Tim Brown added another milestone to his legendary resume at North Carolina’s Bowman Gray Stadium last weekend, by winning his 12th Modified championship and extending his own record for the most titles of any driver in Bowman Gray Stadium history.

Amazingly, Brown won the championship without winning a single race this season. In the 73-year history of Bowman Gray, that feat has now only been accomplished on four occasions. It’s the first time the champion went winless since Don Smith won the championship in 1979. Pee Wee Jones was the first winless champion in 1958, and Ken Rush was the second driver to do so in 1966. Brown almost went winless and won the championship in 2005, but he won the season finale, his only victory of the season.

Winless seasons are extremely rare for Brown. After all, he has 94 victories at Bowman Gray, the most of any Modified driver. He’s also just four wins shy of tying Jimmy Johnson for the most all-time wins across all divisions at The Madhouse. 

So yeah, Brown knows how to win and win often, which is what makes this season so confusing and emotionally conflicting for him.

Brown was very blunt in describing his disappointment with the season entering the finale, and even after winning the championship. He even went as far as calling the year “dismal” regardless of whether or not he came away with the title. The thing he was most upset about was not being able to take his young son, Cam, to victory lane for any race wins this year, something he promised he would do at the start of the season.

Interview: Tim Brown Wins Emotional 12th Championship At Bowman Gray Stadium

But the emotional rollercoaster he and his family experienced in the seven days leading up to the record 12th championship did cause Brown to enjoy it perhaps a little bit more than he was expecting to.

For those that aren’t aware, Brown’s father-in-law suffered a heart attack in Brown’s race hauler in the pits the week before, leading to quadruple bypass surgery. On the complete opposite end of the emotional spectrum, his sister’s family welcomed a child into the world in the middle of the week. So Brown and co. experienced plenty of highs and lows that put accomplishments on the race track into perspective.

It's just racing. Winning races and championships may be important, but family always comes first. The first people Brown saw when getting out of the car in the infield grass after clinching the championship were his kids.

While holding his son Cam, he pointed to the rest of their family and his race team and told Cam, “This right here is what it’s all about.”

Family. That’s what it’s always about.

Sellers Closes The National Championship Gap

Defending NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion Peyton Sellers closed the gap to points leader Layne Riggs this weekend. Riggs now leads Sellers by just 16 points. 

Riggs and Sellers were competing head-to-head on Saturday night at Virginia’s South Boston Speedway in twin 65-lap features.

Sellers came away with the victory in the first race, while Riggs finished two spots behind in third. In Race Two, Riggs scored the victory, but Sellers finished right behind him in second-place.

The second versus third-place finishes for Sellers over Riggs allowed him to close the gap by eight points on Saturday night with just four weeks left to score points towards the national championship standings. The weekend drivers can score points towards the national standings is the weekend of September 17.

It’s impressive that Sellers has closed the gap as much as he has, especially when you look at the basic statistics.

Riggs has made 31 starts to Sellers’ 27 starts. Riggs has 14 victories to Sellers’ 10 wins. Riggs also has one more top-five finish than Sellers with 23 to Sellers’ 22. He also has one more top-10 finish with 26 to Sellers’ 25 top-10 finishes. 

Meanwhile, Craig Von Dohren still sits a distant third behind Riggs and Sellers, but he too is chipping away at the margin. Last week Von Dohren trailed Riggs by 50 points. After scoring a victory at Grandview Speedway this past weekend, Von Dohren gained six points and now trails by 44. Is it probable that Von Dohren wins the title? No, but it’s certainly a possibility, albeit a longshot.

National Championship Points

NASCAR Roots On FloRacing This Week

Friday

6:30 p.m. ET – Modifieds at Autodrome Granby

Saturday

5:30 p.m. ET – NASCAR Modifieds at Riverhead Raceway

5:30 p.m. ET – NASCAR Pinty’s Series at Circuit ICAR

6:30 p.m. ET – Must See Sprints at Jennerstown Speedway

7 p.m. ET – Late Model Stock Cars at Hickory Motor Speedway

7 p.m. ET – NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Langley Speedway

7:30 p.m. ET – Reveal the Hammer Series at Berlin Raceway

8:30 p.m. ET – Sprint Cars and Modifieds at Meridian Speedway

Sunday

3 p.m. ET – ARCA Menards Series at Milwaukee Mile