Ryan Gustin is at his best when the big money is on the line.
Two of his biggest wins last season came in the $100,000-to-win USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway and the $50,000-to-win Bayou Classic at Boothill Speedway.
Through the first 19 races of the 2026 World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision season, Gustin was uncharacteristically winless on the year. But with $40,000 up for grabs in the finale of the Dairyland Showdown at Mississippi Thunder Speedway, the “Reaper” found a way to strike.
After scoring three-straight regional wins in the past two weeks, it appeared as if the Cooney Motorsports No. 19R team had shaken off their slow start to the season. They opened the weekend at Mississippi Thunder with a third-place finish on Thursday, then improved to second on Friday. When Saturday’s 50-lapper rolled around, Gustin and team put all the pieces together for a wire-to-wire victory.
The race was on between the likes of Nick Hoffman, Jonathan Davenport and Michael Leach early on, but none of them had anything for Gustin out front. It wasn’t long before Bobby Pierce joined the party after starting 15th, and he quickly disposed of all of them and started to run down Gustin.
In the span of six laps, Pierce cut the gap to Gustin from two seconds to half a second when the caution flag flew with four to go. Two more solid restarts later, Gustin ensured Pierce never got close enough to try any last-lap heroics and made his way to World of Outlaws Victory Lane for the 16th time in his career.
“I looked up there on the board and seen 32,” Pierce said. “I figured he was probably going to try fire on the cushion, but I didn’t want to leave a lane down there at the same time. Just tried to hit that grip the best I could, and then the first one, I turned left off of it. I just felt like I wasn’t going down the backstretch. Getting ready for the slider, trying to do something, but he was never there. Then that second one, I just kind of attacked it a little bit harder just to not leave the door open, I don’t know how close he was or anything like that.”
Pierce crossed the line second to cut Hoffman’s points lead down to three, while Davenport had his best finish of the week in third. Nick Hoffman and Daulton Wilson completed the rest of the top five.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision heads east for a five-day northeast swing at Georgetown Speedway (Wednesday, May 13), Selinsgrove Speedway (Thursday, May 14), Marion Center Raceway (Friday-Saturday, May 15-16) and Bedford Speedway (Sunday, May 17). More information on each race can be found by clicking here.
Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.
RACE NOTES:
Nick Hoffman set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.
Michael Leach won the Simpson Quick Time Award.
Michael Leach won Heat 1.
Nick Hoffman won STAKT Products Heat 2.
Brent Larson won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.
Ryan Gustin won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.
Drake Troutman and Chris Simpson won the Last Chance Showdowns.
Nick Hoffman won the Bilstein Pole Award.
Ethan Dotson won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.
Daulton Wilson won the MD3 Rookie of the Race Award.
Bobby Pierce was the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher.
Jonathan Davenport was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.
Nick Hoffman was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.
Daulton Wilson was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.
Tim McCreadie was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.
Michael Leach was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.
Ethan Dotson was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.
Tyler Erb was the Lifeline Ninth-Place Finisher.
Drake Troutman was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.
Cade Dillard was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.
Dustin Sorensen was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.
Dallon Murty was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.
Dennis Erb Jr. was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.
Trey Mills was the Arizona Sport Shirts 18th-Place Finisher.
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[15]; 3. 49D-Jonathan Davenport[7]; 4. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 5. 58V-Daulton Wilson[8]; 6. 9M-Tim McCreadie[9]; 7. 09-Michael Leach[4]; 8. 74X-Ethan Dotson[23]; 9. 1-Tyler Erb[5]; 10. 22*-Drake Troutman[17]; 11. 97-Cade Dillard[14]; 12. 19-Dustin Sorensen[16]; 13. 13-Dallon Murty[11]; 14. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[20]; 15. 76-Blair Nothdurft[13]; 16. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[22]; 17. 28M-Sam Mars[19]; 18. 14-Trey Mills[12]; 19. 15A-Nick Anvelink[21]; 20. B1-Brent Larson[3]; 21. 1Z-Logan Zarin[24]; 22. 14S-Collen Winebarger[6]; 23. 55E-Eli Johnson[25]; 24. 32S-Chris Simpson[18]; 25. 49-Jake Timm[10]
This article was republished with the permission of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series. Original article can be found here: https://worldofoutlaws.com/latemodels/gustin-earns-first-world-of-outlaws-win-of-2026-in-dairyland-showdown-finale/
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