John Wes Townley and the Zaxby’s Racing Team were able to overcome an incident that limited their time on-track in Thursday’s dual practice sessions, and then managed to avoid numerous multi-truck incidents in Friday’s 150-lap race at Phoenix International Raceway to bring home a 13th-place finish.
Townley maintains the 15th position in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver point standings with just one race remaining in the 2012 season.
Early in Thursday’s first practice session, Townley was involved in a single-truck incident that saw the Zaxby’s Toyota Tundra make heavy contact with the outside retaining wall in Turn 1. The RAB Racing machine sustained heavy damage that resulted in the No. 09 team pulling out their backup truck. The lengthy process to get their truck set up and through inspection resulted in the team spending several hours in the garage area but, fortunately, Townley was able to take part in the evening’s final practice session, where he recorded the 27th-fastest lap time.
Wanting to play it safe, the Chris Rice-led crew employed a strategy that would see the No. 09 Tundra stay at the rear of the field after the green flag was displayed. Seeing drivers towards the front of the field racing hard for position and crashing often evoked memories of a superspeedway race. The cautious approach would pay off for Townley later in the evening as the events continued to unfold.
Rice made the call to fill the fuel cell several times over the course of the race, which would see the 22-year-old driver racing safely. Townley took advantage of other competitors misfortunes, allowing him to advance to the 13th position when the checkered flag waved.
RAB Racing PR
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