Mike Johnson wins second straight NASCAR Late Model race at Irwindale

It looks like Mike Johnson is poised to put together another winning streak in the NASCAR Late Model division at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
Johnson won the Late Model race at Irwindale on Saturday night. It was his second in a row and his third of the season. He won four in a row last year and five of the last nine races. Johnson said he would like to win the rest of the races in the Late Model season at Irwindale.
“That’s my plan,” said Johnson, a driver from Covina. “I always think I’m gonna win when I come here. I guess that’s a good thing to have.”
Nick Joanides, the reigning Late Model champion at Irwindale, was second and R.J. Johnson, the leader in the Late Model standings at the track, was third.
“I felt like the meat in the Johnson sandwich,” Joanides said after the race. “We kept it close. R.J.’s a great racer. We chipped away two points off the 22 we lost last week.”
R.J. Johnson saw his lead in the Late Model standings trimmed to 24 points over Joanides. There are four races remaining in the Late Model season.
In other races at the track, Darren Amidon of Santee won the Legend Cars race, his third in a row. He has won seven of the past eight Legend Cars races. His worst finish in that stretch was a runner-up.
Chad Schug of Oak Hills was second, followed by Tony Green of Oak Hills in third.
Brent Sheidmantle of Alta Loma, the leader in the Legend Cars standings at the track, was sixth. He has a 34-point lead over Schug.
Gerrit Cromsigt of Saugus won the NASCAR Super Stocks race. It was his fourth win of the season and his fourth win in the past five Super Stocks races.
Rich DeLong III of Santa Clarita, the leader in the Super Stocks standings, was second. Eric Sunness of Chatsworth was third.
Daryl Scoggins of Sunland won the NASCAR Mini Stocks race. It was his second win in a row and his sixth of the season.
Ryan Bragdon of Beamont was second, followed by Richie Altman of Wildomer in third.
Scoggins leads the Mini Stocks standings by 16 points over Jacob Rogers of Riverside. Rogers was seventh out of eight cars in the Mini Stocks race.
Jeff Williams of Newbury Park won the Southwest Tour Trucks Series race. It was his fourth win of the season.
Neil Conrad of Arcadia was second followed by Brady Helm of Huntington Beach in third.
Michael Zimmerman of Hemet, the leader in the Southwest Tour Truck Series standings, was fourth.

David Mayhew turns flat tire into 5th-place finish at Colorado

NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Colorado National Speedway

Eric Holmes won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Colorado National Speedway on Saturday night. It was his second West Series win in a row and his fourth of the season.
Paulie Harraka finished second. He won the race at Colorado National Speedway last year. He needed a late surge to pass Luis Martinez Jr. as the race winded down for second place.
Martinez won the pole and turned in the first podium finish in his West Series career. The leader in the rookie standings also led his first laps in a West Series race.

Eric Holmes wins NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race in Colorado

Eric Holmes won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Colorado National Speedway on Saturday night. It was his second win in a row and his fourth of the season.
Holmes is the leader in the West Series standings. The two-time West Series champ from Escalon, Calif., started on the front row next to pole sitter Luis Martinez Jr. of Long Beach. Holmes took the lead on lap 3 and survived a late surge by teammate Paulie Harraka who finished second.
"That was a hard run there, a lot of fun, really fun," said Holmes, driver of the No. 20 Toyota for Bill McAnally Racing. "This track creates a good two-wide, three-wide racing."
Martinez finished third, behind Holmes and Harraka.
"The car stayed about the same the whole day from the time it came from the shop," said Martinez, the rookie driver of the No.6 Ford for Bob Bruncati.."It unloaded fast. Right before qualifying, my guys told me just sail it into the corner because it looks like the track's got a lot of grip. That's what I did. It ended up paying off real well for us."
Holmes leads the West Series standings by 114 points over David Mayhew with three races remaining in the West Series schedule. The next race is Sept. 12 at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah.

Photo: Eric Holmes won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Colorado National Speedway, his fourth of the season. 

Michael Self looks to get ahead in NASCAR K&N Pro Series West

Michael Self is second in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West. He is four points behind leader Luis Martinez Jr. with four races remaining.
But Self is more focused on winning his first West Series race than he is in winning the rookie of the year award.
"It’s still anyone’s battle," Self said about the rookie race. "We have to go through these next four races and be consistent and be smart and not let anything push us out of the way. Hopefully we can gain a couple more spots in the points standings, which I’d really like, and if we can win the rookie of the year deal that would be awesome too."
When Self isn't racing in the West Series, he is taking classes at the University of Utah. The 19-year-old  from Park City, Utah, took some business classes over the winter term. He said he wants to change his focus this winter and take some psychology classes instead.
Self has had some good races, but not necessarily the best results. He understands it's part of the growing pains of being a rookie in the West Series.
"It’s just kind of been that way throughout the season," Self said. "Every race I feel like we’ve been awesome at. We’ve run good at, maybe I made a mistake. It’s not always been the crew guys. There’s no way for me to put the blame on anyone. It’s just paying my dues and learning those rookie things."
Go to NASCAR Home Tracks for more on Self and his rookie season in the West Series.

