NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown canceled

The NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown attracted the best young and developmental drivers in the country. Joey Logano, David Gilliland, Brian Ickler and Travis Pastrana have raced in the Showdown to sell-out crowds on national TV.
But not even the allure of promising NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers, sell outs and television exposure could keep the All-Star Showdown alive.
The All-Star Showdown, which was scheduled to run in January 2012 at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, was canceled on Wednesday, ending eight years of exciting races.
Go to ESPNLA.com for more on the cancellation of the All-Star Showdown and the history of the races at Irwindale.

More on Travis Pastrana making his NASCAR debut

Here's some more on Travis Pastrana making his NASCAR debut in the Toyota All Star Showdown at Irwindale this weekend.
He talks about working with Michael Waltrip and how he's going to juggle NASCAR and X Games in the same season.
Go to the K&N website for more.

Photo: Travis Pastrana unveils his NASCAR Nationwide Series car at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles.

Logano wins NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown

The NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown came down to a battle of teenagers as Joey Logano and Sergio Pena challenged each other in front of a sell-out crowd of 6,500 at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
The 19-year-old Logano beat the unknown 16-year-old Pena by 0.0584 seconds and won his second Showdown race. Logano was making his third Showdown start and won the race in 2007. He actually crossed the finish line first in 2009, but only after crashing with Peyton Sellers on the last lap of that race. Both drivers were penalized for rough driving and Matt Kobyluck was awarded the win.
When Logano was announced as a two-time winner of the Showdown, he tried to correct the announcer by saying it was his third win.
Pena gave Logano all he could handle, but Logano had the advantage on restarts. Logano led for most of the final segment of the race, but said he was unsure of victory until the final turn.
"He was good. I knew from the start if he ever got by me, it was game over," Logano said. "I knew I had to be methodical with every move I made."
When the cars came in for mandatory pit stops on lap 201, Pena was in the lead. He lost his lead to Logano on the restart. Michael Self crashed into the turn 3 wall with 10 laps to go and brought out a red flag. When the race resumed, Logano jumped out in the lead and held on over the final eight laps of the race.
"A lot of things were going through my head," Logano said. "They put together a good car for me. We didn't know what we were going to have."
Logano was impressed with the way Pena raced. Pena won the pole and led the first lap of the race. Logano led the next 99 and was in the lead for the first round of mandatory pit stops on lap 100.
"Experience was the biggest thing on my side tonight," Logano said. "It was one of the few times I've had experience on my side. We ran each other hard from lap 1."
Pena and Logano swapped the lead a number of times during the second 100 laps of the race. Pena was able to build a considerable lead on Logano and the field, but restarts reeled Pena back to the pack.
"He will figure it out," Logano said. "He was a quick study. I was wondering the whole time how much I was going to show him. He did the same moves I did on him. He'll be here for a while."

Photo: Sergio Pena and Joey Logano following qualifying for the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown. (Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Sergio Pena wins pole for NASCAR Showdown

Who is Sergio Pena? He is the driver who beat out Joey Logano, David Gilliland and Ryan Truex for the pole for the NASCAR Toyota All- Star Showdown.
Pena, a 16-year-old from Winchester, Va., has more of an open-wheel racing background than stock cars. He will be driving for Revolution Racing in the K&N Pro Series East in 2010.
He is driving one of Andy Santerre's old cars in the Showdown. Santerre's best finish in the Showdown was a runner-up in 2003. He won four NASCAR Busch North Series championships from 2002-05. Santerre is working as Pena's crew chief for the Showdown.
Pena has been racing late models at Shenandoah Speedway in Virginia, where he finished eighth in the late model standings.

Joey Logano in search of second NASCAR Showdown win

Joey Logano won the Showdown race at Irwindale in 2007. He came within a lap of winning the Showdown race in 2009. Logano and Peyton Sellers crashed on the last lap of the race.
Matt Kobyluck went on to win the Showdown race in 2009 and became the first two-time winner.
Logano, the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie of the year and a driver for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series, is making his third start in the Showdown. He talked about racing in the K&N Pro Series and his chances of winning another Showdown race.

