Pocono: John Wes Townley preview

TOWNLEY GEARED UP FOR POCONO

Concord, NC (6-4-08) John Wes Townley, Driver of the No. 09 Zaxby's/SPS/BB&T/Saxon Group Ford Fusion, heads to Pocono Raceway this weekend sitting fifth in the ARCA RE/MAX Series Championship Points standings. With a mere 150 points separating first from eighth, Townley looks to advance his points position in The Pocono 200 on Saturday, June 7th.

"I am really excited for Pocono," John Wes Townley said. "This is a track that I have yet to race on, but one that is very familiar to RAB Racing. This team has a history of showing up at Pocono with competitive race cars, so I feel confident that the car we are bringing this weekend is capable of running up front."

This weekend's race will mark the fifth time RAB Racing with Brack Maggard will compete on the 2.5 mile triangle-shaped track. In 2006 the team posted two top-10 finishes, however in 2007 after leading 11 laps in the June race and qualifying eighth in the August race, an expired engine and a blown tire left the team with two DNF's.

"Pocono is a very technical track," Crew Chief, Robby Benton commented. "We were not able to test, but I feel, based on our track record there, we'll show up with a strong car and John will do a great job for us. We go back to Pocono again in August, so we'll take what we learn from this event and apply it there. We've always been able to run well here, luck just didn't play out in our favor last year. Hopefully we can turn that around this weekend."

Qualifying for The Pocono 200 is set for Friday, June 6th at 1:45 PM ET. The Pocono 200 is scheduled for Saturday, June 7th at 1:00 PM ET, with SDD Coverage airing on SPEED at 10:00 PM ET.

-credit: rab