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Tag: Jimmy Means Racing

  • Josh Williams to make 200th Xfinity career start at Sonoma

    Josh Williams to make 200th Xfinity career start at Sonoma

    In his eighth season with at least one start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Josh Williams is scheduled to achieve a milestone start. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250 at Sonoma Raceway, the driver of the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro will make his 200th career start in the Xfinity circuit.

    A native of Port Charlotte, Florida, Williams made his inaugural presence in the Xfinity Series at Michigan International Speedway in June 2016. By then, Williams, who grew up competing in go-karts before ascending to Legends cars and stock cars, had made 89 career starts in the ARCA Menards Series and a single start in the Craftsman Truck Series, which occurred at Martinsville Speedway in March 2014 as most of his start occurred with his family-owned team. Driving the No. 79 Jimmy Means Racing Chevrolet as a start-and-park driver, Williams started 40th and finished 38th in his Xfinity debut. He would make a second start of the season at Kentucky Speedway in September and in the No. 92 Chevrolet for King Autosport, where he ended up in 37th place.

    The following season, Williams made a total of seven Xfinity starts between the Nos. 90 and 92 entries for team owner Mario Gosselin. During the season, he recorded a season-best 22nd-place at Bristol Motor Speedway in April. He then competed in 20 Xfinity events for Gosselin in 2018, where he achieved a season-best 20th-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September.

    In January 2019, Williams transitioned to pilot DGM Racing’s No. 36 Chevrolet for all 33 Xfinity Series events. Despite not qualifying for the Xfinity event at Richmond Raceway in April, the Floridian achieved his first top-10 career result after finishing eighth at Talladega Superspeedway in mid-April. His next best result were a pair of 14th-place finishes that occurred during both Texas Motor Speedway scheduled events in April and October, respectively, as he also led four laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September before settling in 17th place. Ultimately, he would notch a total of seven top-15 results and 17 top-20 results before settling in 17th place in the final standings. By then, he boosted his average-finishing result from 26.7 during the previous season to 20.6 during the 2019 season.

    Williams would compete in every event of the 33-race Xfinity schedule in DGM Racing’s No. 92 Chevrolet during the 2020 season. After notching his first top-10 result of the season at Auto Club Speedway with a 10th-place run in March, Williams would proceed to finish in the top 10 five additional times as he would finish ninth at Bristol Motor Speedway in June, ninth at Daytona in August, seventh at Talladega Superspeedway, a career-best sixth at Kansas and ninth at Texas, with the latter three occurring in October. To go along with a total of 13 top-15 results and 20 top-20 results, Williams settled in a career-best 15th in the final driver’s standings and with a career-best average-finishing result of 18.6.

    The following season, Williams, who remained at DGM Racing, recorded only a single top-10 result, which was a 10th-place finish at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in June. His next best results were a pair of 11th-place runs at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course and at Martinsville Speedway in October. Aside from not competing in the series’ inaugural event at Circuit of the Americas in May, the Floridian recorded 18 top-20 results throughout the 2021 Xfinity season before settling in 18th place in the final standings and with an average-finishing result of 20.7. By then, he had surpassed 100 career starts in the Xfinity Series.

    The 2022 season was an eventful year for Williams, who parted ways from DGM Racing and joined BJ McLeod Motorsports at the start of the season. After not qualifying in four of 21-scheduled events while only managing to finish in the top 20 three times, Williams returned to DMG Racing, beginning at Darlington Raceway in September as he split driving roles between the team’s Nos. 92 and 36 entries. For the final 10 events on the schedule, he earned a 19th-place result at Talladega Superspeedway in October before notching a season-best 15th-place run in the 2022 Xfinity Series finale at Phoenix Raceway in November. Despite missing five events, Williams’ average-finishing result was 25.8.

    Retained by DGM Racing to pilot the No. 92 entry on a full-time basis in 2023, Williams commenced the season by finishing 15th at Daytona followed by finishing 16th at Auto Club Speedway in February. Three races later at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Williams gained national attention that started when he sustained right-front damage to his No. 92 entry after being involved in a Lap 26 incident involving Jeb Burton and Brett Moffitt. After drawing another caution five laps later due to debris that came off of his damaged car, Williams was parked by NASCAR for the rest of the event under a provision in the Damaged Vehicle Policy standard. In response, Williams parked his damaged car across the start/finish line in the frontstretch, climbed out and walked to pit road, where he saluted the fans before making the trip to the infield care center. Eventually, NASCAR suspended him from competing in the series’ following event at Circuit of the Americas in March due to his actions at Atlanta. Returning at Richmond Raceway in April, Williams would proceed to record a total of three top-10 results, including a season-best eighth-place run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July, and a total of 15 top-20 results before ending up in 21st place in the final standings and with an average-finishing result of 23.3.

