LAS VEGAS — Cowboy hats went flying into the dirt at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday, Carolina blue crowns tumbling through the lights and landing in the dirt that had become their proving ground. Moments later, those same hats would be soaked in champagne, sprinkled with popcorn, caked in arena dust and stained with tears.
These weren’t just any hats. They were meant for glass display cases, weathered brims belonging to real cowboys — men who believed, fought and trusted in God all season long.
And now, they were their champion crowns.
The Carolina Cowboys, a team built on family, faith and grit, led by general manager Austin Dillon (two-time NASCAR champion), head coach Jerome Davis (PBR co-founder and PRCA world champion) and assistant coach Robson Palermo (three-time PBR World Finals event winner), brought home their first PBR Camping World Team Series title, going a perfect 4-for-4 and defeating the Missouri Thunder 242.5-177.75 inside T-Mobile Arena.
Back in their locker room, the flag hanging on the wall said it all:
“Loyalty binds us together. Faith drives us forward.”
Bull riding is a sport of ups and downs — of on-top-of-the-world rolls and brutal wrecks that can tank a season in eight seconds flat. But just like baseball, every slump eventually ends, and momentum always circles back.
The Carolina Cowboys had their share of trials and tribulations this year. They were still taking punches during the regular-season finale in Glendale when Kyler Oliver went down, but finally peaked at the right time. When Oliver was sidelined, Carolina regrouped, signing Afonso Junior Quintino, a left-handed Brazilian who had been grinding through the Challenger Series, and leaning on rising talent Alvaro Ariel to help steady the lineup.
Head coach Jerome Davis said the Cowboys’ resilience was no accident. “From the start, we knew there’d be ups and downs,” he said. “No matter what got thrown in front of us, we couldn’t lose our focus. Every time something happened, the guys were ready for it — they just rolled it off our back and kept moving forward. And at the end of the day, we were the champs.”
Vegas became the place where all the cards fell in Carolina’s favor.
From the opening night, Carolina looked unshakable. They went perfect out of the gate, a clean 5-for-5 performance that reminded fans of the team’s early dominance. Jess Lockwood, a two-time PBR world champion, showed flashes of his old form, delivering key rides and veteran leadership.
By Day 3, the stage belonged to Clay Guiton, the 20-year-old firebrand from North Carolina whose energy fueled the Cowboys all season. In his first year wearing Carolina blue, the young, wild spark became the perfect balance to the team’s cool, calm and collected veterans — the kid who rides with a grin, talks fast and backs it all up in the chute.
Against the Arizona Ridge Riders, with the score tied after five frames, Guiton didn’t hesitate. He looked to his teammates and volunteered for the bonus round — an extra out that would become part of the first overtime in Teams Championship history.
“I looked around at the guys and told them I was gonna be the man,” he said. “I wanted that. I wanted the weight of the team’s season on my back.”
And he delivered, scoring 88 points on Milestone to seal the first overtime win in Teams Championship history and send Carolina to the title game.
Inside the final five bucking chutes Sunday afternoon, the Cowboys carried quiet confidence — the kind that comes from belief rather than bravado.
Cooper Davis, the 2016 PBR world champion, captain and veteran leader, set the tone with a steady opening ride. “This is something I’ve been waiting on for four years,” he said. “I’m really happy with where we ended up this year and couldn’t be prouder of the guys.”
As his ride score lit up the board, his son jumped and cheered from the sidelines, nearly as excited about missing school Monday as he was about watching his dad finally bring home a Teams title.
Brazilian powerhouse Adriano Salgado was next. With his brother Thiago Salgado of the Florida Freedom cheering in the crowd, he turned in 87.5 points on J Lazy S, pointing to his blood in the stands as he celebrated.
Then came the youngest Cowboy again — all heart and fire.
A few minutes earlier, Guiton had been the hero. In Sunday’s final game, he was the nail in the coffin. He nodded his head on El Chapo, fought through the full eight seconds and threw a thumbs-up toward his friends and family as the crowd erupted.
As soon as his boots hit the dirt, he sprinted to the arena edge, where fellow young guns John Crimber and Marco Rizzo were waiting. The three exchanged high-fives and cheers, laughing through the chaos — the Three Stooges, as the broadcast calls them.
