It’s never not a wild night at Bowman Gray Stadium, but Saturday’s season finale was exceptionally crazy all evening long at the place affectionately known as “The Madhouse.” All four divisions had tight championship battles that came right down to the final laps, and of course there was the typical drama that makes the Madhouse rock.

Tim Brown Loses 13th Championship

Tim Brown has won and lost championships at Bowman Gray Stadium every way possible throughout his career. One year ago, Brown won his record-setting 12th Modified track championship without winning a single race the entire season. This year, Brown entered the finale with four wins, and yet he still lost the title.

Brown needed to gain one more spot in the closing laps to keep Brandon Ward from winning his first championship. In an effort to gain that spot, Brown made a little bit too much contact with the back of Junior Snow’s car and turned Snow around. Snow made his displeasures known quickly as he slammed into the right rear of Brown’s car under caution. He then came back around and smashed the left front of Brown’s machine before finally exiting the race track. 

Ward went on to finish second in the 150-lap race to Burt Myers, which was good enough for Ward to claim his first Modified championship at Bowman Gray Stadium. 

Ironically, Ward cost Burt Myers an 11th championship in 2021 in pretty similar circumstances to how he won the championship on Saturday night. Brown went on to win the championship that night instead of Myers. What goes around comes around at Bowman Gray Stadium.

Tommy Neal Crashes Hard Into The Pit Wall

One of the most spectacular and frightening moments of the entire season came in Saturday’s Sportsman feature as Tommy Neal and Amber Lynn got together on the backstretch. The contact sent Neal headed straight into the turn three pit entrance where he slammed through the water barrels and the concrete barriers, sending water flying skyward. Lynn, meanwhile, crashed head-on into the tires that protect the edge of the guardrail at that particular spot on the track. Thankfully, both Neal and Lynn were physically unharmed in the crash.

👀 Grand theft golf cart, water bottle toss, and a massive impact!

Championship night at @BGSRacing has begun!

📺 https://t.co/ILTIzdLY4i pic.twitter.com/MmEexcHb14

— FloRacing (@FloRacing) August 20, 2023

Immediately after the crash, some hilarity ensued with Neal walking across the track into the infield, where he was met by his wife, strangely. Neal then tried to hijack one of the track worker’s golf carts before being convinced by his wife to walk back to the pit area instead. 

But as they were walking back towards the track, Neal spotted Lynn driving towards him under caution and he decided to hurl his water bottle at her car while his wife gave Lynn the double-bird salute. As FloRacing announcer Matthew Dillner said, “Neal is okay. But he is enraged.”