After a strong second half in the Southwest Series in which he posted the 3^rd highest average finish of all drivers over the final 7 races, Nick Joanides was informed just before the final race in November that his car owner would not be returning to the Southwest Series, leaving him without a ride for the 2005 season. Nick hoped his strong second half of the season would open some doors for this season and pursued several opportunities available to him to return to either the West or Southwest series, however none of those would have allowed him to compete in all the races, a disappointment for Nick as he had hoped to make a run at another top 5 finish in the points to equal or better is 4^th place finish in the series in 2001, the only season he competed in every race.

As the first race at Phoenix came and went, Nick was convinced he would not have the opportunity to run for a championship, but then David Stammer, owner of the #45 Nascar Autozone Elite Division Midwest Series EDS Motorsports team called and the two came to terms to team up for the entire 2005 Midwest series schedule. Stammer has fielded cars in the series for many years and with rookie drivers the last two years. His team finished in the top 10 in the final standings both years and was a consistent top 5 finisher in 2003. Both hope that their combined experience will lead to a successful campaign in the 2005 season championship chase.

While Nick will miss the series that has been home to him since 1999 and the friendships he has established with the teams and officials in the Southwest Series, he looks forward to the exciting new challenges he faces competing at tracks he has never seen before. “I am really excited about this opportunity and to be able to run a full season and compete for the entire season” Joanides said. “I love new challenges and to have the opportunity to race at tracks I’ve never seen before will be a lot of fun!”. “For some reason, I’ve always had a lot of success at tracks I’ve never been to before, so hopefully that trend will continue in 2005” First's have always been good to Joanides. In his first full season in the Southwest Series, he finished 4th in the points. He won in his first race at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino, CA, finished second in his first race at El Cajon Speedway near San Diego, CA, finished fourth at the famed Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina, finished 5th at Tucson Raceway park, 8th at  the 1.5 mile Las Vegas Motorspeedway and battled for the win with less than five laps remaining in his first trips to Irwindale Speedway and Colorado National Speedway. “There’s a lot of history in this series and the tracks we go to, so it will be a great experience. And atleast for a few races I’ll be able to feel at home when the Midwest Series competes with the Southwest Series at Colorado National and Pikes Peak and especially if we run the Shootout at the end of the year in my backyard at Irwindale”.

Nick will definitely earn the title of most miles traveled as he will travel from his California home to each race in the Midwest which will include races in the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Colorado and Ohio. In all, Nick will travel more than 40,000 miles to compete in all of the events. Nick’s adventure will begin on April 3^rd, 2004 with his first race at Rockford Speedway in Illinois.