NASCAR from Daytona to Irwindale on tap for July 4 weekend

Most major motor-racing series are idle over the July 4 weekend, but NASCAR's top series returns to its most famous track, Daytona International Speedway, on Saturday night while one of its minor-league series does the same at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader Carl Edwards leads the field for the Coke Zero 400 at the high-banked, 2.5-mile Daytona super-speedway.

Drivers again are expected to pair up in two-car drafts as they did in the season-opening Daytona 500 in February, when Trevor Bayne, who had just turned 20, won the race in a huge upset.

Bakersfield native Kevin Harvick, who won the July race at Daytona a year ago, is in second place in the Cup standings, 25 points behind Edwards, and reigning champion Jimmie Johnson is 33 points behind in third.

NASCAR's second-level Nationwide Series also is racing at Daytona on Friday night, where Danica Patrick will again take a weekend off from her IndyCar schedule to drive in a Nationwide event.

Patrick already has driven in more than a dozen NASCAR races and there is widespread speculation that Patrick will leave IndyCar next season to race stock cars full-time.

Also on Saturday night, the half-mile Irwindale track near the intersection of the 605 and 210 freeways will host NASCAR K&N Pro Series West drivers in the Southern California Toyota Dealers 200.

Greg Pursley of Newhall leads the K&N Pro Series West title standings after winning four of the series' first six races this season.

The Izod IndyCar Series, the NHRA Full Throttle drag-racing series and Formula One are all off this weekend.

When they resume July 10, IndyCar will race on the streets of Toronto, the NHRA will be in Joliet, Ill., and Formula One will be at the Silverstone circuit for the British Grand Prix.

-- Jim Peltz

Photo: Trevor Bayne, front, leads Carl Edwards, David Gilliland and Bobby Labonte to win the Daytona 500 on Feb. 20. Credit: Glenn Smith/Associated Press 

Rookie Dylan Lupton sweeps twin NASCAR Late Model races at Irwindale

Rookie Dylan Lupton from Wilton swept the Twin-30 NASCAR Late Model races at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night before an estimated crowd of 4,000.

Lupton has won three of the past four Late Model races at Irwindale.

Lupton's High Point Racing teammate Brandon Davis of Huntington Beach was third in the first race and second in the second race. He won the first five races of the Late Model season and leads the Late Model standings after 10 races.

Go to Haddock in the Paddock for more on the races at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.

-- Tim Haddock

Greg Pursley No. 3 in NASCAR Hunter Index for May

Greg Pursley, a graduate of Canyon High School in Canyon Country, came in at No. 3 in the NASCAR Hunter Index for May. Pursley won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah and leads the West standings after three races.

Brandon Davis, a driver from Henderson, Nev., won five NASCAR Late Model races at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. He is No. 4 in the Hunter Index, which ranks the top drivers in the nation in the NASCAR developmental series.

Ted Christopher, a driver from Plainville, Conn., earned the top spot in the Hunter Index.

Go to Haddock in the Paddock for more on the Southern California drivers ranked in the Hunter Index.

Go to NASCAR Home Tracks for the Hunter Index top 10 for May.

ALSO:

R.J. Johnson wins NASCAR Super Late Model season opener

Motor racing on tap from Alabama to Malaysia

-- Tim Haddock

Photo: Greg Pursley won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah and was ranked No. 3 in the Hunter Index for May. Credit: George Frey/Getty Images for NASCAR

R.J. Johnson wins NASCAR Super Late Model season opener at Irwindale

R.J. Johnson, a two-time champion at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, won the NASCAR Super Late Model season opener on Saturday night.

He won the first Super Late Model race of his career making his debut for Position One Motorsports.

Johnson, a driver from Canyon Country, won the NASCAR Late Model championship at Irwindale last year and the Super Trucks championship at the track in 2009.

Go to Haddock in the Paddock for more on the races from Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.

-- Tim Haddock

Brett Moffitt tops NASCAR Hunter Index for April

Brett Moffitt, a driver from the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, earned the top spot in the Hunter Index for April, a ranking of the top developmental drivers in the nation.

Greg Pursley, a driver from Newhall and a Canyon High graduate, was the No. 3 driver in the Hunter Index. He won the K&N Pro Series West season opener at Phoenix International Raceway last month.

Brandon Davis, a driver from Henderson, Nev., came in at No. 8. He won the first two races in the NASCAR Late Model division at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night.

Go to Haddock in the Paddock to see how I voted in the Hunter Index and see the rest of the drivers in the top 10.

ALSO:

Kimi Raikkonen coming to NASCAR truck series

Brandon Davis wins NASCAR Late Model season opener

-- Tim Haddock

Photo: Greg Pursley won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Phoenix International Raceway in March  and was the third-ranked driver in the Hunter Index for April. Credit: Getty Images for NASCAR

Brandon Davis wins NASCAR Late Model season opener at Irwindale

Brandon Davis won the second and third NASCAR Late Model races of his career, sweeping the Twin 40s in the season opener at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night.

He won the 2010 season finale at Irwindale and set a track record in qualifying for the late model race in the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale in January.

