Bobby Pierce took home the win with the World of Outlaws and Summer Nationals last night in what turned into a thriller at I-55 between him and Ryan Gustin.

Pierce had a solid start to the night qualifying in 6th in Group B with a time of 13.496 just a tenth behind Group B fast qualifier Ryan Unzicker who ran a lap of 13.384. He started second in his heat race, but was able to work his way around Michael Leach on the opening lap to get to the lead and never looked back. With the heat race win he got into the redraw and was the beneficiary of it drawing a second place starting position outside of Cade Dillard.

Starting outside of Dillard, Pierce ripped it around the top of the track and blew past Dillard to claim the lead. He would lead flag to flag to take home the checkered and early on it looked like it was going to be a blowout with Pierce pulling out to a stout 1.3 second lead. However, about 10 laps into the race, Pierce began working through some thick traffic and had to pull a tight slider through turns 1 and 2 to get around Carson Brown. The slider was so tight that Brown’s nose got into the left rear fender of Pierce. That allowed allowed second place Cade Dillard to close the gap.

Pierce would continue to work his way through lap traffic expertly maneuvering around the cars of Mark Whitener, Ethan Dotson, and Jake Timm who were three-wide ahead of him going through turns 3 and 4. He followed Timm around the bottom in 3 and 4 and then slid both Dotson and Whitener through 1 and 2. While Pierce was working through lap traffic and extending his lead, Ryan Gustin began to threaten Dillard for the second spot. Gustin finally made his move on lap 20 diving to the bottom of Dillard through 3 and 4 and then sliding up in front of him in 1 and 2. By the time Gustin got to second, Pierce had extended his lead to nearly 3 seconds. Just four laps later and Pierce had nearly a 4 second lead.

However, Gustin began closing after Pierce found himself stuck behind Cody Overton and had a huge scare in turns 1 and 2 as he jumped over the cushion and gave up a ton of time to Gustin. On Lap 28 he had cut Pierce’s 4 second lead to just 2.5 seconds. Pierce would slip up again as he banged off the cushion and got up and over it coming out of turn 2 on lap 30. On the ensuing lap Gustin was on his bumper. A duel between the two began over the next few laps .On lap 33, it looked like Gustin would have a really good opportunity to get past Piece as Pierce switched his line in 1 and 2 and left the top open for Gustin on lap 33. However,  Gustin faced the same issues Pierce was having up top by jumping over the cushion exiting turn 2.

Pierce then moved to the top side to take that line away from Gustin over the next few laps, but Gustin made a sortie on the bottom on Lap 37 and pulled alongside Pierce exiting turn 2. However, Pierce’s momentum kept Gustin at bay and he beat him to the bottom heading into 3. Pierce then went to the bottom in 1 and 2 leaving the outside for Gustin again. However, like the previous opportunity, Gustin had a slight bobble on the cushion exiting turn 2 that killed enough of his momentum to allow Pierce to move up in front of him on the back stretch. Unfortunately, the thrilling duel came to an end after Tristan Chamberlain spun in the middle of turns 3 and 4 on Lap 39.

During the caution, third place running Cade Dillard suffered a mechanical issue and was unable to get his car refired. On the ensuing single-file restart, Pierce jetted out to the lead and never looked back. Tim McCreadie was able to work to the inside of Gustin through 1 and 2, who again went up and over the cushion. That allowed McCreadie to claim the second position while Gustin settled for third.

In victory lane, Pierce discussed the restart, telling DirtVision, “I was pretty nervous, but I was nervous before the caution came out too. I didn’t know where to go. I saw Ryan under me there right before that caution came and I had tried to get back to the bottom quickly and we did. It was a tough race track, very tricky to drive. I didn’t know-. Sometimes being in the lead it’s tough. One lap the lap cars would make a good lap and you’d be right there with them and the next lap they wouldn’t and you’d get checked up.”

“They said all day today that there was moisture in the track and there definitely was ’cause it definitely did start chopping up down there,” he continued. “Gave it a lot of character if you wanted to run the top. On that restart I didn’t know whether to pick top or bottom. I chose top getting into 1 here. I thought I messed up. I went into the corner super sideways and I know I was looking right for that hole with the right rear tire so I just gassed it full throttle and hoped it didn’t jump the cushion. It didn’t. It went around there and got off the corner good and got the job done. So it was a fun, exciting race. Pretty nerve-racking for me.”

Pierce went on to discuss how much the win means after taking a break due to his father’s knee surgery, “It’s awesome. Sometimes you take a weekend off and you feel a little rusty. I did feel pretty rusty today, not going to lie. When I first hot lapped and qualified, I was like, ‘Man, I gotta get that going again.’ And we were a little off earlier today. Lucky we got that heat race win.”

As for Gustin, he was disappointed with the caution, “I felt like we had [Bobby Pierce] set up. I showed him the bottom there and then he peeled off the cushion and I felt like we finally got him where we wanted him and then the caution come out, but it is what it is. We’ll keep working on this thing, get it a little bit better. Hopefully, we can finish a couple spots better tomorrow.”

Official Finishing Order

1. Bobby Pierce
2. Tim McCreadie
3. Ryan Gustin
4. Jason Feger
5. Ashton Winger
6. Tanner English
7. Nick Hoffman
8. Dennis Erb Jr.
9. Dillon McCowan
10. Drake Troutman
11. Ryan Unzicker
12. Dustin Sorensen
13. Tyler Erb
14. Jake Timm
15. Kyle Bronson
16. Cody Overton
17. Tristan Chamberlain
18. Mike Harrison
19. Brent Larson
20. Michael Leach
21. Ethan Dotson
22. Carson Brown
23. Brian Shirley
24. Cade Dillard
25. Frank Heckenast Jr.
26. Jeff Herzog
27. Mark Whitener
28. Shannon Babb

With the win Bobby Pierce extends his point lead over Nick Hoffman to 102 points and 140 points over Ryan Gustin. Drake Troutman is in 4th, 218 points back while Tim McCreadie is in 5th 224 points behind.

On the Hell Tour side, Ryan Gustin is your current points leader with an 18 point advantage over Tyler Erb, 38 points lead over Jason Feger, 41 point lead over Dennis Erb Jr., and 46 points lead over Ashton Winger.

What did you make of the thrilling duel between Pierce and Gustin last night at I-55?

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