Frank Stodard Has John Wes Townley Driving His Cup Car???

Wow, when I heard that John Wes Townley was going to be in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono this weekend, I was a bit stunned.  Townley has had a shot at some great equipment under the Roush and Childress garage roofs, but was "allowed" to look for other opportunities after creating a heap load of Ebay sheet metal opportunities.

John Wes Townley will be making his NASCAR Sprint Cup debut driving for Frank Stoddard.

But if you find yourself asking how the hell Townley can land a ride in the Cup Series over and above other, much more talented drivers in many series, well, there's a pretty good... well, reasonable explanation.

Money.

Townley is bringing a sponsor along with him to put on his RAB Racing ride this Sunday, Zaxby's.  And yes, Frank Stoddard is in search of funding.  The math made it happen, definitely not the talent... or I should say his apparent talent as indicated by his mulitple wrecks under multiple series and top-tier teams.

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With that said, I can't imagine wanting something so much but not being quite there, for whatever reason.  Making it happen because one has the bucks, is everyone's dream.  You or I would probably do this if we had the chance.

I've had a chance to play with top-tier athletes in the realm of professional bowling.  I know what it's like to have a dose of reality shoved down your throat, frame after frame, for 16 long games in a long day.  I had the chance, I had the dose of reality.  And yet, I never quit trying while I could muster the money to compete.

So Townley manning up to be brave enough to tackle this, is something to see.  That Stoddard wants to keep his shop doors open is something I think we can all understand.

But...

I also expect to find somewhere on the web, an over/under set of odds on what lap John Wes Townley is going to wreck/exit the race.  I do expect him to do what he's done in the past.  We'll see if that's a vindicated expectation.

And then again, Townley and Stoddard might gel so well and come together and we might all see one huge surprise.  (To quantify, that huge surprise would be to not wreck and finish in the top-20.  And/or.

Just saying.

I wish him luck, but...

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RAB Suspended John Wes Townley, Now NASCAR Has Him on Probation

Talk about double trouble...  after the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver, John Wes Townley, had an accident in his 2012 BMW, he was later charged with a DUI.  They found him knocking on doors, staggering about the neighborhood where he wrecked his car.  (Seriously, a new BMW???)

[Ignoring Townley's 2010 underage alcohol possession issue, (Really, I'm trying)]

RAB Racing subsequently suspended Townley indefinitely.

[sbnation: townley dui]

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Now it's being reported that NASCAR has just put Townley on probation for the remainder of the year, due to actions detrimental to stock car racing, which violates Section 12-1 of the NASCAR rulebook.  I'm assuming this is related.

Plus...

"Townley will be evaluated by a certified substance abuse professional at NASCAR's discretion and will be subject to random alcohol and drug testing"

So much for that comeback from being let go from RCR.  I hope this isn't a systemic issue... but patterns are patterns.

[NASCAR]

John Wes Townley Approved For Daytona

John Wes Townley's performance in the ARCA Daytona race on February 7th helped NASCAR make a decision. That decision is to approve John to be able to drive at Daytona in the Nationwide event.

John steps back into his car and is ready to compete on Saturday.

His stand in (Wouldn't that be a sit-in?), Travis Kvapil, is available to anyone needing a driver for the weekend folks!!

Source: ARCA Racing.com,

Nationwide Driver: John Wes Townley

In a recent interview, John Wes Townley, a Nationwide driver who will be competing for Rookie of the Year this year.

He'll be competing in the ARCA Race at Daytona, being that he's currently not approved to drive in the Nationwide Series Race at Daytona but he will be starting his season at California.

Some inside info is that he just went through some LASIK surgery and is recouping from the process. His outlook on the year is a good one. After the ARCA race, all his other official events will be in the Nationwide series, starting at California.

From moving up in the ranks, he credits the ARCA series for his developing skills that are applicable to NASCAR because they race on a lot of the same tracks NASCAR does. That's valuable track time.

He realizes this year will be a big learning curve. The process will involve keeping the car out of trouble while he competes for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year.

In addition to his NASCAR schedule, he'll be running one or two ARCA Races and maybe some late model races.

He thinks they have a fair chance to be competitive for the rookie award. He'll be driving for RAB Racing in the Zaxby's sponsored No. 209 car.

Good luck this year John.