Bluffton’s Gus Dean is back at Daytona, this time for the long haul

Gus Dean feels no need to check out that spot on the infield near Daytona International Speedway’s start-finish line.

Yeah, the one where his first Daytona experience ended after not even two race laps a year ago.

At the time, the Bluffton driver had no idea if he’d ever get another chance to run on one of racing’s most legendary tracks. He was under a one-race deal, and that ended almost before it began.

Now he’s back, with a full ARCA race schedule in front of him that begins with Saturday’s Lucas Oil 200 to help kick off the opening weekend of Speedweeks. Despite top-10 times during January’s two days of testing at Daytona, he qualified 27th on Friday.

Onward. No time to reflect, especially on something like that.

“Those old times can die out,” Dean quipped. “I’ll be fine. They won’t be missed.”

When you get down to it, there’s very little surrounding the 22-year-old driver that remains the same from 52 weeks ago. New car. New race team. New crew chief. Different sponsor, as GREE Cooling Products latched on for his second race in 2016 — his breakthrough win at Talladega.

And best of all, peace of mind that he’s in for a full ARCA season.

“I know that no matter how this race turns out,” he said, “I’ll be at the next ARCA race thanks to GREE. It’s a more relaxing mindset, but I still need to perform.”

Dean and GREE came together on a multi-year deal last December, with an eye on moving into the NASCAR pipeline as early as next year. A week later he joined Win-Tron Racing, which had given him an audition at last year’s ARCA finale in Kansas.

Dean didn’t finish that one, either, as a cut tire led to a wreck that ended their night early. But there was enough chemistry to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table during the offseason.

“As far as a team, we worked really well,” said Dean, who now has veteran crew chief Todd Myers in charge of the No.32 Toyota Camry’s garage.

Myers was crew chief for Win-Tron’s Shane Lee in 2016, so they needed some time during the offseason to get acquainted. Two days of practice and testing at Daytona last month got them on the same page.

“I think it’s going to be a great driver/crew relationship,” Dean said. “Communication is the biggest thing. For a driver to be able to explain the car and what he’s feeling, and for the crew to take that into the setup, that’s the utmost important factor.”

Personal chemistry can’t be overlooked, either.

“They have to laugh and they have to get along,” Dean said. “We’ve seen it before. Your crew chief’s one of the best; your driver’s one of the best. And they’re horrible together. You have to be able to get along and have that friendship off the track.”

Win-Tron Racing owner Kevin Cywinski believes the pieces are in place to make a run at the ARCA championship.

“He reminds me a lot of myself as a driver,” Cywinski said, “with the drive, passion and attitude to do nothing but breathe and sleep racing. He’s spent a lot of time in the shop during the offseason and we’re looking forward to many great accomplishments in 2017.”

It starts Saturday at Daytona, where almost anything would be better than the fate he suffered when he got swept into a multi-car wreck on Lap 2.

Dean actually was taken out by his own teammate, as Cole Powell got bumped from behind and began veering to his left. That pushed Dean toward the infield, where his back end got loose and turned his car back toward the track.

Dean wound up making contact with three more cars before coming to rest back in the infield.

“Superspeedway racing can be a flip of the coin for what kind of day you’re going to have,” Dean said. “You can have a day like I had at Daytona, where I was out after two laps, or a day like Talladega when everything came together.”

No matter which way Saturday turns out, he’ll be able to point to another race. A whole season of them, in fact.

This story was originally published February 17, 2017 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Bluffton’s Gus Dean is back at Daytona, this time for the long haul."