Major Changes Have Dean Optimistic for 2015 Season

Hopes to be a Contender New Smyrna's World Series of Racing

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. 

February 6

2015 is all about changes for Gus Dean.  The 20-year-old from Bluffton, South Carolina resident recently moved to Mooresville, North Carolina to finish school and work in the race shop.  The move has allowed Dean and his team to focus more on their Super Late Model program.

Over the course of the last three years, Dean has been competing both in the CARS Pro Cup Tour and different Super Late Model events with their primary focus on the Pro Cup car, which he picked up a victory with at Memphis Motorsports Park (TN). 

But now with the CARS Tour remaking themselves as a Super Late Model and Pro Late Model Tour, this will allow Dean and his team to focus on their Super Late Model program.

“It is a little bit of a change but a change that can benefit us.  I feel like we can make more advancements than in the past,” Dean said.  “I am very excited about the CARS Tour program this year.  I feel like Jack McNally and everyone else at CARS have done an excellent job of promoting it.  I am looking forward to running that and some Southern Super Series races and staying in the Late Models for the year.”

Dean already has  already competed in one race this year, the Red Eye 100 at New Smyrna Speedway in New Smyrna Beach, Florida where he finished 12th.

While he was hoping for a stronger finish, they feel that this was a good tune-up for the 49th Annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing starting on Friday, February 13.

“We didn’t run as well as we wanted to in the Red Eye 100.  The car got very, very loose that caused the rear tires to burn out a little bit towards the end of the race,” Dean said.  “I was able to get some information that was I able to put in the back of my mind for Speedweeks.  I am very optimistic and look forward to it.”

Dean and his team have competed at the World Series in the past, but this year they are going down with a new focus. 

“We are going down with the all or nothing attitude.  We really enjoy going to New Smyrna every year, it gives me a chance to get dialed back in after the off-season,” Dean exclaimed.  “We are going after the wins, going after the overall performance rather than just testing.”

Part of the attitude comes from changes he has made recently, mainly moving closer to their race shop in Mooresville, North Carolina.

“I’m excited about it.  We are bringing two Super Late Models down there.  Both I feel are very strong, especially our primary car.  Petey Hinson, my crew chief, and me have put a lot of work into them, since I moved to Mooresville, North Carolina and I can be in the shop every day,” Dean explained.  “I feel like that is going to give me more of an advantage being up here with my cars learning the ins and outs of them, especially what goes into them every day.  I feel very confident about the setups in them.”

In the past, going to New Smyrna was more of a way to get ready for the season.  Now he is going down there with a different attitude.

“This is the first year we have gone down there with our soul goal being performance.  Where the previous times, we used it as a test session.  This year we are going down there with a little more aggressive attitude.  I am anxious to see how that turns out.”

For more information on Gus Dean visit www.gusdean.com and follow him on Twitter at @GusDean.