PARK CITY, Utah -- Brian Shimer closed in on a fifth Winter Games appearance by finishing second in Friday's race at the U.S. Bobsled Federation Olympic trials.

Todd Hays, who already qualified for the Feb. 8-24 Olympics by leading the overall World Cup standings, won the four-man race in a combined time of 1 minute, 34.40 seconds.

Shimer, who turns 40 in April, combined two respectable starts with stellar driving down the 1,335-meter track at the Utah Olympic Park to finish in 1:34.53 and put himself in good shape for the second available berth.

Shimer will qualify for the Salt Lake City Games unless he drives terribly Saturday during the second and final race of the 4-man trials.

Mike Dionne and Joe McDonald were third and fourth, respectively, in the 4-man rankings after Friday's race.

Dionne finished in 1:34.98, McDonald in 1:35.08.

Knowing this winter would be his last as a competitive bobsled driver, Shimer skipped the first half of the World Cup season to heal from knee injuries and to assemble a winning team.

"I probably felt more stress and anxiety these last two weeks than at any other Olympic trials or Olympic Games," he said. "I had to prove to all the doubters and the people who didn't believe I had a little bit left in me."

Shimer didn't win a medal as a member of the 1988, 1992, 1994 and 1998 U.S. Olympic bobsled teams. At the Nagano Games, he missed a bronze medal by two-hundredths of a second.

"I believe now, more than before, that we can win a medal or two medals at the Games," he said. "You won't see everything I've got until the Olympic Games."