Photo: The No. 88 car for Michael Self goes through inspection at Colorado National Speedway before NASCAR K&N Pro Series West practice at the track.

Eric Holmes tops NASCAR Hunter Index

Eric Holmes, the leader in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West standings, earned the top spot in the NASCAR Hunter Index for the developmental drivers.
Holmes, a driver from Escalon, Calif., won the K&N Pro Series West race at Montana Raceway Park and was second in the race at Portland International Raceway in Oregon. The two-time West Series champion has three wins this year and has a 79-point lead with four races to go.
The next West Series race is Saturday at Colorado National Speedway.
No other driver from the West Coast made it in the top 10 of the Hunter Index. David Mayhew, a driver from Bakersfield and the second-place driver in the West Series standings, earned an honorable mention. Patrick Long, a driver from Thousand Oaks who won the West Series race at Portland International Raceway, also earned an honorable mention.
Antonio Perez, the leader in the NASCAR Mexico Series, came in at No. 8 in the Hunter Index. 
Go to NASCAR Home Tracks for more on the Hunter Index.

The Heat, scheduling hurt Fontana track attendance for NASCAR races - ESPN Los Angeles

The Heat, scheduling hurt Fontana track attendance for NASCAR races - ESPN Los Angeles

Auto Club Speedway has hosted two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races since 2004. It started hosting a Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship race last year.
The track will only have one Cup race in 2011 and it won't have a Chase race.
The realigned Sprint Cup Series schedule has a bunch of changes. The Cup race at Auto Club Speedway will be in March. The second race of the season, which used to be at Auto Club Speedway, will be at Phoenix International Raceway. The first race in the Chase will be at Chicagoland Speedway in Illinois. Kansas Speedway will have two Cup races. Kentucky Speedway will host a Cup race for the first time.
Auto Club Speedway president Gillian Zucker said she expects her race track will have two Cup races again. But she said she isn't so sure she wants a Chase race if and when a second date is added to the NASCAR Cup schedule.
Roger Penske, whose Penske Motorsports Inc. bought the land and completed building the track in Fontana in 1997, said adding new venues to the Cup schedule is a good idea.
Go to ESPN LA.com for more on the Sprint Cup Series schedule and Auto Club Speedway losing one of its races.

Photo: Jimmie Johnson won the first Chase race at Auto Club Speedway in 2009. Auto Club Speedway lost one of its races and won't host a Chase race in 2011. (Getty Images)

Eric Holmes wins NASCAR K&N Pro Serie West race in Montana

Eric Holmes has been looking forward to racing on some of the short tracks on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West schedule. He won at the tiny Montana Raceway Park on Saturday night and padded, if ever so slightly, his lead in the West Series standings.
Holmes won the inaugural race at the quarter-mile, high-banked oval in northwest Montana. It was his third win of the season and his first since winning at Douglas County Speedway in Oregon in June.
Holmes started seventh and had to work his way through the field to take the lead. The race went 103 laps caution free before the first yellow flag came out for debris. After that, a series of caution periods bunched up the field and helped Holmes close in on David Mayhew.
Mayhew led the most laps in the race. But Holmes took the lead on lap 113 and held it for the final 38 laps of the race.
"The late yellows there were a little nerve racking having to go through those restarts again," Holmes said. "The car was real good on the bottom, got some great restarts, brought the NAPA Toyota back to victory lane."
Mayhew finished second, followed by Moses Smith in third. Smith was able to avoid a late crash between Travis Bennett, Paulie Harraka and Greg Pursley.
Pursley won the pole and led the first 18 laps of the race. Mayhew took the lead on lap 19 and held it for 94 laps. Mayhew and Holmes raced side-by-side over the last 20 laps, but Holmes was able to pull away at the end.
Jonathon Gomez finished fourth, followed by Gary Lewis in fifth. Lewis, a driver from Bothel, Wash., won the Best of the West Tundra 125 late model race at Montana Raceway Park earlier in the night.

Live from Montana Raceway Park

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West is making its first visit to Montana Raceway Park in Kalispell. The tiny quarter-mile oval is being compared to the old Mesa Marin track in Bakersfield by some of the drivers.
Greg Pursley won the pole for the race. It was his second pole of the K&N Pro Series West season.
Rookie driver Justin Funkhouser was the last driver to arrive at the track. His truck towing his car and carrying his crew overheated in Nevada and he didn't make it to the track until the middle of the second practice session on Friday.
Jack Sellers is making his 238th career West Series start, the second most among West Series drivers.

Photo: Greg Pursley won the pole for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Montana Raceway Park.