Athenian Motorsports

Last updated
Athenian Motorsports, LLC
Athenian Motorsports.jpg
Owner(s)Tony Townley
Base Concord, North Carolina
Series Xfinity Series
Camping World Truck Series
ARCA Racing Series
Race driversXfinity Series:
05. John Wes Townley (part-time)
Camping World Truck Series:
05. John Wes Townley, Parker Kligerman, Brady Boswell, Cody Coughlin, Dylan Lupton, Matt DiBenedetto
ARCA Racing Series:
05. John Wes Townley, Cole Custer
SponsorsXfinity Series:
05. Florida Lottery, Jive Communications, Zaxby's
Camping World Truck Series:
05. Bad Boy Mowers, ESPFANCLUB.ORG, Jive Communications, Zaxby's
ARCA Racing Series:
05. Zaxby's, Jive Communications
Manufacturer Chevrolet
Opened 2014
Closed 2016
Career
DebutXfinity Series:
2014 Aaron's 312 (Talladega)
Camping World Truck Series:
2014 American Ethanol 200 (Iowa)
ARCA Racing Series:
2016 Lucas Oil 200 (Daytona)
Latest raceXfinity Series:
2016 Sparks Energy 300 (Talladega)
Camping World Truck Series:
2016 Ford EcoBoost 200 (Homestead)
Races competedTotal: 114
Xfinity Series: 41
Camping World Truck Series: 59
ARCA Racing Series: 14
Drivers' Championships Total: 0
Xfinity Series: 0
Camping World Truck Series: 0
ARCA Racing Series: 0
Race victoriesTotal: 2
Xfinity Series: 0
Camping World Truck Series: 1
ARCA Racing Series: 1
Pole positions Total: 3
Xfinity Series: 0
Camping World Truck Series: 2
ARCA Racing Series: 1

Athenian Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the Camping World Truck Series, and the ARCA Racing Series. In the Xfinity Series, the team last fielded the No. 05 Zaxby's Chevrolet Camaro part-time for John Wes Townley. In the Camping World Truck Series, the team last fielded the No. 05 Zaxby's Chevrolet Silverado full-time for part-time drivers: John Wes Townley, Parker Kligerman, Brady Boswell, Cody Coughlin, and Matt DiBenedetto. In the ARCA Racing Series, the team last fielded the No. 05 Zaxby's Chevrolet Impala part-time for Townley. The team was sponsored by Zaxby's Chicken Restaurants, co-founded by John Wes' father and team owner Tony Townley, and the team name is likely a reference to the company's home in Athens, Georgia. The team closed down in 2017, and sold its owner points to MDM Motorsports' No. 99 team.

Contents

History

The team debuted in May 2014 in the Nationwide Series (now Xfinity Series) running a partial schedule. In July 2014, the team expanded their operation into the Camping World Truck Series. [1] In September, it was announced that veteran crew chief Mike Ford would join the team as the crew chief for the No. 25 Nationwide Series team, while Mike Beam would stay on as the crew chief of the No. 05 truck. [2] [3] The team also purchased the race shop of Richard Petty Motorsports owned by Boris Said near the Concord Regional Airport. [3]

In November 2014 the team announced it would switch to Chevrolet and run full-time in both the Xfinity Series and Truck Series, with engines supplied by Hendrick Motorsports, and equipment purchased from Kyle Busch Motorsports and the defunct Turner Scott Motorsports (a former Hendrick-affiliated team). Townley would pilot the Truck Series entry full-time and run the majority of the Xfinity Series races. [4] [5]

Xfinity Series

Car No. 25 history

Dylan Lupton at Road America in 2015. 25 Dylan Lupton 2015 Road America.jpg
Dylan Lupton at Road America in 2015.

The team debuted in the Nationwide Series with John Wes Townley at Talladega in May 2014, finishing 13th. [6] [7] They ran car No. 25, which Townley had run the previous year with Venturini Motorsports part-time. The team announced on May 7 that it would compete in 12 additional Nationwide races in 2014, while Townley would continue to run the full season in Trucks with Wauters Motorsports and the ARCA Racing Series with Venturini. [7] [8] Beginning at the Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland in July and continuing at Indianapolis in July and Bristol in August, Athenian Motorsports announced a three-race sponsorship with the movie The Identical , running on the hood of the Zaxby's Toyota Camry. [9] [10]

