Three years after his lone ARCA Racing Series win, John Wes Townley followed up the effort by leading the final 30 laps and winning the season-opening Lucas Oil 200 at Daytona International Speedway.
A regular in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Townley started fifth in the race and took command when pit strategy left pole-sitter Cole Custer back in the pack after leading 42 laps.
“We had it planned out from the beginning and very rarely at these race tracks does it work out like you planned and tonight it did,” Townley told Fox Sports 1. “I was a little worried there at the beginning that if I pulled down (to the inside lane) they were going to surge forward. It ended up working out. Once I got (to the front) they couldn’t quite get to me, which was kind of familiar to me because when I was behind some other guys, I had the same problem.”
Custer, a rookie in the Camping World Truck Series, started from the pole in his fourth ARCA race and his first race ever at Daytona. He finished 10th.
Rounding out the top five was William Byron, Kyle Weatherman, Chase Briscoe and 10-time champion Frank Kimmel
The race was red flagged after a Lap 2 crash in the tri-oval that involved nine cars: Bobby Gerhart, Kevin Thomas, Terry Jones, Shane Lee, Austin Wayne Self, Jairo Avila, Mark Thompson, Cole Powell and Gus Dean. The red flag was out for 10 minute and 58 seconds.
The race restarted on Lap 8. Ten laps later, the second caution waved for a four-car incident in Turn 2 with Mark Thompson, Derrick Lancaster, Matt Kurzejewski and Dylan Lupton. Lupton, a NASCAR Next driver, was able to continue on while the rest came to a stop stuck together against the outside wall on the backstretch.
Lupton would stay in the lead draft until suffering mechanical problems with two laps left in the race.
The third caution came four laps passed the halfway point when Tom Hessert blew a tire entering Turn 3 and spun out, avoiding making contact with the outside wall.
The pit strategy during the third caution sent Custer, who led 42 laps, back to the rear. That left Townley to jockey for the win with Byron for the final 30 laps. Townley, the 2013 winner at Daytona, kept the point position until the checkered flag waved.
Results
- John Wes Townley
- William Byron
- Kyle Weatherman
- Chase Briscoe
- Frank Kimmel
- Bo LeMastus
- Kevin Thomas
- Willie Mullins
- Grau Gaulding
- Cole Custer
- Sara Cornett-Ching
- Tyler Audie
- Brett Hudson
- Thomas Praytor
- Bryan Dauzat
- Brandon Lynn
- Ed Pompa
- Will Kimmel
- Josh Williams
- Steve Fox
- Gene Paul
- John Ferrier
- Cory Howard
- Dylan Lupton
- Dale Shearer
- Tim Viens
- Sean Corr
- Tom Hessert
- Matt Kurzejewski
- Dick Doheny
- Derrick Lancaster
- Brad Smith
- Mark Thompson
- Cole Powell
- Gus Dean
- Austin Wayne Self
- Bobby Gerhart
- Shane Lee
- Jairo Avila
- Terry Jones
