John Wes Townley Kentucky Review/Dylan Lupton New Hampshire Preview

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In: Xfinity Series News

Two nights of racing at Kentucky Speedway last week resulted in a mixed bag of results for NASCAR driver John Wes Townley.

The 25-year-old driver from Watkinsville, Ga. flexed plenty of muscle in his No. 05 Zaxby’s Chevrolet during Saturday night’s UNOH 225 for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Starting seventh after qualifying was rained out, Townley ran in the top 10 nearly the entire night and appeared to be a good bet to finish as high as fourth after bolting on a new set of right side tires under caution with seven laps remaining.

Just as he made a daring move to the outside of David Gilliland just past the start-finish line, the spinning truck of Ben Kennedy came across the nose of Townley’s Chevrolet. Townley’s Silverado sustained little damage while Kennedy’s No. 11 Toyota wound up in the catchfence.

But NASCAR red flagged the race with five laps remaining and it never restarted due to the anticipated time to make repairs to the fence. Defending series Matt Crafton was declared the winner while Townley was forced to settle for eighth.

“We were coming there at the end and I know we could have finished in the top five, maybe as high as fourth,” said Townley, who remains fifth in the Truck Series driver standings as the circuit prepares to head to the popular dirt race at Eldora Speedway on Wednesday night July 22nd. “Ben (Kennedy) came out of nowhere and there was nothing I could do. I’m just glad he’s ok.”

The following night’s Xfinity Series race proved to be a struggle for Townley shortly after the green flag waved over the 40 car field to start the Kentucky 300.

On lap two, his No. 25 Zaxby’s Chevrolet went high in Turn 4 and got loose. He nearly pulled the car out of the spin, only to slide into the frontstretch grass. While he did a masterful job keeping the car out of the wall, Townley caught a bad break created by all of the rain that had fallen in Sparta, Ky. Townley wound up losing two laps as his Chevrolet sat stuck in the muddy grass.

After re-entering the race, Townley would wind up fighting a loose-handling car for the remainder of the evening. His night came to a premature end with 36 laps to go when he made contact with the Turn 2 wall, leaving Townley saddled with a 32nd-place finish.

Dylan Lupton will handle the driving chores for the No. 25 Zaxby’s Chevrolet when the Xfinity Series rolls into Loudon, N.H. for Saturday’s Lakes Region 200 on the magic mile.

Townley will return to action next week in the Truck Series event at Eldora Speedway on Wednesday night July 22nd before heading to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Xfinity Series race on Saturday July 25th.

Athenian Motorsports PR

Speedway Digest Staff
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