Ryan Truex comments on how his brother Martin Truex Jr. has helped his career

Ryan Truex is the younger brother of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Martin Truex Jr.
The younger Truex won the K&N Pro Series East Series championship in 2009.
Ryan Truex says he talks to his brother on a regular basis and his brother has played a huge role in his development as a driver.
Ryan Truex starts ninth in the Showdown race at Irwindale.

Greg Pursley prepares for NASCAR Showdown

Greg Pursley won a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship driving at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. He qualified fourth for the Showdown race.
He is entering his second season with Gene Price Motorsports in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West. Pursley won the season-opening West Series race at Thunderhill Raceway in Texas.

Rip Michels wins NASCAR Super Late Model race at Irwindale

Rip Michels wins NASCAR Super Late Model race at Irwindale

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Rip Michels won the NASCAR Super Late Model race portion of the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale. Michels, the winningest driver in driver in Irwindale history, won the crash-filled race that was red-flagged three times because of accidents.
The race was cut short, from 100 laps to 66. The race ended under a green-white-checker flag. Michels held the lead for the final three laps of the race.

Sergio Pena wins pole for NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown

Sergio Pena wins pole for NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown

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Sergio Pena won the pole for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series portion of the Toyota All-Star Showdown in Irwindale. He posted the top qualifying time in a field that includes NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Joey Logano and David Gilliland, West Series champion Jason Bowles and Ryan Truex, the younger brother of Sprint Cup driver Martin Truex Jr.
Pena, a NASCAR Drive for Diversity driver, said he even surprised himself by beating out some of the top drivers from the Cup Series.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better car tonight,” Pena said.
The 16-year-old Pena is making his first start in the Toyota All-Star Showdown. He earned his way into qualifying for the Showdown by winning a qualifying race against three of his teammates at Revolution Racing. Pena posted his time, 18.390 second (97.879 mph) around the half-mile oval early in qualifying and no driver could match it. Logano was second at 18.421 seconds and 97.715 mph.

Being behind the wheel drives T.O.'s Long » Ventura County Star

Being behind the wheel drives T.O.'s Long » Ventura County Star

If Patrick Long could be in two places at the same time this weekend, he would. Long will be racing in the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway in Florida, but he also has a guaranteed starting spot in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown in Irwindale.
As a factory driver for Porsche, Long had no choice but to race in the Rolex 24, a 24-hour endurance race that includes some of the top drivers from NASCAR, the IndyCar Series, Formula One and, of course, sports car racing.
“In the end, I’m a sports car racer and I have to focus on a race as big as the Rolex 24,” said Long, a driver from Thousand Oaks who won the GT portion of the Rolex 24 at Daytona last year as well as the American Le Mans Series GT2 driver championship. “There’s no question. It’s tough. I’d love to race the Showdown one day. Having a provisional guaranteed entry into the final is a huge advantage going to a race like that where you have Cup regulars and so many drivers from all over the country racing. Of course, Irwindale is kind of a home track of mine. All those things make we wish I could take part in that race, but unfortunately the schedules don’t line up.”

Photo: Patrick Long of Thousand Oaks will race this weekend in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Fla. (Courtesy of Rick Dole Photography)

Joanides prepares for triple duty in the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale

Nick Joanides, a driver from Woodland Hills, became the first driver in the history of Toyota Speedway at Irwindale to win the NASCAR Super Late Model and Late Model championships in the same year. He will next try to win all three races of the Toyota All-Star Showdown at the end of the month.
Joanides will be entered in the NASCAR Late Model, Super Late Model and Camping World Series races at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale at the end of the month.
“In the Late Model and Super Late Model Showdown races, I think we have a very good chance to do well,” Joanides said.
Joanides won the Super Late Model championship at the track last year by winning 13 of the 21 races. He won the Late Model championship with only three wins. But he proved he was a threat to win race in both divisions.
His success at the Camping World Series level has not been so great. He has only three top-10 finishes in Camping World Series races, his best finish a ninth-place at Colorado National Speedway in 2004.
“The Camping World Series race is a bit of an unknown,” Joanides said. “We’re not tried and true at the track in those cars. If we can get the car to handle, we’d like to try to win it.”
Joanides will be driving cars owned by Loyd McGhee in the Super Late Model and Late Model races. McGhee funded the cars driven by Joanides at Irwindale.
His Camping World Series car is a NASCAR Nationwide Series Ford Fusion acquired by Joe Nava.
The Camping World Series car will carry the No. 70, a tribute to the late Chris Trickle. Trickle died in 1998 after being shot outside Las Vegas in an unsolved freeway shooting in 1997.
Joanides visited Trickle and his family in an Inglewood hospital after the shooting. Trickle was in a coma and hospitalized for months while he was evaluated by brain specialists.
The NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown consists of three races, a 225-lap Camping World Series race, a 100-lap Super Late Model race and a 75-lap Late Model race.

