Venturini Motorsports (VMS) and long-time marketing partner Zaxby’s have agreed on a full season sponsorship deal featuring John Wes Townley. Townley will be piloting VMS’s No.15 Zaxby’s Toyota Camry during the upcoming 20-event ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards schedule.
“What an incredible opportunity to come back with Venturini in such a big way after all the success we’ve had together. They have a dominant team and I’m expecting nothing less this coming season,” said Townley.
VMS will pair Townley with newly acquired crew chief Rich Lushes for their championship bid. With a decorated history Lushes joins VMS after spending the last two seasons with ThorSport Racing as car chief for Frank Kimmel and the reigning ARCA champions.
“This is a fantastic opportunity. I’m excited to be working with Venturini Motorsports and appreciate the confidence Billy (Venturini) has in me to lead the 15 team. This will be my first chance to crew chief in the ARCA series. I’m looking forward to building my team and getting on track with John Wes at Daytona,” said Rich Lushes.
VMS’s competition director, Billy Venturini, shared similar thoughts by adding, “I’m super excited for John Wes to be driving for us again this year. He’s come into his own the last year or so. At this point in his career I feel he’s got a chance to win every race he starts. The combination of Lushes (Rich) and Townley should prove to be solid combination for the upcoming season.”
Townley, a native of Watkinsville, GA, has raced part-time under the VMS banner since 2010 competing in both ARCA and NASCAR Nationwide events during that time. In 2013, Townley made headlines by winning the ARCA season opener at Daytona International Speedway and finished 11th overall in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) driver standings competing with Red Horse Racing.
“I started my career in ARCA and moved up the ranks quickly because of the direction and exposure my sponsor (Zaxby’s) was looking for at the time. As a driver it was a great opportunity and provided me with tremendous racing experience. Driving full-time again in the series is definitely a breath of fresh air. It gives me an opportunity to be more free-spirited and focus my efforts on consistency and winning a championship,” added Townley.
This is Townley’s second major offseason announcement to be released in recent weeks. In December, Townley publicized his move from Red Horse Racing to join Wauters Motorsports and the No.5 Zaxby’s Toyota Tundra team for a full season campaign in the NCWTS series.
Townley will kick-off the ’14 season at Daytona as defending race champion during ARCA’s 62nd season opener Lucas Oil 200 presented by MAVTV American Real which airs live on FOX SPORTS 1 Saturday, February 15th at 4:15 p.m. EST.
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