Less than a week after matching his career-best finish in NASCAR’s XFINITY Series, John Wes Townley duplicated the same feat by posting the top finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career during Friday night’s WinStar World Casino 400k at Texas Motor Speedway.
After qualifying fifth for Friday evening’s 167 lap event on the 1.5-mile oval in Fort Worth, the 25-year-old Townley managed to keep his No. 05 Zaxby’s Chevrolet in the top five during the first half of the race despite coping with a tight-handling Silverado.
During the mid-point of the race in Texas, the Watkinsville, Ga. native was forced to ride out a lengthy green flag segment on a set of tires not to his liking. But Townley managed to keep his Hendrick Motorsports-powered Chevrolet on the lead lap and capitalized when a caution flag waved for debris late in the event.
Following speedy pit service by his Athenian Motorsports over-the-wall team, Townley restarted sixth.
Townley passed Johnny Sauter on the final lap and jumped to third on the leaderboard as the checkered flag was displayed, resulting in his career-best finish in a NASCAR race.
“Everything seemed to fall in place for us tonight,” Townley said afterwards. “Zaxby’s and Athenian Motorsports gave me a great Chevrolet and I was able to keep us in contention all night and got into position there at the end to have a great finish.”
Townley hopes to continue his momentum next weekend when the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series visits Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis on Saturday night June 13th.
“We’ve been running well in the truck and there’s no reason we can’t go to St. Louis and post a solid finish,” Townley said. “Gateway is a pretty flat track with two distinct corners. I’m sure my team will have a great truck for us there. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Athenian Motorsports PR
