CONCORD, N.C. (November 19, 2012) – John Wes Townley and the Zaxby’s Racing Team headed to Homestead-Miami Speedway this past weekend to compete in the 200-mile NASCAR Camping World Truck Series finale. Unfortunately, an early-race transmission failure saw Townley head to the garage area for repairs that would cost the No. 09 team a number of laps and leave him with a 32nd-place finish.
In the weekend’s only scheduled NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice, Townley posted speeds fast enough for the 20th position. In Friday afternoon’s time trials, the 22-year-old driver found even more speed, touring the 1.5-mile oval in 32.430 seconds, at an average speed of 166.512 mph, placing him 15th in the starting lineup for Friday night’s race.
From the drop of the green flag later that evening, Townley expressed concerns over his No. 09 Zaxby’s Toyota Tundra. Coming to the attention of the Chris Rice-led pit crew 15 laps in to the 140-lap race, the Zaxby’s Racing Team determined that a transmission failure was causing the issues. Swift adjustments saw Townley return to the track 22 laps down, where he would settle in for the remainder of the race, taking the checkered flag in the 32nd position.
Townley wraps up the 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season in the 16th position. Townley shattered his previous records this season, posting his highest starting position of eighth and highest finishing position of eighth. Townley completed 2998 of 3263 laps he contested (91.9%), posting two top-10 finishes, an average starting position of 19.8, and an average finishing position of 19.2. RAB Racing concludes their first NCWTS season 17th in the owner’s standings.
“Well, that certainly wasn’t the way we wanted to end our season,” said Townley. “We hoped to close out the year with a better finish than that. But, the guys did a great job building a fast Zaxby’s Toyota Tundra, and we ran lap times comparable to the guys in the top 10 after we changed out the transmission. Chris Rice and all the guys on this RAB Racing team put a lot of work into the 2012 season. While we didn’t get the finish we wanted, we’ll leave here with our heads high, knowing we gave it our all each and every week.”
