FONTANA, Calif.: To no one’s surprise, NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Josh Williams is making big things happen with less.
The DGM Racing driver passed RSS Racing’s Myatt Snider in the closing laps of Saturday afternoon’s Production Alliance Group 300 at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway to collect his second career top-10 NASCAR Xfinity Series finish.
“It’s really good,” Williams said after the race. “I can’t thank everyone at DGM enough for all of the hard work they put in throughout the year. It’s showed our first three races here. I look forward to the rest of the season. I plan to keep it up.”
Auto Club though hasn’t been the only time that Williams has been at the front of the field this season. In the season-opening race at Daytona, Williams often known for craft on the superspeedways quickly drafted his No. 92 Chevrolet into the top-10 only to be caught up in a late-race incident.
He bounced back a week later at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway with a 13th-place finish.
With two races down in the West Coast Swing and one to go next weekend at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway, the Port Charlotte, Fla. native is a solid 15th in the championship standings.
Last April, Williams showcased his superspeedway finesse with an eighth-place effort at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway – but Saturday’s top-10 efforts on a non-superspeedway put the exclamation point on Williams’ ability to step up to the plate and deliver.
But it just wasn’t NASCAR Nation that took notice of Williams’ efforts on Saturday.
Retired NASCAR Cup Series driver Mark Martin – a longtime advocate of the two-time ARCA Menards Series winner immediately tweeted about the performance of the DGM Racing pilot.
“Another unbelievable run in a budget program for @Josh6Williams,” Martin tweeted. “I would love to see them get a little more funding.”
The 26-year-old says to have the support of not only the 40-time Cup winner, but the rest of the garage is the fuel to keep fighting.
“Having your childhood hero give you compliments like that means the world to me,” added Williams. “I totally agree with his statement about seeing what we can with some more funding, believe me – we’re trying to get that.
“Despite a bad finish at Daytona, I feel like we’re headed in the right direction for DGM (Racing) to put together a solid season.”
Overall, it was a solid day for Mario Gosselin’s DGM Racing team on Saturday. Three positions behind Williams sat Canadian standout Alex Labbe who sits on the Playoff bubble spot after three races.
Phoenix, however, will bring the biggest challenge yet for the DGM Racing team this season.
In addition to fielding entries for Labbe and Williams, Dillon Bassett will make the first of several appearances in the No. 90 Chevrolet Camaro – bringing the tally to three cars for the
Florida-based team for the first time since the season-opener at Daytona last month.
“We have a lot of momentum going into Phoenix,” sounded Williams. “We need to stay on top of things and make sure we have all of our T’s crossed and our I’s dotted to make sure we can continue these good runs.”
Another unbelievable run today in a budget program for @Josh6williams I would love to see them get a little more funding.
— Mark Martin (@markmartin) February 29, 2020
Another awesome run today by @Josh6williams @ACSupdates finishing P10 in the @SilvertonCasino @TeamChevy Camaro! pic.twitter.com/BjUXVPc55m
— DGM Racing (@dgm_racing_) March 1, 2020
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