    Twelve days after the 2023 season concluded, Williams was announced as the driver of the No. 11 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing for the 2024 Xfinity Series season, where he replaced Daniel Hemric as Hemric moved back up to the Cup Series with Kaulig. Currently, Williams has achieved three top-10 results through the first 13 events of the season and is coming off a seventh-place result at Portland International Raceway. He is ranked in 18th place in the driver’s standings and trails the top-12 cutline to make the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs by 109 points with 13 regular-season events remaining.

    Through 199 previous starts in the Xfinity Series, Williams has achieved 14 top-10 results, 19 laps led and an average-finishing result of 22.6 as he continues his pursuit for both his first Xfinity victory and Playoff berth.

    Josh Williams is scheduled to make his 200th Xfinity Series career start at Sonoma Raceway for the second annual running of the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250 on Saturday, June 8. The event’s broadcast time is slated to occur at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Brennan Poole to make 100th Xfinity career start at Richmond

    Brennan Poole to make 100th Xfinity career start at Richmond

    Competing in his fifth season with at least one start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Brennan Poole is within reach of a milestone start. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s event at Richmond Raceway, the driver of the No. 6 Chevrolet Camaro will reach 100 career starts in the Xfinity circuit.

    A native of The Woodlands, Texas, and the 2011 UARA-Stars champion, Poole made his inaugural presence in the NASCAR Xfinity circuit during the 2015 season when he joined HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi to pilot the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro for 15 events. By then, he had made a total of 35 starts in the ARCA Menards Series while garnering six victories. Making his debut at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, Poole started 16th and finished ninth, which would be his best result of the season. He went on to make a total of 17 starts throughout the 2015 Xfinity season, where he notched another top-10 result at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July by finishing 10th. He also achieved 10 top-15 results and an average-finishing result of 12.4.

    In 2016, Poole campaigned in the Xfinity circuit on a full-time basis behind the wheel of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro for Chip Ganassi Racing. Commencing his rookie season by finishing 27th at Daytona International Speedway in February, Poole notched two 10th-place results during the first eight events on the schedule. Then at Talladega Superspeedway in April, he dodged a last lap carnage involving leaders Joey Logano and Elliott Sadler to edge Justin Allgaier in a photo finish and notch what would have been his first career victory in NASCAR. Poole, however, was relegated back to third place in the final running order after NASCAR awarded the win to Sadler by virtue of being in first place when the caution for the final lap wreck was displayed and since Poole had assumed the lead after the caution was displayed. Despite falling short of winning at Talladega, the Texan notched another third-place run at Road America in August along with an additional three top-five results and nine top-10 results during the final 17 regular-season events on the schedule before claiming a spot to the inaugural 2016 Xfinity Series Playoffs. With his title hopes evaporating despite claiming three consecutive top-20 results during the Round of 12, Poole earned three top-11 results during the final four events on the schedule before finishing in eighth place in the final standings. Overall, he achieved four top-five results, 17 top-10 results, 11 laps led and an average-finishing result of 12.4 during his first Xfinity season.

    Remaining at CGR for the 2017 season, Poole’s sophomore season commenced with a 26th-place run at Daytona after being involved in a late wreck. He rallied by posting four eighth-place runs during the following nine events. At Daytona in July, Poole notched his first career pole in the series and was running towards the front until he was bumped by William Byron and wrecked with Ty Dillon on the fronstretch. He rallied by finishing seventh. Throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, Poole’s highest on-track result was a fourth-place run at Iowa Speedway in July as he recorded 12 top-10 results before making his second consecutive appearance in the Xfinity Playoffs. During the Playoff opener at Kentucky Speedway in September, the Texan notched a career-best runner-up result after finishing 14.5 seconds behind teammate Tyler Reddick. He then claimed back-to-back fifth-place results before transferring to the Round of 8. Following two consecutive top-12 results during the Round of 8, Poole entered the round’s finale at Phoenix Raceway in November with a five-point advantage over the fourth and final transfer spot to the Championship 4 finale. During the 23rd lap at Phoenix, however, Poole’s hopes of transferring to the finale evaporated after he collided with Caesar Bacarella in Turn 1, which sent Poole’s No. 48 Chevrolet into the outside wall with a blown right-front tire and significant damage that terminated his run. He went on to finish sixth in the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and in a career-best sixth place in the final championship standings. Ironically, Poole achieved the exact number of top-five runs (four) and top-10 results (17) from his rookie season while capping off the season with 14 laps led and an average-finishing result of 13.5.

