WINSTON-SALEM, NC – Burt Myers raced his way into the history books at Bowman Gray Stadium, winning his record-tying 10th division championship – his fourth consecutive title at the Madhouse.
Myers was in position to clinch the championship with a victory when a late race accident took out his primary championship rival, 10-time division champion Tim Brown. When Brown was sidelined and Myers had James Civali right on his rear bumper, the veteran racer elected to ride to the finish and clinch the title.
“It’s kind of unbelievable to be honest with you,” Myers told Race22. “I’ve been blessed to win several of them and this ranks right up there with the best. Just the way the year went, starting out in the hole, and being able to overcome the deficit and take the point lead and never look back.”
Myers made the pass for the lead on eventual race winner on lap 134 and looked like he would win the championship in style, by winning the race. However, as cautions kept brewing more cautions late in the race, one of which for a late race skirmish that took Tim Brown out of the race and out of championship contention, Myers found himself with a hungry James Civali right on his bumper with four laps to go.
Civali had a distant shot at the championship but still could have won it, if Myers also had problems. On an overtime restart, Myers, focused on the championship picture, pulled aside and let Civali and Ward battle for the win.
“I asked them on the radio, ‘do you want to win the race or the championship?’ and the crew chief came on and said, ‘championship would be nice,’” Myers explained. “With [Brown] sidelined, I knew [Civali] didn’t have anything to lose. I kind of had it in my mind, I was going to try to get through turns one and two and see what happened. When we got into turn one, he nailed me and ran me out wide, and I just kind of let him have it, settled in line and secured the championship.”
Next year, Myers is hoping to set a new record by winning his fifth straight Modified championship and his 11th overall championship.
Brandon Ward picked up the victory in a wild overtime shootout.
“These guys on this team, they put a lot of effort in all year long,” Ward told Race22 after the race. “Especially the last three or four weeks, we’ve really worked hard to get this thing better and I feel like tonight, especially on the long run, we had the best car. Coming down to the wire, we had a bunch of restarts. I was better if it went green so I didn’t want to see all the restarts but you play the hand your dealt.
“I love racing with James. Me and him race hard, always have. It’s always fun to race with him.”
Civali went on to finish second.
Results
- Brandon Ward
- James Civali
- Burt Myers
- Danny Bohn
- Jason Myers
- Daniel Yates
- Lee Jeffreys
- Susan Harwell
- George Brunnhoelzl, III
- Chris Williams
- Jody Fritts
- Tim Brown
- Andrew Harrah
- Jonathan Brown
- Chris Fleming
- John Holleman, IV
- Darin Redmon
- Randy Butner
- Steven Lane
- Joseph Brown
- John Smith
- Zack Staley
- Zack Clifton
- Drew Moffitt
- Zach Brewer
- Ronnie Clifton
- Cory Lovette
