We posted Tuesday about John Wes Townley's potential Sprint Cup Series debut at Pocono on Sunday, and we're now about to bring some closure to the story.
Wait, you say, it's only Friday? And wasn't Townley driving a car that was locked into the field via the top 35 rule?
Yes and yes. However, Townley scraped the wall of of turn two on his warmup lap during Friday's first practice session. He didn't post an official speed, and the No. 32 FAS Lane Racing team spent the rest of the practice repairing the car -- and apparently finding a replacement driver. Camping World Truck Series driver Jason White was brought in to drive the car during the second practice session and will be in the car for Sunday's race.
"I was at an autograph session for the Camping World Truck Series and Frankie gave me a call and said the driver didn't know if he wanted to run the race, so they wanted to make a driver change," White said.
"I got signed up with NASCAR to get my Cup license. ? Did all that, changed a few things with the seat and jumped in the seat right before the end of practice. I wasn't really prepared for it but it was pretty cool to come out here and run."
Neither Townley nor FAS Lane owner Frankie Stoddard commented on the situation, so we don't have an official explanation for the decision to remove Townley from the car, though it seems from White's quote above that it was a driver decision.
Townley, who doesn't have any top 10s in his 57 NASCAR Nationwide and Truck Series starts, was scheduled to be in the car with sponsorship from Zaxby's, a restaurant chain his father helped found.
