Pena wins again in Virginia

Toyota Speedway of Irwindale fans might remember Sergio Pena from the Toyota All-Star Showdown a couple years ago. He battled with Joey Logano in one of the more memorable races at the track.
Pena won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Langley Speedway in Virginia on Saturday. It was his second win of the season and the second of his K&N Pro Series East career.
It took some time for Pena to kick his racing career into gear. He seems to have found a nice pace.
However, his two wins have been his only two top fives of the 2011 season.
Max Gresham finished third in the race at Langley Speedway and moved into the lead in the East Series standings after seven races.
Pena is in seventh place in the East Series standings.
Go to the K&N website for more on the East Series race at Langley Speedway.

Photo: Sergio Pena won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Langley Speedway in Virginia on Saturday night. (Tom Whitmore/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Sergio Pena wins first NASCAR K&N Pro Series race of his career

It took a while, but Sergio Pena won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at South Boston SPeedway in Virginia on Sunday, the first of his career.
Toyota Speedway at Irwindale fans saw his potential in the 2010 Toyota All-Star Showdown when he won the pole and finished second to Joey Logano.
Even though Pena had a great start to his K&N Pro Series career, he struggled in his first full season in the East Series.
After two races into the 2011 East Series season, Pena leads the standings by one point over Coleman Pressley.
Go to the K&N website for more on the race.

Photo: Sergio Pena won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at South Boston Speedway, the first of his career. (Credit: Tom Whitmore/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Sergio Pena finishes third in NASCAR Super Late Models at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale

Sergio Pena finished third in the NASCAR Super Late Model race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night.
Pena, a rookie in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, was the runner-up in the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale in January. He finished behind NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Joey Logano, who won the Showdown for the second year in a row.
Pena is off to a rocky start in the East Series. He has yet to finish in the top 10 in the first two races of the season and is 20th in the East Series standings.

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.

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.