The NASCAR driver was told to drive it to the garage; Instead, he parked on the frontstretch and made NASCAR haul it to the garage
On Saturday, the NASCAR Xfinity Series raced at Atlanta Motor Speedway. They didn’t exit stage one without a load of drama.
Hear from Josh Williams below.
NASCAR driver parks on Atlanta frontstretch in protest (Video)
Josh Williams, driver of the No. 92 car was involved in a accident early in stage one. The right front fender was torn off completely. He pitted as the team made quick repairs.
Williams exited the pit lane with bear bond covering the hole in the fender. And as he rode around under the yellow, a piece of that tape come loose and was thrown onto the track.
NASCAR was forced to extend the caution as they sent out a vehicle to remove the tape from the track.
Per the rules, NASCAR ejected Williams from the event. They told the driver to pull to the garage area for extending the caution period.
Instead, Williams pulled his car to the start/finish line. He climbed from his car, on the frontstretch as the crowd erupted.
Williams pointed at the tower as he climbed from his machine. He then took a casual stroll through the infield grass, sarcastically waving at the crowd.
When Williams reached the infield, he was met by the AMR Safety team as well as NASCAR officials. Originally, he was set to give a national tv interview but he was instead taken away by officials.
NASCAR told Williams to wait at his hauler. He was later met by officials inside the NASCAR Xfinity Series hauler, after the event.
And shortly after that, Williams finally met with the media…
Denny Hamlin offers to pay NASCAR fine for Josh Williams
Josh Williams comments after stopping on track
“We all work really hard and to only run X amount of laps and have something like a piece of bear bond fall off and put us out of the race is really frustrating,” Josh Williams stated after the race.
“A small team, we work really hard and we gotta make our sponsors happy. It doesn’t do you any good sitting in the garage.”
“It is what it is. We’ll learn from it and move on.”
“I was shocked about how quick it was. We did lose a piece of bear bond. It’s cold, this stuff is hard to stick. What do you do?”
Atlanta Race Results: March 18, 2023 (NASCAR Xfinity Series)
Josh Williams did this once before…
The NASCAR driver pulled this play from his past.
“A long time ago, I had something happen to me at a short track. I stopped on the frontstrech underneath the flagstand, got out and there wasn’t one person sitting in their seat.”
“I didn’t do it to be spiteful or make a huge scene. Just wanted to voice my opinion. I felt like it wasn’t right.”
Williams added, “But, it’s in the rule book.”
A NASCAR penalty is likely. Any penalty would likely be announced on Tuesday.
While speaking with NASCAR officials, Williams noted that he wouldn’t be able to pay any fines. Denny Hamlin has since stated that he would pay the fine for Williams.
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NASCAR driver parks on Atlanta frontstretch in protest (Video)
