was the first knocked down by tire trouble when he slowed while running fourth on lap 27. He was followed in tire misery by Brandon Sheppard (lap 35 while seventh), Dennis Erb Jr. (lap 50 while 12th) and Frank Heckenast Jr. (lap 53 while 10th).

Tyler Erb was also forced to the pits on lap 53 with a flat right-rear tire while running fourth. He rallied to salvage a ninth-place finish, two spots behind Hedgecock and three behind Sheppard.

Feature lineup

(60 laps)

Row 1: Bobby Pierce, Ryan Gustin
Row 2: Ethan Dotson, Tyler Erb
Row 3: Cory Hedgecock, Daniel Hilsabeck
Row 4: Tyler Bruening, Frank Heckenast Jr.
Row 5: Brandon Sheppard, Brian Shirley
Row 6: Chad Finley, Joel Callahan
Row 7: Sammy Mars, Dennis Erb Jr.
Row 8: Spencer Diercks, Tim Simpson
Row 9: Jason Rauen, Chad Mahder
Row 10: Tegan Evans, David Webster
Row 11: Johnathan Huston, Parker Foster
Row 12: Jake O'Neil, Ty Webster
Row 13: Paul Parker

Heat race recap

Bobby Pierce led all eight laps from the pole to win the first heat race in dominating fashion, winning by 1.146 seconds over third-starting Tyler Erb. The race’s lone caution came on the opening start when Paul Parker and Parker Foster tangled and spun just after the start line. Foster continued and finished seventh. … Pole-starting Ryan Gustin dominated the second heat, leading the entire distance and winning by 0.972 of a second over third-starting Cory Hedgecock. The race’s lone stoppage came on lap seven when second-running Jake O’Neil slowed abruptly and required a tow back to the pits; O’Neil was piloting Carey Umbarger’s No. 2c entry. Hedgecock inherited second after O’Neil slowed and trailed Gustin the final two laps. … Ethan Dotson cruised to win the third and final heat race, winning by 4.881 seconds over third-starting Daniel Hilsabeck, who trailed Dotson all eight laps, while second-starting Brandon Sheppard slipped to third on the opening start. Joel Callahan gained one spot and finished fourth.

Heat results

(Eight laps; all transfer)

First heat: Bobby Pierce, Tyler Erb, Tyler Bruening, Brian Shirley, Sammy Mars, Tim Simpson, Tegan Evans, Parker Foster, Paul Parker.

Second heat: Ryan Gustin, Cory Hedgecock, Frank Heckenast Jr., Chad Finley, Dennis Erb Jr., Jason Rauen, David Webster, Jake O'Neil.

Third heat: Ethan Dotson, Daniel Hilsabeck, Brandon Sheppard, Joel Callahan, Spencer Diercks, Chad Mahder, Johnathan Huston, Ty Webster.

Time trials

Driver (car no.), hometown, time (unofficial)
1. Bobby Pierce (32), Oakwood, Ill., 14.485
2. Ryan Gustin (19R), Marshalltown, Iowa, 14.587
3. Ethan Dotson (74x), Bakersfield, Calif., 14.633
4. Tyler Bruening (16), Decorah, Iowa, 14.642
5. Jake O’Neil (2c), Tucson, Ariz., 14.657
6. Brandon Sheppard (B5), New Berlin, Ill., 14.792
7. Tyler Erb (1), New Waverly, Texas, 14.839
8. Cory Hegecock (23), Loudon, Tenn., 14.850
9. Daniel Hilsabeck (22), Earlham, Iowa, 14.964
10. Brian Shirley (3s), Chatham, Ill., 15.049
11. Frank Heckenast Jr. (99jr), Frankfort, Ill., 15.108
12. Spencer Diercks (29), Davenport, Iowa, 15.175
13. Sammy Mars (28), Menomonie, Wis., 15.203
14. Chad Finley (42), St. Johns, Mich., 15.243
15. Joel Callahan (40), Dubuque, Iowa, 15.250
16. Tim Simpson (17), Iowa City, Iowa, 15.305
17. Dennis Erb Jr. (28E), Carpentersville, Ill., 15.310
18. Chad Mahder (55c), Bloomer, Wis., 15.502
19. Paul Parker (10), Kaukauna, Wis., 15.572
20. Jason Rauen (98), Farley, Iowa, 15.610
21. Johnathan Huston (42H), Columbus Junction, Iowa, 15.713
22. Tegan Evans (T22), Clinton, Iowa, 15.736
23. David Webster (44w), Monroe, Wis., 15.752
24. Ty Webster (18), Monroe, Wis., 15.843
25. Parker Foster (35x), Winona, Minn., 16.316

Saturday’s schedule

(All times local)
4 p.m. - Pits open
5 p.m. - Grandstands open
6 p.m. - Drivers’ meeting
6:45 p.m. - Opening ceremonies
7 p.m. - On-track activity
- Late Model hot laps
- Modified hot laps
- Sport mod hot laps
- Late Model time trials (2 laps)
- Modified heats (8 laps)
- Late Model heats (8 laps)
- Sport mod heats (8 laps)
- Modified consolations (10 laps)
- Sport mod consolations (10 laps)
Intermission/track prep
- Late Model feature (50 laps)
- Modified feature (25 laps)
- Sport mod feature (20 laps)