Josh Williams
(Photo: Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

ARCA Graduate of the Week: Josh Williams makes NASCAR Cup Series debut at Bristol

www.arcaracing.com April 19, 2022

The ARCA Menards Series has developed a reputation as the developmental series where champions are made. The list of NASCAR national touring series champions and rookies of the year is filled with drivers who cut their teeth on the ARCA platform.

But ARCA is not only a developmental series; it’s a series where racers on limited budgets can realize a dream. One of those racers is Josh Williams.

In a family-owned car with a team comprised of friends and volunteers, Williams made the leap from the Florida short tracks to a limited schedule in the ARCA Menards Series in 2010. Another limited schedule in 2011 resulted in his first top-10 finish, a sixth-place run on the demanding high banks at Salem Speedway. Two more top-10 finishes followed, a seventh on the New Jersey Motorsports Park road course and an eighth at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Josh Williams
Josh William poses for a portrait ahead of the ARCA Menards Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on April 27, 2018.

By 2012, the team was ready for a full-season effort. Williams racked up four top-10 finishes and was ninth in the standings despite missing the race at Michigan due to a savage crash in practice. He also notched his first career top-five finish, a fifth-place run at Madison International Speedway.

In 2013, the family-owned team struggled to find sponsorship for the full season, but Williams pieced together rides with three other teams to complete the season and finish fifth in the standings. He scored his best career finish with one of those one-off rides, a runner-up performance at Chicagoland Speedway driving for GMS Racing. He also finished sixth at Elko driving for the Roulo Brothers in a car that was slated to be a start-and-park entry.

Williams ran another partial slate in 2014 but was back for a run at the championship in 2015. He had a breakout season with six top-five finishes and 15 top-10 runs and finished third in the series standings. But 2015 is when he really hit his stride. He scored two wins and a total of eleven top-10 finishes on his way to fourth in the standings, all while he and his merry band of volunteers traveled pulling a tag-along trailer in a dually pickup truck.

Williams’ success in the ARCA Menards Series has led him to opportunities in the upper levels of NASCAR. He has made 131 career starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with eight top-10 finishes, and he made his NASCAR Cup Series debut on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway driving for Live Fast Motorsports, a team co-owned by fellow ARCA grad Matt Tifft and B.J. McLeod. Williams stayed out of the majority of the trouble throughout the night and finished 25th in his debut.

While moves up the ladder, Williams still keeps his roots firmly planted in the ARCA garage. Not only has he been a frequent visitor over the years, in 2022, his Josh Williams Motorsports team has committed to the full ARCA Menards Series East schedule. The team opened the year with Logan Misuraca at the wheel at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway and Daniel Escoto at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. Fellow Floridian Michael Lira drove the JWM entry to a 21st-place finish at Daytona International Speedway, as well.