Go to content Go to navigation Go to recent PR reports Go to search

John Wes Townley-Post Talladega

Monday October 6, 2008

 

7th-PLACE FINISH FOR TOWNLEY IN FIRST CAREER START AT TALLADEGA

CONCORD, NC (10/6/08) John Wes Townley, driver of the No. 09 Zaxby’s/SPS/BB&T Ford Fusion made his first career start at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend, bringing home a 7th-place finish in the Talladega ARCA RE/MAX 250.

With event No. 20 of the 21 scheduled events complete, the Zaxby’s Racing team sits seventh in the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series Championship point standings after posting their seventh top-10 and 14th top-15 finish of the season. The crew, led by Keith Hinkein is only 30 points behind sixth place, Patrick Sheltra, with one race remaining in the 2008 schedule.

The SunTrust Rookie of the Year contender was the third driver to attempt a qualifying run on Thursday afternoon. The No. 09 machine circled the 2.66-mile oval in 52.232 seconds at a speed of 183.336 mph posting the 16th fastest qualifying time.

As soon as the green flag flew for the 46th-running of the Talladega ARCA RE/MAX 250, Townley began advancing positions one by one. By lap 3 the Watkinsville, GA native was running in the 13th position and was up to 11th when the afternoon’s first yellow was waved on lap 12 for a 12 car pile-up on the backstretch.

Crew chief, Keith Hinkein made the call to leave the No. 09 machine out on the track to gain valuable track position and when the green flag was waved on lap 22 the Zaxby’s Ford Fusion was scored seventh. Townley continued his march to the front and was listed in the sixth position when the second caution flag flew on lap 28.

After opting not to pit, Townley would restart the event in the second position and would run there for the next 12 laps until the third yellow flag of the afternoon was waved at lap 50. This time Townley would bring his Zaxby’s Ford down pit road for right-side tires and fuel.

When the field went back green at lap 56, the Zaxby’s Ford Fusion was scored in the 11th position.

Over the next 12 laps Townley would be shuffled back as far as 24th and at lap 68 the 18-year-old rookie would barely miss a wreck with Scott Speed bringing out the fifth caution of the day. Hinkein chose to leave the No. 09 Zaxby’s Ford out for track position because the team was good on fuel and the No. 09 machine would restart in the 14th position on lap 73.

With 18 laps remaining, Townley found his way to the 10th position and was steadily gaining ground on the frontrunners. He was ninth when the last caution flag of the day was waved when the No. 48 of Ben Stancil lost a tire and the field would line up for a single file restart. Townley would pick up two more positions in the closing five laps and crossed the finish line in seventh.

“I learned a lot today,” stated John Wes Townley. “This was only my second superspeedway race so I went into it with an open mind and just tried to stay out of trouble, which we did. It was a good point’s day as I’m sure we gained some ground in the ARCA standings. All in all, it was a great effort from the RAB Racing team.”

From Talladega Superspeedway, John Wes Townley and the No. 09 team will head to Lowe’s Motor Speedway where Townley is scheduled to run the Dollar General 300 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series on Friday, October 10th.

Flag-to-Flag coverage of the Dollar General 300 from Lowe’s Motor Speedway will commence on Friday, October 10th beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight time on ESPN2. The race will also be broadcast on the Performance Racing Network at 8:00 p.m. ET. Practice for the event will be televised on ESPN2 at 6:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 9th, and qualifying will air on ESPN2 at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, October 10th.

For more information on RAB Racing log onto www.teamrab.com

For more information on Zaxby’s log onto www.zaxbys.com

For more information on SPS log onto www.southernpan.com

For more information on BB&T log onto www.bbt.com

Do you want the chance to win a free Frontstretch T-Shirt, and are you really good at talking about NASCAR? Well, we have the perfect opportunity for you. Our staff will be giving away a free T-Shirt to the reader who makes the best post in our Frontstretch Forum between now and the end of the season. So, what makes a good post? It’s pretty hard to impress us, but here are some things we are looking for:

Does your post spark passionate reactions from other readers? Are you commenting on meaningful NASCAR-related events? Do your posts have substance? In other words, “Dale Jr. is the best driver ever” or “Danica Patrick is hot” will not cut it.

So go to the Frontstretch Forums, post early, post often, and post well! We’ll announce the winner following the final race of the season at Homestead.

This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Kim DeHaven.

 

©2000 - 2008 Kim DeHaven and Frontstetch.com. Thanks for visiting the Frontstretch!