The rivalry of Mike Speeney versus the Myers family reached a boiling point in the 100-lap Modified race at Bowman Gray Stadium on Saturday night.
Burt Myers won the 100-lapper at the Madhouse after starting 22nd, but he had to wait a whiel to know if he actually won. Speeney protested Burt and second place finisher Slate Myers for traction control. Both the Myers passed the inspection and their finishing results were made official, plus $1,200 richer, courtesy of Speeney via the protest.
The drama wasn’t just in tech, but also on track. Speeney was leading with 54 laps to go when Jason made contact with him in turn one, sending Speeney spinning.
Under caution, Speeney circled around the track, and found himself stopped in front of Jason’s car. Jason, preparing for Speeney to attempt to reverse into him, angled his car so their bumpers were square. Speeney said on the radio he was waiting for one of the track trucks that was working on cleanup to move and was not attempting to get payback at Jason.
Speeney restarted at the tail of the field and began to work his way forwards. Jason inherited the lead, but with 38 laps to go, his right rear suspension failed on the frontstretch, ending his night.
While Jason was walking out of the racetrack, he showed some frustration towards Speeney as the field paced under caution.
Trey Hutchins inherited the lead for the restart and Burt took over second place. Hutchins spun the tires, allowing Burt to make the pass on the outside and take control of the race. Burt led the rest of the way and his son Slate finished second.
“We’ve been working really hard,” Burt said after the win. “The last two years, we’ve had a lot of poles and a lot of wins, and we’ve been right there, but we’ve been struggling. I think we figured out that with the street stock and sportsman cars’ new tire situation, that the track is not as sticky as it used to be.
“It seems like the car takes several laps to fire off, so we’ve really been working hard trying to get stuff to qualify, and believe it or not, I can’t tell you what it was, but believe it or not, we learned something, I think, in Franklin County last night that we brought over to tonight; an adjustment that we made, and it worked because we sat on the pole, but yeah, awesome night, first and second.”
Burt was not too disgruntled at Speeney for protesting, and felt confident that he would pass tech.
“Everybody has the right to protest,” Burt said while waiting for the track to inspect his cars. “So, the 10 car protested me and Slate for traction control, which is what they’re doing over here now, and Bowman Gray wanted the intakes off the top three cars, so they got the intakes.
“At the end of the day, it just kind of stinks because we should be able to be over there and celebrate with our friends and family and fans, and we’re stuck over here in tech, but tonight, it’s going to be even sweeter because we’ll get to put that protest money in our pocket.”
Slate was happy to get a one-two finish with his father.
“It was awesome, especially on CitruSafe night,” Slate said. “All the CitruSafe guys are out here and for both CitruSafe cars to finish one-two, this is awesome. [I] can’t thank everybody enough.”
Slate shared his dad’s confidence in passing tech inspection.
“Me and dad are both getting protested for traction control [by] the [No.] 10 car team okay and they took the intake off the top three cars and checked those as well so, I don’t know. I think we’re going to Waffle House tonight. I don’t think it’s going to be much longer. They’re going to realize there’s nothing to check.”
As for Speeney, he was not pleased with Jason after the contact that took him out of contention.
“Honestly we were just riding and then I get turned sideways, so,I don’t know,” Speeney said after the race. “I was frustrated. We were probably 25 laps in and he just decides to dive bomb me. My spotter didn’t even have time to say inside I was sideways already. It’s just frustrating but karma got him.”
As far as the decision to protest:
“We’re protesting traction control. If he doesn’t have it, he doesn’t have it. Everybody’s wondered if he did or didn’t and I just got pissed off enough with Jason, I said ‘you know what, tonight’s the night.’ It’s been kind of brewing all over the place. You can watch the left rear wheels of all these guys and you can see them where it stops in the middle of the corner and if the left rear and the left front don’t run at the same rate of speed. There’s been a lot of that.
“It’s finally come to a tipping point where I want them to check for it. This isn’t necessarily something where I would say I’m gunning for them. It’s more of just we got to start checking stuff. So if that means I got to protest and start putting people in tech, then that’s what it means.”
Of course, the Myers were found legal, and pocketed the protest money as well as their share of the race purse.
The full finishing results can be viewed below.
Elite Utilities 100 Bowman Gray Stadium May 30, 2026
1. 1 Burt Myers 2. 6 Slate Myers 3. 57 Danny Bohn 4. 16 Chris Fleming 5. 10 Mike Speeney 6. 83 Tim Brown 7. 71 John Smith 8. 64 Ethan Truell 9.14 Trey Hutchens 10. 07 Riley Neal 11. 44 Daniel Beeson 12. 5 Randy Butner 13. 99 Jordan Fleming 14. 51 Junior Snow 15. 82 Mason Lawson 16. 9 Kyle Southern 17. 4 Jason Myers 18. 00 Danny Propst 19. 17 Lonnie Oakley 20. 69 John Holleman IV 21. 47 Jaxson Casper 22. 18 Daniel Yates 23. 19 Andy Noto 24. 75 Lee Jeffreys 25. 35 Brandon Butner
Scotte is from North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, living just a few minutes from the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway. Scotte has raced at local dirt tracks for over six years, as well as covering NASCAR and short track races for over a year now, and has a firey passion for all motorsports, working to achieve a career as a driver.
