John Wes Townley flexed lots of muscle in the No.05 Jive Communications Chevrolet on Thursday at Kansas Speedway after finishing fourth, second and first in the three extended practice sessions for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at the 1.5-mile oval in Kansas City, Kansas.
Townley backed up his practice speeds by earning his first career NASCAR pole position during qualifying on Friday afternoon for that night’s Toyota Tundra 250.
After rolling off the line first during Friday night’s longest race of the season for the Truck Series, Townley kept his Chevrolet solidly in the top four until the countdown clock struck zero signaling a competition caution. Townley restarted fourth on the ensuing restart. But while entering Turn 3 on the first green flag lap of the restart, a fellow competitor unsuccessfully attempted to make it three-wide in the corner, got loose, shot up the track and tagged Townley’s Silverado.
Townley managed to keep his No. 05 Chevrolet out of the wall, only to be clipped by another competitor who failed to slow to a cautious pace after the yellow flag had been displayed.
When all was said and done, Townley’s potential winning truck resembled a Saturday night demolition derby special. Following 15 laps in the garage for repairs, Townley was relegated to re-entering the event to accumulate championship points.
“That was one of the biggest disappointments I’ve ever experienced in racing,” said Townley, who was credited with a 26-place finish. “It was (crew chief) Michael Shelton’s final race with us, and we wanted to send him out with a win. We got him the pole, but we all wanted to win the race.”
Townley will now direct his attention to the one-mile oval in Delaware known as the monster mile.
“I’ve always said that Dover, Kansas and Michigan are my favorite race tracks,” Townley said. “I’m excited about us going to Dover this week. We’re taking the car that we won with at Las Vegas last fall. And I’m already used to working with my new crew chief, Jimmy Villeneuve, who was our Truck Chief.
“He and the Athenian Motorsports team have prepared a great Chevrolet for Dover. I’m confident we’ll show lots of speed and can be a factor to win the race.”
The Dover 200 at Dover International Speedway is set to roll on Friday May 13th at 5:30 p.m. eastern. It will air live on Fox Sports 1.
Athenian Motorsports PR