Even with the game sealed, eight-time PBR World Finals qualifier Derek Kolbaba climbed aboard for one more ride, because that’s what Carolina does: they finish what they start.
When the final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard read what the Cowboys had been praying for all year — 242.5 to 177.75. Carolina, ranked fifth entering the postseason, was now the best in the world.
No one embodied Carolina’s spirit more than Clay Guiton, who was named the 2025 Teams Championship MVP after going a perfect 5-for-5 across the weekend. His rides were the blueprint of a young man rising into his moment:
83.75 points on Ghost Face
87.5 on Cherry Shot
87.5 on Hoobastank
88 on Milestone (in overtime)
86.75 on El Chapo (in the championship game)
“This means the world to me,” he said, holding his new buckle in the post-event haze. “I got my family over here, and to not only win the world title as a team but to win the MVP of the weekend — it means the world to me. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of guys to do it with. We had our ups and downs, but we came together and did it when it counted the most.”
Just last year, Guiton was traded. This year, he became the face of resilience. “If you really look at my stats, it almost looks like getting traded helped me,” he said.
After that move, Guiton immediately found his stride — winning the very next event, finishing top six in the world standings, placing fourth in the MVP race and ultimately capping it all with the Teams Championship MVP buckle in Las Vegas.
“I think that lit a fire under me that I needed,” he continued. “I realized that I needed to step up and be one of the top guys. And I’ve done that these last few months, and it’s all paid off now.”
When the final ride was done and the arena lights softened, faith took center stage. The moment the buzzer sounded, Adriano Salgado dropped to his knees behind the chutes, prayers of thanks pouring out in Portuguese. Out front, head coach Jerome Davis and his wife Tiffany Davis stood on stage, both in tears — tears of joy, of relief, of belief finally fulfilled. And when Tiffany Davis cries, it’s hard not to well up yourself. The Carolina blue lights reflected off her cheeks, shimmering like the champagne that had just flown moments before — the moment almost too pure for words.
“You know, we were so close last year and... boy, made me choke up. I’m telling you, this is awesome,” Jerome Davis said, his voice breaking between laughs. “Every time one of those guys rolled over the bucking chutes, they gave it everything they got. And, you know, we didn’t do it for each one of us. We did it for all of us. Every time we nodded our heads, those guys put it on the line every time. When you see the Carolina Cowboys, that’s what we’re about.”
Tiffany Davis, the team’s heart and true team mom, isn’t just a pivotal figure in the blue locker room. She’s the light on Sundays, the spokesperson for Christ and the embodiment of what it truly means to lead. Her prayers aren’t just for eight seconds, or for rides, or even for buckles. They’re for safety, for healing, for every single person under the arena lights and for every soul who will walk through the coliseum doors.
She was hoisted into the air, laughing and crying at the same time. “We went from one of the lowest lows to the highest highs,” she said. “It made it to where we appreciate it even more so, because we’ve been close. This was the group it was supposed to happen to — this group of guys. The Lord knew what He wanted.”
On stage beside her, Derek Kolbaba held his young daughter in his arms, mesmerized by the moment as she gazed off the stage. It was the perfect picture of what Carolina stands for: faith and family.
Back in the locker room, the celebration carried on. Arena dirt filled the champagne bottles that minutes earlier had showered down, and the air smelled of sweat, dust and victory. Then came the popcorn. Someone dumped an entire bag of buttery yellow popcorn over Jerome Davis’s head, coating his hat and shoulders. Tiffany Davis picked a few pieces off him and ate them through laughter. “It took us four years,” she said, shaking her head. “But that’s what makes it sweeter.”
As “We Are the Champions” played, Cooper Davis’s son danced between players, throwing his Carolina cap in the air. In the corner, Clay Guiton sat quietly, staring at his MVP buckle — boots still caked in dirt and champagne — just taking it all in.
When the dust settled, the Carolina Cowboys walked out of T-Mobile Arena as a team transformed.
They were no longer just a roster of bull riders chasing individual success. They were brothers — bound by loyalty, anchored by faith and united by a purpose far greater than themselves.
In the locker room, the flag that had hung on the wall still said it best:
“Loyalty binds us together. Faith drives us forward.”
The hats may have been stained, dented and dusted with popcorn, but underneath them were the truest cowboys of all — the ones who believed.
And this year, belief didn’t just take them to the top.
It took them all the way home.
Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media