Photo: NASCAR driver Nick Joanides will enter all three races at the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.

Joey Logano enters NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown

The NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown just got a little more star power.
Joey Logano, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie of the year and driver of the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, will race in the Showdown at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Jan. 29.
“I’m really excited to have an opportunity to get back out to the Toyota Speedway for the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown,” Logano said. “I had a lot of fun last year and we are going try and get the trophy back this year.”
This will mark Logano's third start in the Showdown. He won the race in his first start in 2007. He nearly won the race in 2009 when he crashed on the last lap and took out Peyton Sellers, the race leader.
Logano will be driving a car owned by NASCAR Camping World Series East owner Mike Olsen.
“We are really excited to have The Home Depot on board with us for the weekend,” Logano said. “Mike Olson from Fadden Racing stepped up and is going to provide us a solid car for the weekend. We have Kevin Kidd coming out with us to call the race so we feel like we have a pretty good shot.”
Logano's new Nationwide Series crew chief, Kevin Kidd, will also be calling the shots for the Showdown race.
Logano will be part of a Showdown field that includes Ryan Truex, the younger brother of Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr., former Cup Series driver Steve Park, Jason Bowles and Greg Pursley.
The Showdown is at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Jan. 29-30.

Photo: Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 GameStop/Brutal Legend Toyota, celebrates winning his second consecutive NASCAR Nationwide Series Copart 300 at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday in Fontana, Calif. (Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Joe Gibbs Racing represents in Showdown

The Toyota All-Star Showdown brought out some of NASCAR's rising stars to Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. Among them, Joey Logano, who will be driving the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and Marc Davis, another driver from Joe Gibbs Racing.

Hornaday not making friends at Irwindale

Ron Hornaday Jr., (pictured above) the winningest driver in NASCAR Truck Series history, the three-time Truck Series champ, did not receive a warm reception from the fans and other drivers in the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale.
He and Brian Ickler crashed about midway through the Showdown. It looked like Hornaday was responsible for the wreck that took Ickler out of contention.
On a restart on lap 141, Hornaday, who was in third place at the time, tried to pass Ickler in turn 1. Instead, Hornaday got into the side of Icker's car and started a chain reaction crash that took out a good chunk of the race leaders. Hornaday was able to drive away from the crash and was booed by the fans as he sped away.
When the race resumed, Joey Logano was in the lead, Hornaday was a lap down and Ickler was in the infield, waiting for his car to be repaired.
"Obviously (Ickler's) car looked like it was good," said Jason Bowles, a driver from Ontario who finished third in the Showdown. "He always runs good here. It was one of those deals, I’m not sure what Hornaday was thinking there. I know he’s a professional, but that was a little rough. He went from about fifth to lead it. I know that ain’t going to work."

Some final thoughts on the Toyota All-Star Showdown

Matt Kobyluck will go down as the winner of the 2009 version of the Toyota All-Star Showdown, even though he crossed the finish line in second place.
It was a wild finish. Peyton Sellers and Joey Logano (pictured at left) battled for the lead on the last lap. Logano, who led for most of the second half of the race, bounced off of the car Sellers was driving, hit the turn 4 wall and took the lead and was the first driver across the finish line.
Kobyluck ducked to the bottom of the track, was the second driver to cross the finish line, followed by Trevor Bayne, a developmental driver in the Dale Earnhardt Inc. stable and from the Camping World Series East, and Jason Bowles, a two-time winner at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale and a driver in the Camping World Series West.

"It was an unfortunate ending, but this is the All-Star Showdown," said Kobyluck, who became the first two-time winner of the Camping World Series portion of the Showdown. "Everyone’s just going for it. Minor error there, or maybe it wasn’t an error, who knows? I’m only in control of my car. It looked like Joey overdrove the corner, couldn’t keep the car down, but he was going for the win. Peyton was going for the win. In a deal like this when there’s no points on the line, it’s all a truck, money, and bragging rights, the outcome’s always crazy."

