Travis Irving wins NASCAR Late Model opener at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale

Travis Irving of Norco won the NASCAR Late Model season opener at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night, beating out a pair of relative youngsters.
Chris Holloway of Bakersfield finished second, followed by Canyon Country’s RJ Johnson in third. It was Holloway’s best finish at the track in the Late Model division. He was 12th in the Late Model standings with a best finish of sixth place in 2009.
Irving said racing Holloway for the lead at the end of the race made him “a little nervous.”
“He paid his dues over the years,” Irving said.
Johnson won the NASCAR Super Trucks championship at Irwindale in 2009 and was making only his fourth start in the Late Models.
Irving described Johnson as a slick driver. “I needed to keep my eyes on him,” he said.
It was Irving’s fourth win in the past two years in the Late Models at Irwindale. He won three Late Model races and was third in the Late Model standings at Irwindale last year.
Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills, the reigning Late Model champion at Irwindale, worked his way up to fourth place, but with six laps to go, he got a flat tire and pulled off the track. He finished 19th.
Tim Huddleston of Agoura Hills, a three-time Late Model champion at Irwindale, was involved in a crash midway through the race and finished 16th.
In other races, Santa Clarita’s Rich DeLong III made it two wins in a row in the NASCAR Super Stocks. DeLong beat Eric Sunness by 0.207 seconds to win his second Super Stocks race in as many weeks at Irwindale.
DeLong inherited a win on opening night at Irwindale after Garrett Cromsigt was disqualified. With two wins in the first two races of the year, DeLong has a six-point lead in the Super Stock standings.
After the race, DeLong said he was dedicating the win to his grandmother who died earlier in the week.
Bryan Harrell, a driver from Riverside, was third in the Super Stocks race. He was followed by Curtis White of Norwalk and Gary Reed of La Verne.
Jacob Rogers of Riverside won the NASCAR Mini Stocks race. Rogers was ninth in the Mini Stocks standings with three runner-up finishes last year.
Rod Schmitt of Alta Loma was second, followed by Daryl Scoggins of Sunland in third.
Ryan Partridge of Rancho Cucamonga won the season-opening NASCAR Super Trucks race. As a rookie in 2009, Partridge won one race, finished second twice and was fifth in the Super Trucks standings.
Todd Cameron of Monrovia was second, followed by Pat Mintey Jr. of Quartz Hill in third.
Ken Michaelian of Lawndale, the reigning Classic Stocks champion at Irwindale, won the Classic Stocks season-opening race. He won 11 of the 13 Classic Stocks races in 2009.
Michaelian has won three Classic Stock races in a row, dating back to 2009. He has also won eight of the past nine Classic Stock races and has not finished worse than second since opening night in 2009 at Irwindale.
Mike Colato Jr. of Chatsworth was second, followed by Harry Michaelian Jr. of Lawndale in third.