EXCLUSIVE: John Wes Townley looks for positive results with experience under his belt

Near the end of 2014, Athenian Motosrports announced that they will be fielding a full-time entry in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, as well as full-time entry in the XFINITY Series. It was also announced, at the time, that John Wes Townley would run the full the Truck schedule in 2015, as well as a partial XFINITY schedule.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Townley told OnPitRoad.com on Tuesday. “We have our new shop now, which is very nice. We purchased a new shop and had to wait till the first to get moved in. It’s a lot more spacious for the guys, and I think we can be a lot more productive. Also, we have some new personnel that are going to be great assets to the team. Really looking forward to it, and just can’t wait for the first race at Daytona.”

The Georgia native is looking forward to hitting the track and improving on last season.

“Well, I wouldn’t really call them expectations, but more like New Years Resolution,” he commented. “I want to be able to do better than last year. Definitely want to go out and get some wins in the Truck Series, and possibly in the XFINITY Series. I know that I got to be realistic and it probably won’t happen right off the bat, but we’ve definitely got the equipment to do it and the right people. It’s just a matter of having our cards laid out right on the table.”

Running the majority of the Truck Series schedule (19 of 22 races), Townley scored four top-10s, highlighted by a fourth place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. He also ran 11 XFINITY Series races, scoring a season-high 13th place finish at Talladega Superspeedway.

“We had our ups and downs last season, but on the bright side we had some top-fives and some top-10s,” he commented. “From where we started last year with the XFINITY car to where we ended up was a great improvement. I started out riding out in the back in the XFINITY car because we were so disorganized, moving shop to shop. But, towards the ends of the year, we gradually became more competitive as we got the right personnel behind me, which helped a lot. We made a lot of strides, and we have to look at it as progress.”

Townley feels that with the new season he can even stronger due to the learning curve being lessened with the added experience under his belt, noting that each year of your career you always learn something new.

I mean, I’ve been racing 16 years now – cause I stated racing when I was nine – and I’ve learned something new each year,” he said. “It’s hard for me to pinpoint what those specific things might be, but I know the experience and added confidence is good going into some these races.”

With the schedule laid out for 2015, Townley notes that it’s hard to pick a favourite track on the schedule, but enjoys going to both Michigan International Speedway and Dover International Speedway.

“I really Michigan, just because there’s a lot of speed there, and Dover – it kind of reminds me of the first time that I went to Bristol,” he explained. “I really loved Bristol, but said this place would be perfect is the straightaways were longer so it wasn’t as tight as it seemed.”

The new season also brings his first trip north of the border to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, in which Townley notes he enjoys the road courses as they have always been fun.

“To be honest, it’s not one of my strengths, but they’re fun and a challenge,” he added. “It’s nice to be able to do something a little different once and awhile; it’s nice to turn right after a whole year of turning left.”

There’s also the unique piece of the Truck schedule – Eldora Raceway, the annual trip back to NASCAR’s roots with a trip to the dirt.

“It’s fun for a few laps, but I think it’d be a whole lot more fun if we had some wider tires,” he commented. “I think having a wider contact patch on the tire would give us more speed. I really would like to see that.”

The new schedule will bring forth having to find a balance, though, in running both the XFINITY and Truck. That is something that Townley has already tested out, and notes the big difference between them is the downforce, with the truck having more.

“The truck, as far as aerodynamics go, its likes having a big snowplow, a big flat sticking out in the front of the car, and what that does is it translates to a lot of downforce since you have a lot of wind, and it keeps pressing the nose down,” he explained. “It keeps the tires gripping, the shocks engaged, the springs engaged – it just creates more overall grip and keeps it turning. The car, on the other hand, requires a lot more technical work, as far as engineers and crew chief’s job go, just because it cuts through the air and you have to make the thing turn. It can be a challenge at times, but those are the two biggest things.

“I love the way the truck drives, but at the same time, I love the cars, too, because it’s a challenge and I started out cars.”