John Wes Townley Pocono Race Report

Following a month-long absence as he recovered from a minor concussion, John Wes Townley’s return to competition produced mixed results this weekend at Pocono Raceway.

The 26-year-old Georgia native posted a solid second-place finish in the No. 05 Jive Communications Chevrolet during Friday’s ARCA 150 on the 2.5-mile triangle-shaped facility in Long Pond, Pa.

But after flirting with the top 10 early in the going during Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Pocono Mountains 150, Townley’s No. 05 Zaxby’s Chevrolet tagged the outside wall following a tangle with Christopher Bell on lap 16 in the Tunnel Turn. Townley’s was left saddled with a 29th-place finish.

“It was definitely a roller coaster weekend for Athenian Motorsports,” Townley said. “I was proud that we fought and finished P2 on Friday in the ARCA race.

Saturday’s Truck race turned into a wreckfest. Unfortunately, we got caught up in some of that action and couldn’t capitalize on what would have been an opportunity to post a great finish with all of the carnage in the garage.”

Townley will turn his attention to Saturday night’s Berlin ARCA 200 at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Mich. Townley has one ARCA start on the bullring in western Michigan. He posted an eighth-place finish at Berlin in 2008 while driving for Robby Benton.

“Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s been eight years since I raced in ARCA on that short track,” Townley said. “I’ll definitely have to sort through some old notes and review video of races there before we practice on Saturday morning.

“I think the strategy will be trying to figure out how to outrun the 77 car (Chase Briscoe). Those guys have been hooked up for the past four races. We were in position to beat him at Pocono at the end of the race, but couldn’t run him down.

“We’ll see if we can get it done at Berlin on Saturday night.”

Athenian Motorsports PR