John Bolen Takes Long-Awaited Alabama 200 Victory at Montgomery

The wait is over for John Bolen, as he celebrated his first career win in the Alabama 200 at Montgomery Motor Speedway on Saturday night.

Bolen, a two-time Show Me the Money Series champion, has been knocking on the door of an Alabama 200 win for several years. The Jasper, Alabama native finished runner-up to Casey Roderick in 2018, third in 2021, and runner-up in both 2022 and 2023.

This time, Bolen would not be denied. He took the lead from Carson Brown on a restart with five laps remaining, scoring a popular victory in front of the home-state fans.

“All I can say is it’s been a long time coming," said Bolen. "I feel like Earnhardt at Daytona. It got away from him for so long, man."

After qualifying 15th, it was a steady march to the front of the field for Bolen. He passed Jim Wall for second on lap 177, which put him in position to contend for the win during a pair of late cautions.

While Bolen could not capitalize on the first restart with 11 laps to go, another quick caution gave Bolen another shot at Brown, who had dominated the race. Bolen was up to the task when given that second opportunity.

“That last restart, I was like, this is all for it," said Bolen. "I’ve got to do the best one. He bobbled a little bit. I probably hit the best restart I’ve ever hit. Hit our marks, and did what we’ve been trying to do for a long time.

“We’re a mid-tier team competing with the big guys. It feels good to finally check this one off. I’ve got to thank everybody that’s been behind us for so long.”

With the win, Bolen joins a prestigious list of former victors in the event, including NASCAR champions such as Richard Petty, Bobby Allison and Chase Elliott.

“It’s about time," said a jubilant Bolen. "About time. That’s awesome. It means a lot to us to be on that list.”

Brown, coming off two Super Late Model wins during the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna, led virtually the entire second half of the 200-lap contest in his Anthony Campi Racing No. 81. However, the late restart dashed his hopes of what would have otherwise been a convincing victory.

“A big thank you to Anthony Campi and the crew for giving me a really fast PayCafe ebb Logistics Chevrolet," said Brown. "It just didn’t really work our way on that last restart. Just got picked up in one and two and then couldn’t really make it back up.”

“I try to make it fast on the restarts, and we actually maintained pretty well for most of them. It just didn’t work out on that last one.”

Another local favorite, Jim Wall, took third place honors in the event. While he did take time in his post-race comments to apologize for an incident earlier in the race with Zack Dixon, he was also proud of his team's effort to finish on the podium.

“First and foremost, I want to apologize to Zack Dixon," said Wall. "I got into him, and he got turned around there. I’ve got a lot of respect for Zack and his family. They’re good folks. I hated to get into him like that.

“We had a great night, the car was there all night long. I was hoping those two would get to racing a little harder at the end and we might be able to put the nose in there. I’m happy for John and his folks. Me and him have had our run-ins, no doubt about it, but he earned that one, no doubt, so congratulations to him.”

The next race for the Show Me the Money Series is the Spring Explosion 100, scheduled for April 5. Street Stocks, Late Model Sportsman and Crown Stocks will join the Pro Late Models for that event.

-Photo credit: Zach Evans

61st Alabama 200 Unofficial Results