Athenian Motorsports has ceased operations and will not compete in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series this season, a team spokesperson confirmed to CATCHFENCE.com.
John Wes Townley, the team’s primary driver and mainstay of the Zaxby’s sponsorship will shift his focus to personal matters, including attending a local college and the upcoming wedding of his fiancé Laura Bird, the spokesperson also said.
The spokesperson also said, “John Wes does not plan to race again, he might change his mind at a later date. For now, he’s retired.”
Athenian Motorsports debuted in May 2014 in the XFINITY Series running a partial schedule with Townley. In July, the team expanded their operation into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. That fall, the organization announced the hiring of veteran crew chief Mike Ford would join the team as crew chief of their No. 25 XFINITY Series team, while Beam would stay on and oversee the Truck Series outfit.
The team owned by Townley’s father and Zaxby’s co-founder Tony Townley purchased the race shop that once housed Richard Petty Motorsports near the Concord Regional Airport.
After starting with Toyota, the team announced in November 2014 they would switch to Chevrolet and run full-time in both the XFINITY Series and Truck Series with engines supplied by Hendrick Motorsports. In 2015, Townley piloted the Truck Series entry full-time, while splitting time in the XFINITY Series car with K&N West standout Dylan Lupton.
Townley won his first career NASCAR race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October beating Timothy Peters to the checkered flag by 3.827 second in an event decided by fuel mileage. It was Townley’s first victory in 87 series starts.
At the end of the season, the team decided to scale back their XFINITY Series operation, but built several cars for competition in the ARCA Racing Series alongside its intent to run the Truck Series championship in 2016.
The team won the Lucas Oil 200 ARCA race in their debut at Daytona, but struggled to find the success they had previously in trucks the prior season. Townley also sat several races due to concussion-like symptoms and a injury, competing in only 18 of the series’ 23 races in 2016.
During the Drivin’ for Linemen 200 at Gateway Motorsports Park, Townley was involved in an incident with Spencer Gallagher which brawled into altercation outside the truck where Townley and Gallagher engaged in a wrestling match before being broken up by a NASCAR official.
After being fined and put on probation by NASCAR, Townley missed the following two races at Kentucky Speedway and Eldora Speedway for concussion treatment and was replaced by Parker Kligerman and Brady Boswell.
Later in the year, he missed the final three truck races of the year to nurse an injured left ankle while Cody Coughlin, Lupton and Boswell rounded out the season in the No. 05 Chevrolet.
After a career-high nine top-10 finishes the previous year, the Watkinsville, Georgia native managed just two top-10 finishes, including a season-best seventh at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March.
In all, the 27-year-old native of Watkinsville, Ga., made 100 career starts in Trucks, with one win, five top-five and 24 top-10 finishes and won two poles (2016). In 76 XFINITY Series starts, Townley never posted a top-10 finish.
Sources tell CATCHFENCE.com that the team’s ARCA Racing Series cars and engines were purchased by Joe Gibbs Racing for their new ARCA program in 2017, while most of their XFINITY Series fleet was purchased by another XFINITY team for use this season.
The remaining assets of the team are for sale.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