    The following season, Poole lost his ride at CGR, but sued the team in June and alleged that the organization along with agency Spire Sports + Entertainment breached his contract by moving his sponsor DC Solar to sponsor CGR’s NASCAR Cup Series operations. With the settlement between all three parties being disputed out-of-court at the conclusion of the season, Poole proceeded by making a total of 27 starts in the NASCAR Truck Series from 2018 to 2021. He also campaigned in his first full-time season during the 2020 Cup season, where he finished 32nd in the final standings while competing for Premium Motorsports.

    This past season, Poole returned to the Xfinity circuit with the intention of competing in the series’ three West Coast events for Mike Harmon Racing. He failed to qualify at Auto Club Speedway in February and at Phoenix in March, but managed to compete at Las Vegas in March, where he finished 37th following an early engine failure. Ultimately, Poole attempted to compete in 21 additional events with MHR, Jimmy Means Racing and JD Motorsports throughout the season, but successfully qualified for nine, beginning at Richmond Raceway in April and concluding at Phoenix in November. In a total of 10 starts, his best on-track result was a 14th-place run at Homestead with JD Motorsports in October.

    Through 99 previous Xfinity starts, Poole has achieved a pole, eight top-five results, 36 top-10 results, 31 laps led and an average-finishing result of 16.7 while he continues to pursue his first victory across NASCAR’s top three national touring series. He has racked up an average-finishing result of 27.7 through the first six Xfinity events on this year’s schedule, with his best on-track result being a 13th-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway two races ago, and is ranked in 27th place in the driver’s standings.

    Poole is scheduled to make his 100th career start in the Xfinity Series at Richmond Raceway on Saturday, April 1, with the event’s coverage scheduled slated to occur at 1 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Joey Gase’s Prior Decisions Still Impacting People Today; Excited For ‘Dega This Weekend

    Joey Gase’s Prior Decisions Still Impacting People Today; Excited For ‘Dega This Weekend

    Joey Gase finished 31st at Richmond International Raceway in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, despite lacking tires and pit crew members, just one example of how Jimmy Means’ one-car squad is persevering.

    ”Richmond was really frustrating,” Gase explained to Speedway Media on Saturday. “We were short on tires and crew members, nevertheless, still a decent finish, good points night, huge thanks to Donate For Life Virginia for teaming up with us this weekend, just glad we didn’t lose anything.”

    The Nationwide Series and Gase now hit the high and unforgiving banks of Talladega Superspeedway where they are prepared for anything and everything to occur.

    “I’m really looking forward to Talladega,” Gase further expressed about anyone being able to win at ‘Dega. “Anything can happen, allowing anyone to win, and it’s kind of a crap shoot.”

    Gase, 21, has not experienced a top-10 running, much less a victory, during a four-year tenure within the Nationwide division. However, with Talladega being recognized for its generous attitude towards underfunded organizations, Gase touched on the possibility of an unforgettable and emotional trip to victory lane this weekend.

    “If we win this weekend then I’ll be excited for months,” Gase explained with a chuckle. “A victory would really put us on the map.”

    Snapping back into expected circumstances, Gase is aiming to avoid damaging the car while producing solid runs each weekend.

    “Our goal this season is to finish top-20 in the driver standings, and top-30 in owner standings,” Gase noted about his goals in the No. 52 Jimmy Means machine this season. “Thankfully, we are currently accomplishing those standards.”

    The still-developing driver earned his career-best 19th place finish at Kansas Speedway driving for Jimmy Means during the 2012 Nationwide Series season. While his finishes aren’t there – probably due to equipment – he still manages to keep the car in one piece, making him a very respectable driver for an owner.

    Gase has always been tagged as underfunded, therefore not a good driver, however that stereotype is slowly but surely starting to be ceased as the Cedar Rapids, Iowa native continues to make headlines not only by his contribution to Donate For Life but also for his on-track capabilities.

    Many folks, especially new NASCAR fans, don’t understand the hardships that Gase faced and battled through. His life was flipped upside down three years ago when his mother, Mary Gase, passed way, unexpectedly, from an aneurysm.

    Gase, 18-years-old at the time of the tragic death, decided to donate his mother’s organs and tissues which ended up saving 60-people’s lives.

    “My mom always loved helping people. She always had a big heart,” Gase said a few years ago. “She was always helping people when she could and we knew if she could help all these people, if she could no longer continue her life, this is what she would want to do.”

    Now, the competitor, while not on-track, helps spread newly acquired information about organ and tissue donation. He also visits hospitals during the week to spend time with patients and help cheer them up during the toughest of instances.

    While many racers have different backgrounds and hair-raising stories, Gase’s journey and caring decisions are some of the most unbelievable things you’ll encounter, and again, he manages all of this while, still, going 200 MPH every weekend.