Williams On Career-Best Qualifying: ‘It Means A Lot’

Josh Williams (Nickolas Wolf/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

HAMPTON, Ga. – The only thing that might have kept a smile off Josh Williams’ face Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway would have been if his post-qualifying peanut butter snack had sealed his mouth shut.

Just two years removed from his infamous parking job in the middle of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the 1.54-mile quad-oval, Williams returned to the facility and turned in a career-best qualifying effort of third ahead of Saturday’s Bennett Transportation and Logistics 300.

Williams’ lap of 31.920 seconds (173.684 mph) was nearly a tenth of a second better than his first-round lap that got him into the pole shootout.

It’s just the sixth time in his Xfinity Series career he’s qualified inside the top 10 and bettered his previous high-water mark of seventh – from April of 2023 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway with DGM Racing.

“It means a lot,” Williams said of the second-row start. “I’m surrounded by a group of guys who want to win [and] run up front, and they’re putting in the effort to be successful. [It] means a lot to have people that are rowing in the same direction as me.”

It’s Williams’ second season at the wheel of owner Matt Kaulig’s flagship No. 11 Chevrolet, a team that has had past success at superspeedway events, though Williams has only one top-10 finish at a drafting track since joining Kaulig (eighth at Talladega Superspeedway last fall).

In fact, he has just four top 10s with the team overall, something Williams is eager to change this year.

“I think things just weren’t aligned,” said Williams of his struggles last season.  “I feel like in the offseason we had a chance to get things aligned and make some good progress. I think you’re going to see the results.

“We all get along. There’s a lot of old-school guys that I’m surrounded by,” Williams added about the Kaulig culture. “It’s just a good family.”

In terms of what the accomplishment means because of his history with Atlanta, Williams chuckled.

“It’s cool,” he noted. “The people, the atmosphere, the fans … they enjoy me because they know I’m a normal person like them.

“They don’t look at me as a race car driver; they look at me as a friend [and] somebody they can relate to.”

Williams is looking to parlay his best-ever starting spot into his first-ever Xfinity Series win as well.

If that happens, he said, “They might have to delay the Cup race [on Sunday], because it’s going to be a party.”

Broadcast coverage of the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 300 from Atlanta begins Saturday at 5 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.