Josh Williams was told to go to the garage by NASCAR; Instead, he parked his car on the frontstretch of Atlanta Motor Speedway and walked to the garage
Joey Logano: “We’ll be talking about it for years. And, I got a feeling he’ll be talking to NASCAR about it later.”
The NASCAR Xfinity Series is currently racing on the 1.54-mile of Atlanta Motor Speedway. There’s a bit of drama unfolding…
Watch the video below.
Josh Williams was involved in a crash in stage one of the race. He picked up heavy front end damage.
The driver took it to the pit lane for repairs. The repairs were essentially duct tape to cover a massive hole in the fender.
With 9 to go, a caution was thrown for debris. That debris came off Williams’ machine.
NASCAR said the No. 92 was done for the day. They noted that he extended the caution period.
The car was still functional. However, Williams elected not to drive his machine back to the garage.
Instead, Williams drove it to the start finish/line. That’s where he came to a stop and climbed from his machine.
It appears the driver might not have been happy with the call from officials.
Williams walked across the infield grass, sarcastically waving to the crowd. He causally walked to the garage and left the car on the track, for NASCAR to clean up.
Denny Hamlin offers to pay NASCAR fine for Josh Williams
Joey Logano reacts
“Oh my goodness,” Joey Logano said from the FOX broadcasting booth.
“Oh no. Wave and see you later.”
“They made him park his car because he extended the caution because they didn’t do a good enough job repairing it, which was obvious. They parked him and he said, ‘Fine, I’ll park it right here on the start/finish line.’ “
“I haven’t seen that one yet, that’s a new one. I like how chilled out he is, ‘Yup, I did that.’ “
Logano added, “We’ll be talking about it for years. And, I got a feeling he’ll be talking to NASCAR about it later.”
“Where I came from, you get into a fight because of that,” Daniel Suarez joked.
Team Radio
The team radio communications stated, “Apparently, if you get in a wreck and a piece of bear bond falls off, of any kind, you are out of the race. Because you littered the race track.”
Williams added, “Uh oh, yeah, this is some bull-you-know-what. Never heard of this in my life.”
Spotter Reed Sorenson responded, “You can do whatever you want here.”
At that point, what Williams wanted to do was park it on the race track, so he went with that option.
Josh Williams was set to give an interview. However, the team owner and a NASCAR official came in to pull him away. It appears officials needed him to make a trip to the infield care center, per protocol.
NASCAR has since told Williams to wait at his team hauler. They are currently calling a race but intend to have a conversation with the driver after the race has concluded.
Josh Williams comments after stopping on NASCAR track in protest
Josh Williams talks with officials
After walking toward the infield, Williams climbed over the pit wall where he was met by the AMR safety team and NASCAR officials.
“I’ll meet you over there. So, just hangout over there somewhere,” Williams told a member of the AMR safety team who was likely telling him to go to the infield care center.
Williams added, “I don’t care. What’s he going to do? Fine me? I can’t afford to pay it.”
Atlanta Race Results: March 18, 2023 (NASCAR Xfinity Series)
What does the NASCAR rule book say?
Here’s the rule relating to this incident:
“At the discretion of the Series Managing Director, if a damaged vehicle elects to enter pit road on the first opportunity or if a damaged vehicle exits pit road before sufficient repairs had been made and thereafter causes or extends a caution (e.g. leaking fluid, debris, etc.), then said vehicle may incur a lap(s) or time penalty or may not be permitted to return to the Race.”
About an hour after the incident, Williams was seen sitting inside the NASCAR hauler. His No. 92 machine was also pushed to the NASCAR hauler.
Chad Knaus on NASCAR penalty, “It’s ugly.”
Josh Williams parks on Atlanta Motor Speedway frontstretch
Atlanta TV Schedule: March 2023 (NASCAR)
