IRWINDALE - Nick Joanides' Late Model axiom held true again.

"Every race but one has been won by the pole-sitter, or a guy on the front row," the Woodland Hills resident said after winning in another race car, a Super Late Model event, last week. "They've led every lap."

It happened again Friday in the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale Firecracker 100. Joanides, starting second, led all 100 laps to win the Automobile Club of Southern California Late Model race in front of a near-sellout crowd of 7,400. Joanides is the only driver this season to make a pass for the lead. That happened in a race last month.

Joanides made it back-to-back 100-lap victories. He took the Late Model season-ender last November.

"It's not as easy to pass in these cars," Joanides said. "It ran like a champ all night. I was able to take it easy and save the tires."

The race went three-wide in the first turn, with pole-sitter Jace Meier of Las Vegas, in his first race at Irwindale this year, and Colin Fleming of San Diego fighting for the lead. Joanides had the lead leaving Turn 4 with Fleming in second and Andrew Myers of Huntington Beach in third.

The race essentially was over. Joanides had little trouble taking the race, which had four caution periods. The last 57 laps were yellow-flag free. Ryan Kaplan of Noblesville, Ind. finished second and Myers, who raced in the 100-mile California Highway Patrol 200 in the NASCAR Camping world West series race later, finished third.

"In the late models, Andrew Myers won the first four because he was starting in the front row and nobody is passing anybody," Joanides said. "Passing is a lot harder because you don't have the horsepower to drive on the bottom. We're the only one to do it this year so far, when we won two races ago".

"It was pretty hot and I pretty much figured the race would be single-file."

For the most part, Joanides was right. It was single file. But at one point, Kaplan and Myers did prove Joanides wrong about passing on the bottom. However, it never was for the lead. Kaplan fell back as far as sixth, but worked his way into second on the 77th lap. He gradually closed up the margin, but Joanides changed his line and used lap cars to separate himself again over the final 15 laps.

"I was in cruise control," he said. "It's not like I was taking it easy. I just wanted to make sure I didn't spin the tires or do something wrong."

It was Joanides' second victory in the series this season. He has seven podium finishes in nine races and trails Myers for the points lead by 10 points. Joanides leads the tracks premier division, AC Delco Super Late Model standings on the strength of seven wins in eleven races.

Meier finished fourth. It was the Las Vegas resident's first race back in a High Point Racing car since last season because he had been going to school in North Carolina. He anticipates finishing out the Irwindale season and transferring to UNLV in the fall.

Fleming, who won for the first time at Irwindale two weeks ago, finished fifth.

The race finished two minutes before its 45-minute cutoff so the West race could start at its scheduled time. The first caution came out on the 13th lap when Tommy Rizzo and Johnny DeLuca collided.

Kevin Callahan spun on the restart and was then involved in a crash with Dennis Schlarbaum on another restart two laps later. The final yellow came out on the 38th lap when George Atkinson spun on the main straight and was hit by Miles Copenhaver.

The series had the unusual task of racing into the sun for the first time this year. Some drivers complained about it during the race, but Joanides said he had enough tape on the window to hide the sun, so it was not a problem.

Nick Joanides, a driver from Woodland Hills, won the Firecracker 100 Late Model race. The only real action came on the first lap when Joanides said he felt another car hit his left rear quarter panel in one of the turns.

"I don't think we'll see a whole lot of passing in this race," said Joanides, driver of the No. 77 J&M Racing Chevrolet, before the race started. "My hope is to make it boring."

Joanides, who started second, led all 100 laps. He took the lead on the first lap, passing pole sitter Jace Meier in turn 3.

It was the second Late Model win of the year for Joanides. Ryan Kaplan, a driver from Noblesville, Ind., was second in the No. 51 car for the Simi Valley-based High Point Racing Myers, the leader in the Late Model standings, was third

Myers has a 10-point lead in the Late Model standings at the track.

Meier, making his first start in nine months, put his No. 56 car from High Point Racing on the pole for the NASCAR Late Mode race.

Meier drove for the Simi Valley-based High Point Racing team last year and finished second in the Late Model standings at the track.

After the season, he moved to North Carolina to advance his stock car racing career, but had no luck finding a team. He moved back to his hometown, Las Vegas, and asked his old boss, Tim Huddleston, if he had a car for him to race.

Huddleston, who races in the Late Model division at the track, let Meier drive one of his cars. It is the car Jennifer Greenberg raced the start of the season and the car Chris Carmody raced last year for High Point Racing. Greenberg wrecked the car a few times this year and Huddleston told Meier he wasn't sure how the car was going to perform.

In qualifying, it was the fastest car in the 28-car field and the fastest of the five cars from High Point Racing in the race.

Meier said he was hoping to catch the eye of one of the Camping World Series West teams and perhaps work out a deal to race next year.