Josh Williams at 8:45 pm ET on Monday, April 11, 2016. Photo – ARS
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Driving away from the rest of the Music City 200 field, Josh Williams wheeled his No. 6 Musselman’s Applesauce car to his first ARCA Racing Series career victory on Saturday night at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
A pit strategy gamble and four fresh tires – when the front-runners took two – were the winning combination for Williams. On a lap 84 caution, the front-runners took two tires counting on another caution before the end of the event – that caution never came. The four tires Williams and his team took on that stop was the competitive advantage he needed to take his car to the finish line on the long green flag run. On lap 158, Williams passed the leader, rookie Brady Boswell, taking the top spot for the remaining 43 laps.
“The Musselman’s Apple Sauce Chevy has always been good in long runs,” Williams said. “It was all about strategy…it just worked out in our favor this time.”
Williams started the race from 13th and applauded his crew chief Danny Johnson for making the winning four-tire call.
“I can’t thank Danny enough…he made a great call. This is just incredible…it was a great race car when we unloaded, and it just got better as the night went on,” added the 22-year-old Williams.
This was Williams first ARCA victory but second at the famous short track as he won the Bandolero national championship in 2005 over Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney . There to celebrate the milestone as they were in 2005 were Williams’ parents, Kevin and Theresa.
The trophy is one of the best in racing as Williams took home a Music City 200 and ARCA Racing Series branded six-string acoustic guitar. Williams victory moves him up the series point standings to fourth-place.
Finishing in second-place is AJ Fike, followed by Brian Finney, John Wes Townley – the points leader – with Bret Holmes rounding out the top-five. In sixth-place is Brandon Lynn – fifth in points – followed by Sheldon Creed, Christian Eckes, Chase Briscoe – second in points – with Bo LeMastus – third in points – rounding out the top-ten.
The ARCA Racing Series now heads to Salem Speedway next for the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 April 23-24, followed by the General Tire 200 at Talladega Superspeedway Friday, April 29. Salem will air, tape-delayed, on American Sports Network and the race from Talladega is live on FOX Sports 1.