Gus Dean Win Shrouded in Controversy

Due to impending weather, NASCAR made the decision to move Saturday’s ARCA race to the conclusion of the truck race on Friday, February 16. With the timing of both races being extended due to cautions, it was clear that drivers were getting antsy for a win at one of the biggest venues NASCAR races at.

In the end it was Venturini Motorsports’ Gus Dean that got his first win in the series. However, this win didn’t come without its fair share of criticism. On lap 3, Dean received a huge push which resulted in his car shooting down the track into the 25 of Toni Breidinger culminating in a huge wreck taking her out of the race. Toni had some choice words for Dean stating, “...lack of respect for his teammates and other people on track that work really hard to get here when his dad’s cutting the check.” In another interview she mentioned the fact that Dean had taken out Breidinger and teammate Kris Wright who are both full time while Dean is only on a part time schedule. 

To be called out by a teammate for causing a wreck is one thing, but when that teammate goes on air after the wreck and states that you’re there simply because of your family’s money it shows a weakened team chemistry. Dean hasn’t responded to these comments in any way, but Toni could be in the wrong here. From the broadcast, it seems that the push sent Dean down the track as he had little control. Whether he should’ve had control or not is another question, but I don’t believe that the move itself was intentional.

One move that was intentional was what allowed Dean to get the win. His other Venturini teammate, Jake Finch had been dominating the race until we came to a one lap shootout. Finch had elected to choose the outside line with Dean agreeing to let Finch in line en route to a 1-2 finish for the team. Instead, Dean went back on the agreement and didn’t give anything for Finch to work with. The result of this move was Jake Finch taking a huge hit to the outside wall entering turn 3 and Gus Dean cruising to a victory.

Even though Dean pulled out the win, he was the common denominator in the incidents that wrecked three of his teammates. I can’t imagine the team as a whole is very happy with him and as Dean still has races for Venturini Motorsports scheduled, I doubt this saga is close to over.