Bobby earned a milestone victory Wednesday night at Georgetown (DE) Speedway, capturing the $20,000 Visit Delaware 51 for his 50th career World of Outlaws Late Model Series triumph.
The win came in Bobby’s first-ever start at the Delaware facility and did not come easily.
After suffering mechanical issues with the team’s primary car during hot laps, Bobby was forced to switch to a backup car prior to qualifying. The team quickly went to work preparing the backup machine, and Bobby rewarded their efforts by setting fast time in qualifying and winning his heat race to earn a spot near the front of the feature lineup.
“The beginning of the night was not the way we wanted to go,” Bobby said. “I don’t know what happened there. We’ll have to check that out. Luckily, it happened in hot laps and not qualifying, heat, or the feature.”
Starting fourth in the 51-lap feature, Bobby quickly worked his way toward the front and was running second by lap 22 when the race took a major turn. The leader made contact with a lapped car while working through traffic, sending the slower machine spinning and forcing the leader to pit with damage. Bobby inherited the lead as a result.
From there, the battle intensified.
Hoffman and Gustin kept the pressure on throughout the remainder of the race, with Bobby unable to fully break away despite building his advantage to 1.4 seconds at one point. The trio traded sliders and raced side-by-side multiple times in one of the night’s most entertaining stretches.
A restart on lap 43 nearly changed everything.
Gustin ripped the top side through turns three and four and carried enough momentum down the frontstretch to edge in front entering turn one, briefly taking the lead away from Bobby. One lap later, however, Bobby regrouped and answered back, driving back around Gustin entering turn one to reclaim the top spot for good.
“We’ve been struggling a little on the restarts, so I tried changing it up about every time,” Bobby said. “After Gustin slid me there on that one restart, I realized I left the door open and wasn’t going to do that again.”
Bobby credited both Gustin and Hoffman for the clean, hard racing throughout the closing laps.
“It was a lot of fun with Nick and Ryan,” he said. “Thanks to them for racing me really clean. I thought Gustin had me there for a second, but I knew that top side of turn three was there if I had to use it. I just had to cowboy up and get a good corner.”
Bobby went on to hold off the late charges and secure the landmark victory, moving his career World of Outlaws win total to 50 while remaining fourth on the tour’s all-time wins list.
“I’ve got to thank my crew for their efforts,” Bobby said. “Quick turnaround. We were scrambling back there to get out for qualifying. Sometimes you have that. That’s just the way it goes. It’s racing. You never know what you’re going to get.”