Joanides Set For a Very Busy Month.

Nick Joanides is in for a very busy month ahead as he is scheduled to compete in 8 races over the next month, throughout four states, at 5 different race tracks, in three different series, for a total of 1,175 laps. That may not sound like a lot compared to what a Nextel Cup Series or Busch Series driver does, but with a very spread out schedule in the Southwest Series this year, the number of races Nick is scheduled to run over the next month equals the total events he has run this entire season from January through September and consists of 161 more laps than the prior events, which only consisted of 1,014 laps.

Nick will continue to pursue a top 10 finish in the Southwest Series standings with his Colorfast/Jackson Race Cars team in order to qualify for the Toyota All Star Showdown at the end of the season. Nick has gained 150 points on the top 10 in the standings over the past three races and hopes to continue that trend at Phoenix. The series finishes with three races over the next month, beginning with this weekend’s race at Phoenix International Raceway, where Nick will pull double duty as he is also entered in the Grand National West Series Division race with the #4 Puskarich Racing Team thanks to sponsorship help from www.Zwheels4u.com, a wholesale company for custom and reproduction automobile wheels. Nick will run 100 laps in the Southwest Series car and then immediately hop into the West Series Car for another 150 laps.

Next week, Nick and the Puskarich Racing Team will travel to Denver, Colorado for another 200 lap West Series event where Nick won the Powerade Move of the Race award in the Southwest Series for passing the most cars in August.

Just one week later, Nick will again pull double duty, this time at Mesa Marin Raceway in the Southwest Series and West Series races. The Southwest series will run on Saturday and the West Series will compete on Sunday. Both events will be 150 laps each. Nick considers Mesa Marin his home track as he competed in the Late Model division there for several years there and the track is also the site of Nick’s first Career Bud Pole Award and his best finish in the Southwest Series.

The following week, Nick will compete in the "Orleans" 150 lap Fall Classic Super Late Model race at the Las Vegas Bullring with Jackson Race Car’s house car, normally driven by Nick's crew chief, Tony Jackson. Although they did not run the event last year, Nick and the Jackson Race Cars team competed in this event the previous three years, running in the top 5 in each event.

Following the Las Vegas event, Nick will head to Irwindale Speedway with the #4 Puskarich Racing Team to compete in the final race of the season for the West Series which is a 150 lap event. Nick has competed several times at Irwindale in the Southwest Series and Super Late Model divisions, with top 5 runs in both divisions. Nick’s Southwest Series team will also be busy this weekend as Nick’s crew chief, Tony Jackson will compete at the Orange Show Speedway, where the team looks for Tony to back up his performance there last month when Tony qualified second fast and finished with the first top 5 finish of his career!

To round out the month, Nick and his Colorfast/Jackson Race Cars team will head back to Phoenix for the final 125 lap race of the Southwest Series season where he hopes to leave in the top 10 in the final standings, which would lead to yet another race the following week as the top 10 drivers in the final Southwest Series standings are invited to compete in the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway.

“I don’t know what I was smoking when I came up with this schedule! It’s definitely going to be a busy month, but I love racing, so I think it will be great to be able to do a lot of it over the next month” commented Joanides. “I hate all the layoffs we have with the spread out schedule in the Southwest Series, so to be able to run so many races back to back, will be great. With four of the races televised and another one being a high profile race in conjunction with the Trucks, Busch and Cup Series, I can’t ask for any more exposure and the tracks we’re running at are all places that we’ve had a lot of success at, so it should be a really fun month”.