Williams Finishes Fifth in Eventful Talladega ARCA Race

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer

Journeyman driver Josh Williams had an eventful race at Talladega Superspeedway. The ARCA Racing Series race was the first of the season for Williams. Despite getting caught in a late race incident, he still managed to score a top-five finish for Our Motorsports.

Williams’ No. 6 Star Brite-Star Tron Chevrolet SS was up front late in the 200-mile race. On one of the overtime attempts, contact sent Riley Herbst into the outside wall. Herbst wiped out Sean Corr, as Williams and others took evasive action. Although replays never showed any contact, it was reported that Williams received damage in the incident. Despite the damage, he still managed to finish fifth, in a photo finish for third, when the checkered flag waved.

Late race strategy left Williams on track as others topped off of fuel. This advanced him to be inside the top-10 with under 20 laps to go. Williams relied on his spotter to guide him through the chaotic final laps. For the most part, he was able to keep his nose clean in the run to the finish.

The fifth-place finish is the first of the season for Williams and is the 15^thof his ARCA Racing Series career. It is also his 50^thcareer top-10 finish in his 102^ndSeries start. Williams’ finish is also just the second time that one of team owner Chris Our’s cars has finished inside the top-five. Andy Seuss, Williams’ teammate first accomplished the feat in this race one year ago, finishing runner-up. Seuss was wiped out in an mid-race accident.

Now Williams will try to take this momentum into his eighth NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the year for King Autosport in Saturday afternoon’s Sparks Energy 300.