Bowles didn't quite see it that way. He put a lot of the blame on the outcome of the race on Logano.
"Peyton didn’t touch anybody," Bowles said. "Those guys, it was unfortunate they were going to race like that. That’s understandable, but we got a lot of torn up race cars now instead of four guys that just had a good race and put on a good show for the fans. "
Kobyluck said he could trouble brewing between Sellers and Logano and he was just glad he didn't get in the middle of their fight.
"Joey’s a great kid and he’s got a bright future ahead of him," Kobyluck said. "Was he going for the win? Sure. Was Peyton going for the win? Sure. Fortunately I wasn’t part of it.
"The writing was on the wall what the outcome was going to be one way or the other. I just didn’t want to be caught up in it."

Thirkettle wins Super Late Model Showdown race

It was probably the easiest $10,000 Travis Thirkettle ever won. It was definitely the shortest race he's ever won.
The NASCAR Super Late Model portion of the Toyota All-Star Showdown was cut down to 15 laps. It was scheduled for 150 and ended at 12:15 a.m., way past the normal curfew for the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
And even though 15 laps were officially recorded, only about three were actually run. Thirkettle might have been the most disappointed driver at the track despite coming out the winner. He had a brand new car and said he was looking forward to actually getting a chance to race it.
The Super Late Model race also ended a frustrating night for Ron Hornaday Jr. The three-time NASCAR Truck Series champions was booed in the Camping World Series race after he and race leader Brian Ickler crashed. He ended his night with two tires on top of another car in the turn 2 grass during the Super Late Model race.

Late Model Showdown

Mike Johnson won the NASCAR Late Model portion of the Toyota All-Star Showdown, a race trimmed from 75 laps to 55 laps. The race ended under caution at 11:30 p.m.
Local drivers of note:
Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills was fifth, Logan Henson of Santa Clarita was 15th, Tim Huddleston of Agoura Hills, the reigning Late Model champion at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, was 16th and Sean Woodside of Saugus was 20th.

Rain washes out racing at Showdown

It looks like switching the Toyota All-Star Showdown from October to the middle of January might not have been such a good idea afterall.
Rain washed out a NASCAR Super Late Model race and a Showdown qualifying race on Friday night. That sets up a three-race schedule for Saturday night. The NASCAR Camping World Series race, a 75-lap Late Model race and a 150-lap Super Late Model race.
The rain led to some flared tempers in the pits, with drivers cussing and complaining about whether they would be able to practice, qualify or race. The Super Late Model drivers and the Camping World Series drivers were preparing to at least run some practice laps at around 9 p.m., but by then most of the fans had gone home and the only food booth open at the track was a single King Taco.
As much as I love burritos, it was not exactly on my mind while waiting to see if it would stop raining long enough to see some race cars on the track instead of ambulance and emergency vehicles dragging oversized white tires around in circles.
As frustrating as the rain was, it did give me a chance to catch up with some drivers.
It looks like Greg Pursley, who won a NASCAR Whelen All-American national championship while racing at Irwindale, will be competing in the NASCAR Camping World Series West for the entire 2009 season. He will be driving for Gene Price Motorsports. Price's son Mike has been a regular Toyota Speedway at Irwindale for years.
The cars Pursley will be racing all come from Richard Childress Racing. He will be racing one of Clint Bowyer's old cars in the Showdown. The team also has one of Jeff Burton's old cars and one of Kevin Harvick's road course cars.
Ron Hornaday Jr., the winningest drivers in NASCAR Truck Series history, will be racing in the Super Late Model and Camping World Series portions of the Showdown.

R.J. Johnson, the son of Rod Johnson who won the Super Late Model championship at Irwindale in 1999, will be attempting to qualify for the Camping World Series portion of the Showdown. The younger Johnson, who competed in the Super Trucks division at Irwindale last year, is driving a West Series car owned by Bob Farmer.
Travis Thirkettle is entered in the Super Late Model race in a car he describes as a prototype. It meets the Super Late Model specifications for Irwindale, but it can easily be modified to race in other divisions at other tracks. Thirkettle said he and his team wanted to make a car that would allow them to race at other tracks and possibly make a run at the NASCAR Whelen All-American national championship.