Burt Myers claims record-tying 101st Bowman Gray Modified win on QRC Night

Burt Myers keeps adding milestones to his illustrious career at Bowman Gray Stadium.

On a hot and steamy Saturday night, Burt Myers picked up his 101st career win in the Brad’s Golf Cars Modified Series, tying him with Tim Brown for the most wins in Modified history.

“How could you have it any other way, right?,” Myers said. “Just knowing that me and Tim have got the championships and the wins that we do, and that we both kind of came up in this Modified Division together.

“And I didn’t realize it until somebody pointed it out, the next active driver in wins is Jason (Myers, Burt’s brother), I think at 42, so to say that we’ve been able to have such a successful career in this division that my family’s been racing in since the beginning, it’s pretty special.”

Just as small sample size, just Burt Myers, Jason Myers, and Gary Myers, who is Burt and Jason’s father and has 38 wins, have combined for 181 wins.

Gary Myers and his wife and Burt’s mother, Pam Myers, were driven on a golf cart from the pit area to Winner’s Circle to take part in Burt’s celebration.

“You don’t know when your last one’s going to be,” Burt Myers said. “So, I’m grateful that my mom and dad could come out there for that. And my dad’s health the way it is and to still make it out there for that, it meant a lot to me.”

In addition to Burt Myers collecting his 101st career win in the Modified Series, he also won a race in the Sportsman Series many years ago, meaning that he has 102 wins.

“We’ve always kind of counted featured wins because we run the featured division,” Burt Myers said. “But you can’t take away what other guys have done in other divisions. But as far as what’s in the book, you know, it’s 101. If you look at all-time wins it’s 102, but either way to think one day I’d have that many wins over here in anything, it’s kind of hard to imagine.”

The 102 overall wins makes Burt Myers the all-time winningest driver in Bowman Gray Racing history. Burt Myers is second with 11 Modified championships, one less than Brown’s 12

“We talk about championships, but I’d said for years that championships are great, but I like winning races,” Burt Myers said. “And if winning races gets you championships, then that’s fine. But I like winning races. To be at the top of the list on all-time wins is probably something I’ll focus on more than I do championships.

Burt Myers had the fastest qualifying lap at 13.665 seconds, putting him on the pole for first 25-lap race. Burt Myers led wire-to-wire.

“In a 25-lapper, it gives you a really good chance,” he said. “But it’s still racing. And anything can happen.”

There were three cautions during the first 25-lap Modified race, the last of which came on lap 15.

“On that one restart I think Chris (Fleming) got into me,” Burt Myers said. “And I think we actually got stuck together. It felt like we were stuck together. So, you just never know what’s going to happen. But we’re fortunate enough to get this win tonight, and we’re going to celebrate it.”

Fleming finished second, followed by Lee Jeffreys, Brown, and Brandon Ward, the points leader.

The win Saturday night also adds to Burt Myers’ win total for the season.

“We’ve got four wins and four poles, so I’d be hard to complain about that, wouldn’t it?,” he said.

Following the first 25-lap Modified race, Burt Myers drew “12” in the Madhouse Scramble, which inverted the field for the second race there.

Mike Speeney sat on the pole for the second race, and just like Burt Myers, he led wire-to-wire to defeat John Holleman IV.

“Once I knew we were on the pole it definitely helped today,” Speeney said.

Riley Neal finished third, followed by Junior Snow, and Slate Myers, who is Burt Myers’ son.

“The biggest thing here is making sure it’s a show,” Speeney said. “You can’t get too far out.”

Saturday’s win was his second career Modified win at Bowman Gray, the last of which came on Aug. 17 of last year.

“It feels good,” he said. “I’d like to get a first twin 25 as a qualifying contest or a 100-lapper in there. But we’re close.”

Chuck Wall continued his winning ways Saturday night, and he did it in several different ways.

Wall won the 53-lap QRC Stadium Stock 50, which was supposed to be 50 laps, but it was extended after a caution on lap 46.

Wall also picked the win in the same race last year, which also was extended to 53 laps. In addition, it was Wall’s third win of the year this season, his 37th career win.

“I couldn’t ask for anything better,” Wall said. “The car was great. I think the right-side tires have given up on me a little bit. These tires are pretty old.”

There were six cautions during the 53-lap race, but the last one happened on lap 46. On the single-file restart on lap 50, Wall started just ahead of Grayson Keaton.

Keaton went underneath Wall, but Wall was able to maintain his lead and took the checkered flag.

“(Grayson Keaton) had a bad call, a bad fast car,” Wall said. “I thought we was a little bit quicker than him in the beginning, but it might have been because he had a left-rear tire go down. When the caution came out and I seed the lineup, I said, ‘Dang, that tire looks low.’ And then going down that backstretch, I was like, “That looks really low.’ And the next lap, when it was on the rim, I said, ‘Yeah, he’s done.’”

Tyler McDonald finished third, followed by Luke Smith, and A.J. Sanders.

In the first 25-lap race in the Law Offices of John Barrow Sportsman Series, Sterling Plemmons held off runner-up Chase Robertson to win.

“I appreciate Chase running me clean,” Plemmons said. “He’s been very good this year.”

Zack Ore was third, followed by Ryan Robertson, and Billy Gregg.

In the second 20-lap Sportsman race, Chase Robertson defeated Plemmons, who was the runner-up after drawing “8” in the Madhouse Scramble. That drawing inverted the field for the second race there at 8.

“I knew it was going to be a good race,” Chase Robertson said. “I just hate that my brother had a tire go flat. He definitely would’ve won that race. But I’ll take them any way you can get them.”

Billy Gregg was third, Ore was fourth, and Connor Branch was fifth.

The 20-lap race in the QRC HVAC & Refrigeration Street Stock Series ended the night. The race was full of cautions, but Bryan Sykes Jr. prevailed after a one-lap dash to the finish.

It was Sykes’ second win of the season.

Sykes defeated runner-up Austin Jones, followed by Kevin Gilbert, Brad Lewis, and Bryan Sykes Sr., who is Bryan Jr.’s father.

Next week’s racing will be highlighted by the Elite Underground Twin 50s in the Brad’s Golf Cars Modified Series.

Because the 100-lap Modified race was rained out on May 31, the $6,000 Fans’ Challenge will carry over until next week’s Twin 50s. The top four qualifiers have the option to take the Fans’ Challenge and go to the rear of the field. If nobody wins the Fans’ Challenge in the first 50-lap race, the top four drivers after the invert of the field for the second 50-lap race will have the option to take the $6,000 Fans’ Challenge. If nobody wins next week’s $6,000 Fans’ Challenge, then it will carry over to the next 100-lap Modified race, which would be $9,000.

In addition to the Twin 50s in the Modified Series, there will be two 20-lap races in the Law Offices of John Barrow Sportsman Series, a 20-lap race in the QRC HVAC & Refrigeration Street Stock Series, and two 15-lap races in the Q104.1 Stadium Stock Series.