Mother Nature Wins at Showdown
Nick Joanides and Mother Nature have not gotten along well as of late. Joanides headed into the season finale of the Auto Club Late Model Division at Toyota Speedway with a chance to win the championship. Rain began to fall at lap 25 of the 100 lap event. The race was run to halfway under caution to make it official, ending any chance he had to overtake Huddleston for the championship.
Joanides looked to the showdown to get his revenge. Jackson Race Cars rebuilt the rear of the late model, converting it to a three link suspension. The J&M Racing team headed to the track a day early for some much needed testing. With teammate Ron Hornaday in the Jackson Race Cars #75 Super Late Model, Joanides tested both the #71 Super Late along with the #77 Late Model.
After a couple of quick runs in the Super Late to confirm that it handled like it did all season, the team went to work on the Late Model. Being that it was an all new setup, the team expected to have to make several adjustments. But as the Jackson’s have done for years, they hit the setup nearly perfect right out of the box. After just two runs and a couple of very minor adjustments, they were shocked at the speed it produced and loaded it on the trailer.
Joanides then hopped into Hornaday’s car to confirm what he was feeling with the car. The team struggled with a tight condition, which was later tracked to a faulty shock. Once changed, Hornaday posted the third fastest time in the early practice on Friday. With all three cars running well, the Jackson’s were excited for a strong showing in the biggest races of the year.
Mother Nature then began to make things miserable for the 160 + teams at the race track. With the exception of a single 10 minute practice session on Friday, rain washed out all on track activity for the day. Nascar rescheduled the Super Late Model race for Saturday and still planned to attempt to qualify.
More rain early Saturday finally forced the cancellation of qualifying the in the Super Late and Late Model divisions. Good news for the Super Late as Joanides was on the pole based on the point standings from 2008. The Late Model lineup however was determined by a random draw with Joanides drawing the 37th starting position in the 48 car lineup.
The Camping World Series race was marred by accidents and did not end until nearly 11:00 PM. Nascar’s cutoff time for the evening was 12:15 AM, leaving just an hour and fifteen minutes to get in a 75 lap Late Model and 150 Lap Super Late Model race. With no realistic chance to accomplish this, Nascar announced both races would be limited to 30 minutes.
A
caution on lap 1 of the Late Model race prevented any movement from
Joanides. A restart at lap 6 led to the longest green flag run of the
night, 22 laps. Joanides put on a show for the fans with three, four and
even
five wide passes. By the time the next caution flew at lap 28, he had
already gained 25 positions, charging from 37th to 12th.
With time running out, the remainder of the race was marred by
caution flags. The next restart at lap 38 lasted just two laps with
Joanides moving up to 10th. Another restart at lap 44 again
lasted just two laps. Joanides took the final restart at lap 50 in the 7th
position and gained two more spots before the final caution flew at lap
51. The race was ended under caution at lap 55. His 32 position gain was
easily the most of any driver and also broke his own previous track
record of 28 positions gained in a Late Model event.
“The car was incredible” said Joanides. “It’s a shame we couldn’t run the full distance, after passing 32 cars in just 27 green flag laps and just four more to go, I think we could have pulled off the win”.
The
Super Late Model race immediately followed. With a 30 minute time limit
and 52 cars in the field,
not much could be expected and running the full 150 laps would be
impossible. Joanides jumped to the lead at the start, however a
multi-car pile-up on the back stretch immediately brought out the
caution. The red flag was thrown to clean up the mess and lasted for
nearly 20 minutes. With the tires still ice cold, Thirkettle was able to
gain a slight advantage with the high line on the restart. Another
multi-car accident happened in turn one after just a lap and a half of
green flag racing. At lap 15, the clock expired and Nascar threw the
checkered flag, awarding Thirkettle the win. SEE
VIDEO ON THE "VIDEOS" PAGE
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