Williams Heading Back to Bristol to Chase Another Sword
Sellersburg, IN — One of the biggest wins of Cole Williams’ young racing career came in the inaugural Short Track U.S. Nationals at Bristol Motor Speedway (TN) one year ago. This weekend, Williams is heading back to the Last Great Colosseum looking to defend his victory in the Pro Late Model ranks and chase another coveted trophy sword.
The 22-year-old driver took the Pro Late Model victory last year, and now Williams said he has enough experience to go back-to-back.
“It’s not as intimidating as it was last year,” Williams said. “I know we came in here last year and it was kind of overwhelming. I didn’t really know what to expect. This year we know what we have. We’re coming with a different car this year. Hopefully, it’s our better car. So far our practice has been solid so hopefully, it’ll be like that next weekend.”
Winning this event last year is one of Williams’ career highlights. He compared it to winning the Daytona 500 as a smaller budget team.
“It was definitely a huge deal for us. Especially as a small team we kind of treated it like a Daytona 500 win. It was a dream come true for us. We’ve always dreamed to come to a place like this and to be able to do that was awesome for the whole team. Hopefully, we can back it up this year.”
To get ready for this weekend, Williams said he has been doing his homework, just like a football player would get ready for their next big game.
“I’ve watched the replay a lot to know what we did during the race to have it refresh my mind for the weekend.”
If everything goes according to plan, Williams is hoping to add a second gladiator sword to his collection from the Last Great Colosseum.
“Big trophies stay in mom’s office at the shop. Hopefully, we can get a second one. It would be really neat to have two.”
Friday, May 18 is Short Track U.S. Nationals race day for Cole Williams and the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Pro Late Model division. Williams will hit the track for the first of two practice sessions on Friday at Noon ET. Second and final practice will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET. Qualifying will take place at approximately 5 p.m. ET with racing set to begin at approximately 7 p.m. ET.
Race fans can watch Williams attempt to defend his Short Track U.S. Nationals victory at Bristol Motor Speedway with a live pay-per-view video stream on Speed51.com. Click here to order.
For more information on Cole Williams, please visit colewilliamsracing.com. Also be sure to follow Cole Williams on Twitter, @ColeWilliams46.
Sources: 51 Sports/Cole Williams PR