Dean Leads 140 of 150 Laps Before Tire Failure Relegated to Sixth

South Carolina Driver Dominates SC Clash 150 until Late Race Tire Issues

The grandstands at Myrtle Beach Speedway this Saturday night will be full of Gus Dean #MASHONIT t-shirts when the young South Carolinian returns home to compete in the Dean Custom Air 250 CARS X-1R Pro Cup Series event.  From nearby Bluffton, South Carolina, Dean is prepared to battle at his home track for the first time in 2013 in front of many family and friends.  Free tickets for Saturday's event can be found at many local businesses in and around the Myrtle Beach area and can be printed now from CARSProCup.com. 

March 10

Bluffton, South Carolina’s Gus Dean

was well on his way to winning the

PASS South South Carolina Clash

150 at Dillon Motor Speedway (SC)

on Saturday night, to the tune of

leading the first 140 laps of the 150-

lap event.  Unfortunately, a left rear

tire going down caused handling

problems for Dean’s No. 56 machine

which caused him to lose the lead

with just ten laps remaining.

“I knew that we were going to have to conserve our tires,” said Dean.  “And I liked having about a half-straightaway lead throughout the race.  The first 140, we led all of them.  We would hustle on the restarts just to try to get back away.  We had a very, very strong car so I was able to do that fairly quickly to get my lead back.  And then we just basically rode, I mean we backed off the pace, way off the pace in my opinion, as did everybody else.  And we worked hard to save our tires. 

“We had a little slip there on the second-to-last restart, I believe it was with 10 to go,” said Dean.  “And I got a little high going into turn three and spun my tires through the corner and heated them up.  It grew the right rear and actually the left rear shrunk.  I believe it was starting to go down because it was pretty flat by the time we got the car back to the shop.  The car just got bad about lap 145, it was almost unmanageable.  I was just trying my best to hold on to the car, much less maintain position.”

After a lap-five wreck took out a portion of the field, Dean was counting his blessings he was at the front of the field and not tangled up on the front stretch.

“We started fourth and in PASS the initial starts are a little different than most series – they start at the start-finish line,” said Dean.  “We remain at pit road speed until the start-finish line.  At the jump when he dropped the flag, second place and I cleared the inside row which put me in the second position going into turn one.  And then as soon as we exited turn two I made the cross over and took first position from the lower line.  Once I was in first I think it was lap five that they had the big wreck.  So being out there by myself is the only way I got through.”

In his next outing, Dean hopes to use his knowledge gained at Dillon Motor Speedway to lead a few more laps. 

“I’m not sure if it might have been a tire issue with that left rear going down a little bit or if we just didn’t save enough,” said Dean.  “I was kind of expecting the tires to last a little bit better than they did, but every race is a learning experience.  I think the next race we’ll be well prepared for that tire wear and hopefully we’ll be able to lead 150 laps instead of just 140.”

Next up for Dean will be a return to the CARS X-1R Pro Cup Series at Hickory Motor Speedway (NC) on April 5.