Team AmeriVet is heading back to Bowman Gray Stadium for the Cook Out Clash, and this time it’s doing so with a driver who knows every crack in the asphalt and every opinion in the grandstands.
Burt Myers, a living fixture at Bowman Gray and a name that barely needs introduction inside the Winston-Salem city limits, will again pilot the Team AmeriVet Cup car in NASCAR’s preseason short-track spectacle. For Myers, the return is about unfinished business as much as it is familiarity.
“Getting another shot in the Cup car at Bowman Gray means a lot to me,” Myers said. “Last time left us wanting more, and I’m grateful to Team AmeriVet and our partners for believing in me and giving us a chance to come back and do it right in front of these fans.”
If you’re assembling a short-track effort at Bowman Gray, the one thing you absolutely do not lack is local knowledge—and Team AmeriVet is leaning hard into that advantage. Myers’ understanding of the track’s rhythms is paired once again with veteran crew chief Tony Eury Jr., whose Cup Series résumé spans decades and disciplines.
“Bowman Gray is a place where experience and discipline matter,” Eury said. “Burt knows this track as well as anyone, and our focus is on giving him a car that can stay in the fight all night.”
And “all night” is doing some work here. Bowman Gray is not a place that forgives mistakes, half-measures, or fragile egos. Surviving the Cook Out Clash requires equal parts speed, patience, and a willingness to trade paint when diplomacy fails.
Beyond the racing, Team AmeriVet will once again use the event as a platform for its broader mission. Through the team’s 50 Vets a Week program, powered by ForgiveCo, the Bowman Gray weekend will result in $250,000 in veteran debt being erased. In 2025 alone, the team helped relieve more than $1 million in veteran debt, a commitment that continues to define the organization as much as its on-track results.
“We’re proud to return to Bowman Gray with Burt and Tony Jr., alongside partners who believe in us both on and off the track,” said team owner Rebecca Auchmoody. “Every lap we run helps us give back to veterans in a meaningful way.”
Team AmeriVet co-owner Casey Caudill echoed that sentiment, pointing to the unique combination of competition and cause that the Cook Out Clash represents.
“We’re extremely excited to be heading into the Cook Out Clash and to be working alongside a proven competitor like Burt Myers,” Caudill said. “Events like this represent everything we love about racing—hard competition, passionate fans, and the opportunity to showcase what our team is building both on and off the track.”
The Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium will once again bring NASCAR’s most famous quarter-mile to a national audience, airing on FOX and FS1. Practice and heat races begin Saturday evening, with Sunday’s last-chance qualifier setting the stage for the main event under the lights—a setting that, for Bowman Gray and Burt Myers, feels less like a novelty and more like home.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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