A night of riding in the lead draft and biding his time went wrong late in the going during Saturday night’s Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway when John Wes Townley’s No. 25 Zaxby’s Chevrolet was collected in the first of two “big ones” on the 2.5-mile tri-oval.
With 18 laps remaining, Townley avoid the calamity directly in front of him only to see his Chevrolet swept up in the second wave of crashing on the backstretch at the world center of racing. The end result was a 10 minute, 31 second red flag period for cleanup.
“We had a really good Zaxby’s Chevrolet and were trying to pick our way toward the front,” Townley said. “When they started wrecking in front of me, I was able to initially avoid the spinning cars. But the whole eventually closed and there was nothing I could do.
“I hate it because Mike Ford and the entire Athenian Motorsports team gave me a great car.”
It initially appeared that Townley would be saddled with a 31st-place finish. But Ford and the AMS team sprang into action to make repairs and got Townley back onto the speedway in a batter Chevrolet. The quick work paid off after Townley finished 19th in the final running order.
“It was definitely worth going back out and picking up those valuable car owner points,” Townley said.
After celebrating Independence day on the beach at Daytona, Townley will have a quick turnaround as he heads north to pull double-duty at Kentucky Speedway. Fifth in driver points in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, he will drive the No. 05 Zaxby’s Chevrolet in Thursday night’s UNOH 225.
He’ll turn around and compete in Friday night’s Kentucky 300 on the 1.5-mile paved oval near Cincinnati, Ohio.
“I’ve raced in ARCA, Trucks and Xfinity over the past decade at Kentucky and that place has really changed over the years,” Townley said. “The racing surface has gotten really bumpy and is starting to get abrasive.
“But I still like our chances to perform well there. I really like the mile-and-a-half tracks and look forward to racing twice there next week.”
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