Retired Stadium Stock competitor turned pace car driver Jimmy Absher said he drove 17 miles over the course of the prestigious Hayes Jewelers 200, but somewhere along the way, Tim Brown drove his No. 83 into victory lane for the fifth time in his career.
That’s 106 Madhouse Modified wins, by the way.
Danny Bohn dominated most of the caution-filled event after starting on pole. Bohn led the whole race until 38 laps to go, when he spun the tires on the restart, allowing Brown to make the pass on the outside.
Brown held a good lead until Bohn got to the back bumper of him on a restart inside 20 laps to go, but Bohn himself was hit from behind and was shoved up high and into the wall, ending his run. John Holleman inherited the runner-up spot and took the fight to Brown, but fell just short in overtime at The Madhouse, allowing Brown to take the win in the special blue colored Hayes Jewelers Modified.
“That’s a brand new blue Hayes Jewelers race car,” Brown said after the win. “Bruce (Hayes) has done so much for me over my career, and I talk to him every night, and Bruce was like, ‘Man, I’d love to see that blue car run.’ So, me and Todd got together this winter, and was like, ‘Let’s honor Bruce in this Hayes 200. How can we do that?’ And I was like, man, to bring a blue car for the 200 would be super special for Bruce, and I don’t want him to know about it, so, let’s surprise him.
“So, when we put FanFest together and had Bruce out there and unveiled the car, he didn’t know it until FanFest that I even built that car, you know what I mean? So, it was a great effort from all of our sponsors, all of our race team, and all of our families.
“We’ve worked really hard this winter to try to build a better team and get better and come out strong this year. I was dejected that we didn’t get the pole yesterday because we had a really good car, but to come back and win the race with Bruce here in a blue car for a race that we were honoring him and all he’s done for me, it’s just spectacular. I just got to thank God for all he’s doing for me.”
Brown bided his time early on in the race behind Bohn, but after the halfway point, he noticed Bohn starting to fall off.
“My car was really good,” Brown said. “Danny, he started slipping and spinning a little bit there with about 60 or 70 [laps] to go, and I thought, I’ll just keep biding my time here, and all I was doing was running hard enough to keep the guys behind me off of me, and just trying to save all I could at the end for when I needed it.
“That one restart there, I think he either missed the gear or spun the tires or something, and we acquired the lead there, and I was able to set the pace. It got nerve-wracking there with those guys that pitted for tires. I knew they had better tires. We had a great race car, and they ran me clean, and it worked out for us.”
The first two-thirds of the race was fairly tame. While there were seven yellows by lap 138, it was simple spins or cars slowing and unable to get to pit road. However, Slate Myers came to a stop on the frontstretch to draw the eighth caution of the night, and that was the turning point in intensity.
On a restart three quarters of the way through the race, Burt Myers and Mike Speeney made contact exiting Turn 2 while battling for third, sending Speeney and Myers into the wall. Several cars had to check up, resulting in a multi-car spin off of the south turn. The pair had been racing each other hard throuought the race, and showed that the heated rivalry they had last season was not over.
After deliberation, officials placed Myers towards the end of the field for being involved in the accident. Myers did not take this kindly, and parked it behind the pace car in protest. He came down pit road once the red flag was lifted to get new tires and rejoined at the tail of the field.
With 15 laps to go, Burt’s son Slate Myers found his way towards the front of the field, battling Speeney for fourth. The two made contact off of Turn 2 and spun together, getting stuck. The resulting check-up would cause nearly every car behind them to either spin, or come to a stop to avoid crashing.
One of those cars was Burt, who got stuck on Trey Hutchins III’s front bumper, ending Burt’s attempt to come from the rear and win.
That would be the last dramatic incident during the race. After the ensuing restart, Chris Flemmin blew a right front tire, setting up a five lap shootout. On that restart, Riley Neal and Daniel Beeson made contact and spun in Turn 1, leading to the overtime finish.
Holleman finished second behind Brown, and Brandon Ward finished third.
The full finishing results can be viewed below.
Hayes Jewlers 200
Bowman Gray Stadium
April 19, 2026
1. 83 Tim Brown
2. 69 John Holleman IV
3. 04 Brandon Ward
4. 51 Junior Snow
5. 55 Jeremy Gersner
6. 3 Andrew Harrah
7. 00 Danny Propst
8. 10 Mike Speeney
9. 14 Trey Hutchins III
10. 1 Burt Myers
11. 71 Johm Smith
12. 4 Jason Myers
13. 5 Randy Butner
14. 07 Riley Neal
15. 75 Lee Jeffreys
16. 44 Daniel Beeson
17. 99 Jordan Heming
18. 9 Kyle Southern
19. 6 Slate Myers
20. 57 Danny Bohn
21. 22 Jonathan Brown
22. 64 Ethan Truell
23. 82 Mason Lawson
24. 12 Dean Ward
25. 16 Chris Fleming
26. 35 Brandon Butner
