You know the saying: when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Well, for NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Josh Williams, the "lemons" was a one-race suspension handed down by NASCAR, and the "lemonade" was a special T-shirt that's bound to have at least a few buyers.
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On Tuesday, March 21, NASCAR officially announced that the 29-year-old Williams, who currently drives for DGM Racing, would be suspended for Saturday's Xfinity race at Circuit of the Americas for his rebellious actions at Atlanta Motor Speedway last weekend. Well, just a couple hours after the news of the suspension dropped, Williams tweeted out a link promoting his new "Park It" T-shirt, the proceeds of which will go to a number of different charitable organizations, including the Josh Williams Hospital Tour and the Ryan Seacrest Foundation. Talk about making the best out of a bad situation.
You asked. We delivered. The official 'Park It' shirts are available now! 🫶
ALL proceeds will go towards the supporting organizations of the Josh Williams Hospital Tour, such as the @RyanFoundation, @OhmniLabs robotics, and more.
👕 https://t.co/U8Y9YmoZUi pic.twitter.com/d6jCxTcIvT
— Josh Williams (@Josh6williams) March 21, 2023
So, just how did Josh Williams find himself on NASCAR's bad side? Well, after he was involved in a collision on lap 27 of the RAPTOR King of Tough 250 at Atlanta last Saturday, a large amount of debris fell from William's No. 92 Chevrolet, bringing out a caution. Williams was then placed under NASCAR's damaged vehicle policy, which required him to return to the garage. Instead of complying with NASCAR's orders, Williams opted to try proving himself as the ultimate King of Tough by parking his car at the start-finish line, exiting it, and walking toward pit road. Not the brightest move, to be sure, but it did make for one pretty hilarious highlight clip.
WATCH: Josh Williams Parks at Start-Finish Line at Atlanta Motor Speedway
NASCAR eventually determined that Williams violated Sections 4.3.A; 4.4.B & D; 8.7.6: NASCAR Member Code of Conduct & In-race Violations (which means that he disobeyed a NASCAR request). After meeting with Xfinity Series officials following the official ruling, Williams spoke with reporters and expressed his frustration with the suspension, despite copping to the violation.
"We all work really hard and to only run 'X' amount of laps and then to have something like a piece of Bear Bond and put us out of the race, it's really frustrating," Williams said. "Small team. We work really hard. We've got to make our sponsors happy, right? It doesn't do any good sitting in the garage. It is what it is. We'll learn from it and move on. I told them I was a little bit frustrated, but it was in the rule book."
Williams later released a statement on Twitter, thanking his sponsors and fans and standings by his decision at Atlanta.
My statement following the announcement from @NASCAR. pic.twitter.com/aCJrg8EY4B
— Josh Williams (@Josh6williams) March 21, 2023
A native of Port Charlotte, Florida, Williams has run in 159 Xfinity races over the past eight years, making his debut with Jimmy Means Racing in 2016. He has eight top-10 finishes in the series. Williams also made his NASCAR Cup Series debut in 2022, running in three races for Live Fast Motorsports in the No. 78 Ford.