Go to Haddock in the Paddock for results from the Super Trucks season opener at Irwindale.

-- Tim Haddock

Jason Bowles earns top spot in preseason NASCAR Hunter Index

Jason Bowles, a driver from Ontario, is the top driver in the NASCAR preseason Hunter Index that was released Thursday. 

Bowles won the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale last month.

He earned six first-place votes among the 14 Hunter Index panelists.

Go to NASCAR Home Tracks to see the complete Hunter Index top 10.

Go to Haddock in the Paddock to see how I voted in the NASCAR preseason Hunter Index.

-- Tim Haddock

Photo: Jason Bowles won the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale last month and is the top driver in the NASCAR preseason Hunter Index. Credit: Todd Warshaw /Getty Images

Jason Bowles wins NASCAR's All-Star Showdown in Irwindale

Jason Bowles of Ontario held off D.J. Kennington in the closing laps to win the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown in Irwindale on Saturday night.

The annual 225-lap Showdown brings together the nation's leading drivers in NASCAR's lower-tier developmental stock-car racing series to compete on the half-mile Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.

Bowles, the 2009 champion in NASCAR's K&N Pro Series West, was a three-time winner in other races at Irwindale but his previous best finish in the Showdown was third in 2009.

"This is is the biggest win of my career," Bowles said.

Kennington finished second, Jonathon Gomez of Twin Falls, Idaho, was third and Luis Martinez Jr. of Long Beach finished fourth.

Travis Pastrana, the X Games star and rally racer who's planning to compete in NASCAR's second-level Nationwide Series this year, made his NASCAR debut in the Showdown. He finished sixth after starting 20th.

"It was absolutely awesome," Pastrana said. "I was just happy not to be a complete road block. I learned a lot."

Pole-sitter Derek Thorn of Lakeport, Calif., finished seventh in the race, which featured 11 caution periods for 53 laps.

In a separate race earlier Saturday, Sean Woodside of Saugus won the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model event at Irwindale. Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills was second.

--Jim Peltz

Photos: (Top) Jason Bowles leads the field in his No. 75 Toyota in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown. (Bottom) Jason Bowles celebrates in Victory Lane at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night. Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

Kevin Conway, Travis Pastrana among drivers entered in NASCAR Showdown in Irwindale

Kevin Conway, last year's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie of the year, is among the drivers entered in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown short-track event Friday and Saturday in Irwindale.

Travis Pastrana, the X Games star and rally racer who's migrating to stock-car racing, also will make his NASCAR debut at the half-mile Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. Pastrana, 27, also plans to enter several races in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series later this year.

The Showdown consists of several races that bring together leading drivers in NASCAR's developmental series and occasionally attract drivers, such as Conway, from NASCAR's top-level series as well.

The Showdown's main event is the 225-lap K&N Pro Series race that starts at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday. Two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, who joined with Pastrana to create the Pastrana-Waltrip Racing team, is the event's grand marshal.

--Jim Peltz

Photo: Travis Pastrana at the Race of Champions in Duesseldorf, Germany, on Nov. 28, 2010. Credit: Stuart Franklin / Bongarts / Getty Images

Michael Waltrip named grand marshal of NASCAR Showdown race in Irwindale

Two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip was named grand marshal of the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown in Irwindale on Jan. 28-29, considered a premier event for the nation's short-track drivers in NASCAR's developmental stock-car series.

Waltrip, 47, has dialed back his driving in NASCAR's top-level Sprint Cup Series to mostly focus on his NASCAR team, Michael Waltrip Racing, whose Cup drivers include Martin Truex Jr. and David Reutimann.

Waltrip's older brother, three-time Cup champion Darrell Waltrip, was the grand marshal for the inaugural Showdown eight years ago.

The Showdown is a series of races held over both nights at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, a paved half-mile track, that culminates with the Showdown's main event Jan. 29. Joey Logano, 20, who now mainly drives in the Sprint Cup series for Joe Gibbs Racing, won that race last year in front of a sellout crowd of 6,500.

-- Jim Peltz

Photo: NASCAR driver/owner Michael Waltrip speaks at the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Awards Gala in Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 11. Credit: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images

70th running of Turkey Night Grand Prix set for Thanksgiving in Irwindale

The tradition of racing open-wheel midget and sprint cars on Thanksgiving in Southern California continues Thursday with the 70th running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale.

This is the 12th consecutive year that the half-mile Irwindale track has hosted the races, which began in 1934 and have been held every Thanksgiving at various Southern California tracks except during some war years.

Famous drivers such as Parnelli Jones, A.J. Foyt, Bill Vukovich, Tony Bettenhausen and Tony Stewart are among those who have won the night's main event, the United States Auto Club Midgets race.

Four former winners are scheduled to compete this year: defending winner and current championship points leader Bryan Clauson, along with Bobby Santos III (2008), Jason Leffler (1999, 2005) and Bobby East (2004), according to USAC.

The night's racing schedule also includes USAC sprint cars and Ford Focus midget racing. Gates open at 4 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m.

-- Jim Peltz