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[/media-credit]TOLEDO, Ohio (May 21, 2012) – – Despite limited sponsorship, Josh Williams and his family-owned Josh Williams Motorsports (JWM) team continued to show that they can contend with the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards best of the best’ in Sunday’s Menards 200 presented by Federated Car Care.
After practice on Saturday, the team adjusted their No. 02 Southwest Florida Cable Construction Ford Fusion,accordingly for Menards pole qualifying presented by Ansell. During time trials, Williams laid down the 17th quickest lap and noted that he was confident in his racecar’s abilities for the upcoming contest.
The green flag waived shortly after 2:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon with the 18-year old quickly on the move in his blue oval. Rising from 17th to 14th in the first 30 laps of the event, Williams would fall to 15th and remain there through the race’s first 65 circuits.
A caution allowed some of the leaders to pit road with the JWM team electing to keep their Port Charlotte, Florida native on the track placing him ninth for the lap 69 restart. Being knocked around like a Ping-Pong ball from competitors on newer tires, Williams showed great throttle and car control after being knocked sideways shortly after the restart.
Another caution on lap 73 allowed the Floridian to catch his breath and regroup. Still, despite the shuffle, Williams’ automobile remained in the top-10 and by lap 75 held steady in eighth. 10 laps later, he had climbed to seventh.
By the halfway point, Williams had dropped to 11th after being overtaken by a wad of cars on fresher Hoosier rubber. Still, Williams wasn’t going down without a fight and his lap times were evident of that.
A caution for a melee on the backstretch shortly after the half-way mark allowed the prime opportunity for the Concord, North Carolina-based team to bring their driver to pit road for tires and fuel. Despite a congested pit road, Williams would realign in the field 15th for the lap 117 restart.
Fishing for position on the restart, Williams would briefly slide back in the running order before his car began to adapt to the track’s condition which saw the No. 02 climb to 14th by lap 140.
With fifty laps remaining, the former INEX Legend Car Series star still sat 14th but had the top-10 competitors within his sight. Through the race’s final laps, Williams was able to teeter into the top-10 before being knocked back into the 13th position when the checkered flag flew.
“Parts of that race were real dirty,” offered Williams. “You know there are only four of us working in the shop full-time, myself included and there really seemed to be a lack of respect by some of the other guys out there for literally no reason. Trust me, we try and make big things happen with the little that we do have. We were more than capable of finishing inside the top-10, but we weren’t going to destroy a racecar to do it. 13th is good, but we were a lot better. Still, we’ll take the consistency in stride and march on. I’m really proud of the guys on this team and especially want to thank my parents for their continued support. We’ll be back and ready to get after it again in Elko.”
Even though they didn’t finish inside the top-10 in the finishing order, the JWM team did march into the top-10 as far as the championship chase is concerned. With their third straight top-15 run, Williams now sits 10th in the ARCA Racing Series point standings sitting just 60 points from ninth place runner Matt Lofton.
“We’ve made huge and I mean huge gains in the points over the last three races, so that’s encouraging,” offered Williams. “We just have to find some more sponsorship for our JWM entry, so we can keep going. We have some things in the works; I’m just hoping it all materializes soon.”
Next up on the tour is the sixth stop of the season at Elko (Minn.) Speedway, a new track for the series’ 60th anniversary tour. The Akona 200 presented by Federated Car Care is set for Saturday, June 2. The green flag is set to fly shortly after 8:00 p.m. in the one-day show with live timing and scoring plus radio coverage available through the ARCA Racing Network online at ARCARacing.com.
For more information on Josh Williams, his Josh Williams Motorsports team and sponsorship opportunities for the 2012 season please connect to the team’s official website at Joshwracing.com.
