In what John Wes Townley described as an uncharacteristic personal move, the driver of the No. 05 Zaxby’s Toyota Tundra had a post-race altercation with fellow NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Spencer Gallagher, where pushing and shoving escalated to a punch being thrown.
While the jab from Townley didn’t connect to Gallagher, crew members from the two teams came to their driver’s rescue, while members from other teams stepped in to intervene the brawl. As a result, Townley was summoned to the NASCAR hauler by series officials, where he spoke with NASCAR Camping World Truck Series director Chad Little.
Ironically, it may not have been the late-race contact in Friday night’s American Ethanol 200 at Iowa Speedway that initially led to the rage by the Watkinsville, Georgia native. Instead, Townley’s temper was (still) boiling from an incident in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards last spring at Salem (Ind.) Speedway.
Townley was seeking his second career victory, but contact with Gallagher sent the No. 15 Zaxby’s Toyota Camry hard into in the wall and ignited a fuse, one that was lit for over a year.
Friday night, the fuse ran out, which ultimately landed Townley his first fight in nine years.
The two drivers, who will compete together in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards race next Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway weren’t racing for position, but instead racing hard like racers do. The contact between the two saw a likely top-20 finish for Townley in his debut for his family-owned team Athenian Motorsports crumble, while Gallagher soared to a career-best 11th.
While the contact was unfortunate, the reaction from Townley unleashed a side of him that hasn’t been seen before.
“Well, I lost it a little bit,” said Townley following his visit with NASCAR officials. “Me and him (Spencer) have a history from last year. He doored us and it ended up taking the win from us last year in ARCA. You know, I uh, on the last lap, no it was like four laps to go, he doored us in the left rear and subsequently caused the tire to go down and when that happened, I came down pit road and asked if the left rear was done because of that and when I found out, I went berserk.
“I’ve never been that mad before. I don’t know what came over me. I guess it was just two strikes and he was out. I was tired of it. He really didn’t say anything to me. I just lost it. I’ll be honest, I ran up and shoved him. There is no excuse for the way I acted. That’s not how I want to represent Zaxby’s or how any sponsor wants to be represented. The only time I’ve been in a fight was when I was 15 years old.”
After the checkered flag was waived, Townley was credited with a 22nd place finish.
Gallagher admitted that he made contact with JWT, but sited it was completely unintentional.
“Johnny and I got together off of Turn 2 and I actually feel really bad about it,” he said. “I was going to go over and apologize, because frankly I raced him to close and I was going to have him in the next corner anyway. It’s one of those things where you’re on old enough tires that the air takes over and it kind of pulled me into him.
“And what I think he’s extra made about is given the state of his truck that it cut down his left rear. He came over and instigated. Whatcha gonna do?” Gallagher remarked. “I’ll probably soot him a text at some point. I’m not hopeful that he’s going to text me back. It’s the reaching out that counts. We have to race each other week in and week out in the ARCA Racing Series and Truck Series.”
What Gallagher didn’t know at the time is that the text is no longer warranted. Before exiting Iowa Speedway for the night, both drivers shook hands and even “hugged it out” seemingly ending a feud that one maybe didn’t know even existed prior to the race.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
