Myers Does It All for First Tour Title
Wins season finale to claim Whelen Southern Modified crown
Charlotte, NC — Burt Myers led all but one lap in winning the UNOH Southern Slam 150 Thursday night and, in the process, leapfrogged three title contenders to claim the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour championship.
It’s the first NASCAR touring series championship for the Walnut Cove, N.C., driver. He had finished in the top four in points in four of the previous five years, including a runner-up finish in the tour’s inaugural season in 2005.
This season, the tour’s all-time leader in Coors Light Pole Awards and top fives used a strong run to close out the year with the one honor that has eluded him.
“I said this three or four times tonight,” said Burt Myers, “it kind of hit me last year when we went to the banquet when George (Brunnhoelzl III) won the title. They were putting the little sayings up on the big screen, and it said, ‘Burt Myers, the most decorated driver never to win a tour championship.’ I never really looked at it that way until I read it up there on the screen.
“I didn’t like it very much; they can take that off now.”
Myers entered the final race, which was run on the quarter-mile on the front stretch of Charlotte Motor Speedway, fourth in points and trailing first-place James Civali by 41.
Civali, however, was involved in several racing incidents and finished 16th. One of the wrecks also included second-place Andy Seuss, who wound up 18th. Earlier in the day, Seuss had won the Coors Light Pole Award. With less than 20 to go, third-place L.W. Miller got caught up in a fracas with Civali while running in third. He was able to make it back to finish sixth.
That left the door wide open for Myers, who took home the championship by 31 points over Miller (1,609-1,578). Civali finished with 1,575, followed by Seuss with 1,566 and John Smith with 1,555.
“Our main goal was to sit on the pole and win the race,” Myers said. “We were lucky enough to start on the pole. I knew we had a really good car in race trim.
“You know, it’s funny, you can make a plan on how you want to do things, but you just never know how it’s going to turn out until it comes out in the end. And as I saw (Seuss) and (Civali) having problems, and I knew (Miller) was behind me, it became our championship and our race to lose, and, hey, we were fortunate enough to win the whole thing tonight.”
Myers also mentioned the long climb he and his team made after starting the season with such a disappointing 17th-place finish at Atlanta.
“Atlanta was our worst race and I really thought it was going to put us out of the championship,” Myers added. “We kind of eased our way back up in the thing.”
Earlier in the year, Myers also won his fourth track title in the Modified Division at Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., and the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series North Carolina championship.
“If you can believe Burt Myers is at a loss for words, I’m close,” said Burt Myers. “Bowman Gray champion, state champion and tour champion. Sounds pretty good to me.”
Myers qualified seventh but drew the pole when the 10 fastest qualifiers redrew for starting position. The only lap he didn’t lead was 137 when Tim Brown nosed ahead on the restart, but Myers quickly moved back into the lead.
Brown finished second in the race, while Zach Brewer posted his best finish of the season in third. John Smith was fourth and Daniel Hemric fifth.
For Brown, the runner-up position came off his most recent start on the tour when he won at Langley Speedway in September.
“I thought we had the car to beat in practice earlier today,” Brown said. “The car was real tight in the corners and I couldn’t get a run off of them like I wanted to. We had a good finish and I look forward to coming and driving for T&C Motorsports next year.
After Miller, Frank Fleming was seventh, followed by Johnny Sutton, Jonny Kievman, and Thomas Stinson.
The race was slowed four times by caution with the one multicar incident bringing out the red flag 50 laps from the finish to clean up the track after Seuss hit the Turn 4 wall.
Fleming rebounded from an 18th-place finish at Tri-County three weeks ago to win the Featherlite Move of the Race Award. Brewer used his third-place finish to win the Coca-Cola Move of the Race award after starting 12th in the race. Seuss won the Coors Light Pole award and Mike Norman won his second Sunoco Rookie of the Race Award this season.
The UNOH Southern Slam 150 will air on SPEED Saturday, Oct. 16 at 2:30 p.m.
Sources: Jason Christley/NASCAR PR
RESULTS | LAP-BY-LAP RECAP | AUDIO: POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH RACE WINNER BURT MYERS | AUDIO: POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH SECOND-PLACE TIM BROWN AND THIRD-PLACE ZACH BREWER