Twelve-time Bowman Gray Stadium NASCAR Modified Champion Tim Brown suffered a broken hand in a crash during the first of two Ortega Twin 50’s on Saturday night. 

The incident occurred on a lap three restart when a car was stopped on the inside of turn one coming to the green flag. The field took the green and many didn’t realize Brandon Butner’s immobile car until it was too late. A total of 10 cars were involved in the pileup including the Hayes Jewelers No. 83 of Brown. 

Brown, who recently became the all-time wins leader at Bowman Gray, went to the pit area and then was seen by track paramedics before being taken to a local hospital for evaluation. X-rays revealed a broken scaphoid bone in his left hand. The scaphoid is one of the eight carpal bones in the wrist, the one closest to the thumb.  

“My hand was resting on the steering wheel when it all happened,” Brown explained. “I got hit so hard from behind that it slung my hand over. We figured out that it hit the bracket that holds the window net. It was swollen real bad and I thought that I had also broken my arm. My thumb was turning colors and they decided it was best to go to the hospital. I guess the broken bone was cutting off circulation to my thumb. In the ambulance, they moved or reset the bone and the color came back to my thumb and a lot of the pain went away.” 

Brown will get his hand examined in depth by OrthoCarolina this week but says that he plans on practicing Saturday morning at the Stadium. He says that he feels he should be good to race on Saturday night despite the broken bone. 

"I just want to thank everyone,” Brown added. “From the people that took care of me in the ambulance to the folks at the hospital. But the most impressive thing was that so many people helped my team get the car loaded up and the rig home. There were people from other teams that pitched in and that is truly special. My family was out of town, so that help and help getting me back from the hospital was so appreciated."

The 53-year old driver scored his 99th career win at the Stadium on June 5, breaking a deadlock with Sportsman division great Jimmy Johnson, for sole possession of the all-time wins record at the famed 1/4-mile oval. The Tobaccoville, North Carolina driver has since scored two more victories, bringing his total to 101 victories. 

With two weeks to go in the Stadium season, Burt Myers leads the NASCAR Brad’s Golf Cars Modified division standings over defending division champ Brandon Ward and Chris Fleming. Brown sits in third 93-markers out of the top-spot. The ground-pounding Modifeds headline August 17 action with a pair of 25-lap features. 

The Stadium season will conclude on August 24 with the AGSouth Farm Credit 150. The championship night will have added drama with double-points awarded in all divisions. All Bowman Gray Stadium races are streamed live on Saturday nights at 7:45 p.m. ET on FloRacing.

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