In an August 2014 conversation with Motorsport.com, John Wes Townley said that Athenian Motorsports was preparing to run the full 2015 season in the Xfinity Series. [1] The team expanded full-time for 2015, with Townley running 24 Xfinity races. The remaining races were to be filled by a driver with sponsorship. [4] In February, it was announced that K&N Pro Series West driver and NASCAR Next member Dylan Lupton was hired to run a minimum of seven races in the No. 25 starting at Phoenix International Raceway, with continued sponsorship from Zaxby's. [11] [12] Lupton qualified 23rd and finished 19th in his debut at Phoenix. [13] Alex Bowman drove two races at Michigan and Indianapolis due to drivers busy competing in their Series. The team withdrew from the October race at Dover, operating on a race-by-race basis for the remainder of the season. [5]

The team returned in 2016 only running in the restrictor plate races. [14] With Rick Ware Racing receiving the No. 25, the team changed to the No. 05, used in its other operations.

Car No. 25 results

YearDriverNo.Make123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233NXSCPts
2014 John Wes Townley 25 Chevy DAY PHO LVS BRI CAL TEX DAR RCH TAL
13		 IOW CLT
22		 DOV MCH ROA KEN
Wth		 DAY
18		 NHA CHI
27		 IND
28		 IOW GLN MOH BRI
18		 ATL
32		 RCH CHI KEN DOV KAN
31		 CLT TEX
23		 PHO
23		 HOM
33		38th217
2015 DAY
33		 ATL
27		 LVS
19		 CAL
23		 TEX
17		 BRI
14		 TAL
15		 IOW
13		 CLT
29		 DOV
15		 DAY
19		 KEN
32		 GLN
39		 BRI
23		 DAR
26		 RCH
30		 CHI
13		 CLT
22		 KAN TEX PHO HOM 25th619
Dylan Lupton PHO
19		 RCH
28		 CHI
34		 NHA
24		 IOW
17		 MOH
9		 ROA
13		 KEN
31		 DOV
Alex Bowman MCH
14		 IND
17
2016 John Wes Townley 05 DAY
17		 ATL LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH TAL
26		 DOV CLT POC MCH IOW DAY KEN NHA IND IOW GLN MOH BRI ROA DAR RCH CHI KEN DOV CLT KAN TEX PHO HOM 50th39

Camping World Truck Series

Truck No. 05 history

Townley's crew performs a pit stop at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2015 RSR Photo JWT.JPG
Townley's crew performs a pit stop at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2015

Initially, Athenian Motorsports was to have begun their Camping World Truck Series efforts in 2015 with John Wes Townley. [15] After eight 2014 starts and two top five finishes in the Truck Series however, in July Townley left Wauters Motorsports' No. 5 Tundra, moving to the No. 05 Tundra owned by his father starting at Iowa. [1] [16] [15] After Townley suffered a concussion at Pocono during an ARCA race, [1] [17] Clint Bowyer drove the No. 05 Zaxby's truck for Athenian in the Truck Series race that weekend. [18] Bowyer, who had previously been sponsored by Zaxby's in 2010, finished fourth in the race. 2003 Truck Champion Travis Kvapil replaced Townley at Michigan. [19] Kvapil qualified well and ran up front early, but blew the engine on lap 8. Townley returned at Bristol in August, running an all black 05 Zaxby's Tundra. Townley had a top 15 truck, but wrecked racing young NTS drivers Gray Gaulding and Brennan Newberry.

Townley returned to the No. 05 truck for 2015, with the team switching to Chevrolet. [4] Former Truck Series winner Terry Cook would serve as the team's spotter. [5] Townley would score his first career victory on October 3 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, taking the lead with six laps to go and winning on a fuel mileage gamble. [5] Townley finished eighth in the championship standings. [14]

Townley returned full-time for 2016, [14] though Parker Kligerman drove at Kentucky Speedway due to Townley undergoing treatment for a possible concussion. [20] Next week, 19 year-old Brady Boswell took over the No. 05 ride with Townley still injured at Eldora.

