Devin Moran did not mince words while reacting to Ryan Gustin’s post-race comments after the two battled each other over the closing laps for the lead only to see Brandon Sheppard and Nick Hoffman get past them both.

Both Moran and Gustin put on a show in the final 15 or so laps of the race. Moran was able to reel Gustin in as they got into heavy traffic. He threw his first slider with 15 laps left in the race, but Gustin was able to beat it back with a crossover down the front stretch. Moran would stalk him for the next few laps before he decided to throw another slider with 12 to go. Again, Gustin crossed him over and retained the lead.

Moran wasn’t done. On the next lap, he again slid Gustin, and Gustin crossed him over, but they were nearly dead even crossing the start/finish line. However, Gustin’s entry coming into 1 was stymied by the lap car of Daniel Hilsabeck and he slid up the track and into Moran’s door through the corner. The two then drag raced down the back stretch leaning on each other. Gustin would eventually get the lead, but Moran, again, threw another slider forcing Gustin to cross him over. The sliders continued over the next few laps, but as they were coming to the line with 7 to go, the two again made contact. 

While Gustin was ripping the top and Moran was running through the middle, Brandon Sheppard drove past them both on the bottom with 6 to go. On the next lap, Gustin followed Sheppard around the bottom while Moran went to the top. Coming off of two, Gustin drifted up to the middle while Moran came down to the middle. Moran got into Gustin’s rear nearly spinning him around, but Gustin was able to save it and continue. 

With 4 laps left, Hoffman worked past Moran and then he got Gustin the next lap. Gustin and Moran ended up finishing third and fourth respectively.

In his third place podium interview, Gustin told FloRacing’s Dustin Jarrett, “It was really full contact late model racing there. It’s not the way I try to race. I try to race clean. He didn’t really do anything wrong, but you got to log that stuff in the back of your head when you get ran over time and time again. And when it’s time to give it back, it’s time to give it back.”

Moran reacted to that in a post to Facebook, “Well we took a minute to rewatch the race and compose ourselves. And it’s exactly what we thought. We got run OVER. More than once. I think we had the car to win. I hate it for my guys but we have a fast car. We’ll try again tomorrow. Congrats to shepp on the win!”

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