Early career A
Jeff Gordon fan in his youth, Townley began racing in
karts in Georgia and the Carolinas. Townley joined
Richard Childress Racing for 2010, but was released before the sixth race of the year at
Phoenix International Raceway. It resulted in his replacement for that race by
Clint Bowyer, and for the rest of the year by Bowyer and
Morgan Shepherd. He rejoined RAB Racing for a few races later in the 2010 season. On February 7, 2012, Townley was arrested and charged with
DUI following an automobile accident in suburban
Oconee County, Georgia. He was subsequently suspended by RAB Racing until an "appropriate" amount of time had passed, and was placed on probation by NASCAR through the end of the year. Townley would return to driving for the team in the Camping World Truck Series at the end of March at
Martinsville Speedway, where he finished 23rd. He would finish in the top 20 in the following three races, and would return to the
Nationwide Series in RAB's No. 99
Toyota at
Dover International Speedway and
Daytona International Speedway during the summer. In August, Townley attempted to make his
Sprint Cup Series debut at
Pocono Raceway, driving for
FAS Lane Racing with sponsorship from
Zaxby's. Townley hit the wall on his warm-up lap of practice out of the tunnel turn and was replaced by
Jason White. On the same weekend he scored his first career top-10 finish in NASCAR, finishing 8th in the Camping World Truck Series race at Pocono. After the 2012 season, Townley signed with
Red Horse Racing to drive the team's No. 7 Toyota in the Camping World Truck Series for 2013. In addition, Townley drove for
Venturini Motorsports in the season-opening race for the
ARCA Racing Series at
Daytona International Speedway. Starting from the pole, he went on to win the event, running a partial schedule in ARCA and the NASCAR
Nationwide Series for the team. Townley finished 11th in Truck points. For the 2014 season, Townley moved to
Wauters Motorsports to drive the No. 5 Toyota in the Camping World Truck Series, as well as running full-time in the
ARCA Racing Series for
Venturini Motorsports. Mid-season, Townley moved to
Athenian Motorsports, which is owned by his father Tony Townley, for the remainder of the Truck Series season as well as a partial Nationwide Series schedule. At
Pocono Raceway in August, Townley was involved in an accident during ARCA qualifying and was forced to sit out the remainder of the weekend as a precaution. In December, it was announced that Townley would return to the Truck Series full-time in the No. 05 for Athenian Motorsports while also running part-time in the Xfinity Series in the No. 25 for Athenian Motorsports. In 2015, Townley won his first career truck race at
Las Vegas Motor Speedway when
Matt Crafton pitted for fuel with six laps to go. Townley stayed out on the gamble and won in the process. During the 2016
Drivin' for Linemen 200 at
Gateway Motorsports Park, Townley was involved in an altercation with
Spencer Gallagher, after the two crashed on lap 154. Townley and Gallagher's fight began trending worldwide as it was called as one of the funniest fights in sports. Townley was eventually fined $15,000 and placed on probation until the end of the year. He missed the following race at
Kentucky Speedway for concussion treatment and was replaced by
Parker Kligerman. Townley also missed another race when he skipped the
Texas Motor Speedway truck race to treat an injured left ankle, with
Cody Coughlin taking over the No. 05 for the event. In January 2017, it was announced Townley was retiring from motorsports and Athenian Motorsports would subsequently be shutting down operations. ==Personal life==