John Wes Townley Kansas Rewind/Charlotte and Iowa Preview

Poised to post a solid top five finish in Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway, a dry fuel cell coming to the white flag turned John Wes Townley’s No. 25 Zaxby’s Chevrolet into a bright, yellow soap box derby racer during the final lap.

With five laps remaining and Townley running fourth, the lack of fuel was becoming common among competitors throughout the field.

The Watkinsville, Ga. native was banking on nursing his Silverado home to a potential win or runner-up finish as two drivers in front of him were forced onto pit road for a splash of fuel.

Instead, Townley wound up suffering the same fate as many other drivers in the event when his Chevrolet engine began sputtering with just over a lap remaining. Townley was left to coast around the 1.5-mile oval at a greatly, reduced rate of speed.

“That’s a tough way to end a race when we had a top five within our grasp,” said Townley, who slipped from fourth to 12th during the final lap.

“I got a little emotional when we ran out of fuel. But overall, my crew chief (Michael Shelton) and the entire Athenian Motorsports team gave me a great truck at Kansas. The fuel deal was just a roll of the dice. But I’m really confident going into the truck race at Charlotte next weekend.”

Townley remains sixth in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver standings, just one point out of fifth.

“I’m just glad that we’ve finally got some truck races coming up following that long layoff,” Townley said. “I’ve got some really good tracks coming up for me, like Charlotte, Dover and Texas. I can’t wait to run those races.”

Townley will pull double-duty next weekend when he races the truck at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday night. Following that event, he’ll fly directly to Iowa to compete in the Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway on Sunday May 17th.  Townley will have an early wakeup call on Saturday. His first practice session at Iowa will be at 9 a.m. central.

“I’ll be super busy next weekend,” Townley said. “Friday night is going to be interesting, considering that I’ll be flying halfway across the country and will need to be ready to roll early the next morning. It will be a challenge, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Athenian Motorsports PR