Truck No. 05 results

YearDriverNo.Make1234567891011121314151617181920212223NCWTCPts
2014 John Wes Townley 05 Toyota DAY MAR KAN CLT DOV TEX GTW KEN IOW
22		 ELD
19		 BRI
29		 MSP CHI
15		 NHA
18		 LVS
11		 TAL
8		 MAR
33		 TEX
20		 PHO
33		 HOM
35		28th301
Clint Bowyer POC
4
Travis Kvapil MCH
26
2015 John Wes Townley Chevy DAY
22		 ATL
12		 MAR
8		 KAN
12		 CLT
6		 DOV
18		 TEX
3		 GTW
11		 IOW
10		 KEN
8		 ELD
14		 POC
17		 MCH
17		 BRI
11		 MSP
25		 CHI
10		 NHA
26		 LVS
1		 TAL
16		 MAR
11		 TEX
17		 PHO
3		 HOM
10		11th730
2016 DAY
26		 ATL
7		 MAR
21		 KAN
26		 DOV
29		 CLT
16		 TEX
17		 IOW
19		 GTW
23		 POC
29		 BRI
10		 MCH
12		 MSP
12		 CHI
20		 NHA
12		 LVS
13		 TAL
28		 MAR
21		18th314
Parker Kligerman KEN
19
Brady Boswell ELD
21		 HOM
19
Cody Coughlin TEX
28
Dylan Lupton PHO
19

ARCA Racing Series

Car No. 05 history

In 2016, the team ran the No. 05 Zaxby's Chevrolet full-time in the ARCA Racing Series, with John Wes Townley running the majority of the season. [14] The team won its ARCA debut at Daytona with JWT.

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Wolkin, Joseph (August 7, 2014). "The race against oneself: John Wes Townley's journey". motorsport.com. Motorsport.com. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  2. ↑ "Mike Ford Joins Athenian Motorsports". MRN.com . Motor Racing Network. September 29, 2014. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  3. 1 2 Spencer, Lee (October 20, 2014). "What's old is new again as RPM returns to Mooresville, N.C. shop". motorsport.com. Talladega, Alabama: motorsport.com. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 "Athenian Motorsports; John Wes Townley Set to Run Chevrolet Full Time in 2015". Catchfence. November 21, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Turnbull, Doug (October 16, 2015). "Townley says win is "affirmation" what he's been doing the last few years". WSB. Archived from the original on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  6. ↑ "NASCAR Official Home | Race results, schedule, standings, news, drivers".
  7. 1 2 Press Release (May 5, 2014). "John Wes Townley Posts a 13th-Place Finish in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Talladega Superspeedway in Athenian Motorsports Debut". catchfence.com. Talladega, Alabama: Catchfence. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  8. ↑ http://motorsports-%5B%5D soapbox.blogspot.com/2014/05/townley-adds-12-nns-races-with-athenian.html
  9. ↑ "Nationwide News and Notes: Indianapolis Race Named, David Starr, John Wes Townley and Ryan Sieg Get Sponsorship | Motorsports 101 | Sports Media 101". Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
  10. ↑ "Athenian Motorsports Adds 'The Identical' Movie to No. 25 Zaxby's Nationwide Camry in Chicagoland".
  11. ↑ "LUPTON LANDS PARTIAL XFINITY SERIES RIDE". NASCAR . February 16, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  12. ↑ Press Release (February 19, 2015). "NASCAR Next Driver Dylan Lupton Graduates To XFINITY Series". catchfence.com. Concord, North Carolina: Catchfence. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  13. ↑ Press Release (March 15, 2015). "Dylan Lupton Captures Top-20 in XFINITY Series Debut; John Wes Townley Looks Ahead To California". catchfence.com. Concord, North Carolina: Catchfence. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Press Release (January 16, 2016). "Athenian Motorsports and John Wes Townley set to embark on busy 2016 schedule". Catchfence.com. Concord, North Carolina . Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  15. 1 2 Pokrefky, Kyle (July 9, 2014). "John Wes Townley Switches NCWTS Teams". thefourthturn.com. The Fourth Turn. Archived from the original on 30 May 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  16. ↑ "Athenian Motorsports Adds NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Team :: PaddockTalk :: F1, Formula 1, NASCAR, IndyCar, MotoGP, ALMS, and More!".
  17. ↑ Pennell, Jay (August 1, 2014). "John Wes Townley hospitalized after Pocono ARCA wreck". Fox Sports. Retrieved 2014-08-02.
  18. ↑ Autoweek Staff (August 2, 2014). "Clint Bowyer to replace injured John Wes Townley for NASCAR Truck race at Pocono". Autoweek . Autoweek . Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  19. ↑ Estrada, Chris (August 12, 2014). "NASCAR Trucks: John Wes Townley to miss Saturday's race at Michigan". Motorsportstalk | NBC Sports. NBC Sports . Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  20. ↑ "POSSIBLE CONCUSSION SIDELINES TOWNLEY AT KENTUCKY". NASCAR . July 6, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
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