TALLADEGA, Alabama (May 2, 2012) – – Fresh off their first top-10 of the 2012 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards season at Salem (Ind.) Speedway last weekend, Josh Williams and his team, Josh Williams Motorsports (JWM) turn their concentration towards Friday afternoon’s International Motorsports Hall of Fame 250 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway as an opportunity to keep the team moving in the right direction.
After a less than desirable start in the first two races of the year at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and Mobile (Ala.) International Speedway respectively, the Concord, North Carolina-based team has poured countless hours into their program hoping to improve their presence on the track. If last weekend’s race was an indicator, the hard work is paying off.
Williams had high hopes for his restrictor plate debut at Daytona in February, but when the driver of the No. 02 Southwest Florida Cable Construction Ford Fusion found the vehicle to be more than just a handful, the team immediately went back to the drawing board in order to improve the car for Friday’s anticipated thriller.
The team completely stripped their blue oval, worked closely with Performance Vehicle Works (PVW) on the overall body appearance and much more. With most of the changes complete, the family-owned operation elected to participate in the open-test session at the 2.66-mile superspeedway where overall, the team was pleased about the direction of their superspeedway program.
“Believe it or not, Talladega’s an important race for us,” offered the 18-year old driver. “We spent a lot of last year building on the opportunity to go plate racing and after the disappointment at Daytona, we knew we had to get back to work and do whatever we could to make our No. 02 Southwest Florida Cable Construction Ford Fusion a little more competitive. Thanks to people like Timmy McKichan (Performance Vehicle Works), our chances to improve on our Daytona effort increase tremendously. I can’t also thank RoushYates Engines enough for everything that they do for our team too. We’re just a little group trying to make big things happen.”
From his experience at Daytona and watching prior races at Talladega, Williams is well aware that restrictor plate racing is unpredictable.
“You can try and predict what’s going to happen on Friday, but for me, I just have to go with the flow,” sounded Williams. “I know it’s going to be important to stay in the lead draft and work with the cars that I’m most comfortable with. Hopefully, we can escape any “big one” that may occur and be around for the final laps of the race and bring home back-to-back top-10 finishes for our JWM team.”
Picking up 10 additional positions in the ARCA Racing Series championship standings since Salem to 13th overall has given the team some light – but Williams is tuned on moving JWM up the ladder.
“We’ve picked up 20 spots over the course of the last two races, that’s a lot,” Williams said. “Our goal is to hopefully leave Talladega either inside the top-10 or just outside that and keep our JWM team chugging forward as the season presses on.”
The International Motorsports Hall of Fame 250 (94 laps / 250 miles) is the fourth of 20 events on the 2012 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards schedule. The 50th ever ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway is a two-day show. Practice begins Thursday, May 3rd with a three hour practice session planned from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Menards pole qualifying presented by Ansell is set for later in the day slated to begin at 5:05 p.m. Coverage of time trials is available online through the ARCA Racing Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com in collaboration with Alabama’s local WTDR Thunder 92.7 FM. A 45-minute final practice has been etched in on Friday, April 4th from 10:00 a.m. – 10:55 a.m. The event will take the green flag that afternoon shortly after 4:00 p.m. The race will be televised live on SPEED with additional live broadcasting available through the ARCA Racing Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com in collaboration with Alabama’s local WTDR Thunder 92.7 FM. All times are local (Central).
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.
