JOANIDES CHARGES FROM LAST TO FIRST IN 14 LAPS!

(10-7-06) Nick Joanides again put on an amazing performance. After qualifying second fastest, Irwindale Speedway officials decided to invert the entire field, putting him in the last row of the field for the start. After coming from 31^st to 3^rd in the previous event, Joanides was excited about the opportunity to duplicate his performance and he did not disappoint. From the drop of the green flag, he blistered through the field with three wide passes through the middle and down low and took the lead in only 14 laps.  FULL STORY

JOANIDES POSTS RECORD SETTING PERFORMANCE! 

(9-23-06) The Borenstein Racing Team had hoped for a boring race from their pole position. Nascar officials however made sure that would not be the case when they penalized driver Nick Joanides for “lagging back at the start”. With the penalty, Joanides was forced to start at the rear of the 31 car field. From there, Joanides put on an amazing display as he passed more cars than any other driver ever had in a 40 lap race, finishing in the third position. FULL STORY

JOANIDES SCORES FIRST WIN FOR BORENSTEIN RACING! 

(9-2-06) Driving for team owner Loren Borenstein, driver Nick Joanides scored Borenstein Racing's first victory in just their first year of existence. This series has been considered very uneventful this season as two teams have dominated all year, winning all but one of the first ten races. Joanides produced what is already being called the most exciting race of the season as he completed the pass for the win with just two laps remaining in a three wide battle for the lead at Irwindale Speedway. The two drivers that have dominated all season finished second and third. FULL STORY

BORENSTEIN RACING MOVES UP TO 4TH IN THE STANDINGS

 (8-26-06) Borenstein Racing with driver Nick Joanides were mired back in 21st in the point standings after the first three races of the season, however after working through issues with a new car, have shown championship caliber consistency and have climbed into the 4th position in the season standings. After struggling for a couple of weeks with a very loose race car, the team made drastic changes to the car and finally got the handling back. On Saturday night however, they experience an issue with the motor losing significant power. Nick's corner speeds were the best of any car on the race track, but unfortunately were losing twice as much time on the straight-aways. Nick started the first race in the 9th position, however the car in front missed a shift at the start, dropping Nick back to the 13th position. He climbed up to the 11th position by the break. With the motor down on power, passing was extremely difficult, but Nick was able to work his way up to the 6th position at the finish. 

BORENSTEIN RACING CONTINUES TO SHOW CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER CONSISTENCY

 (8-5-06) Borenstein Racing with driver Nick Joanides continue to show their championship caliber, scoring their seventh straight top 10 finish and fourth top 5 finish in the last five races. The week was not without struggles. A broken brake caliper bracket was causing the right rear wheel to lock up in practice. The problem prevented the team from being able to work on chassis set up. With virtually no practice time, Nick still posted a solid 7th place qualifying effort. The car however was extremely loose. The team made changes to the car in an attempt to tighten it up before the main event, but the changes were not enough as the car was still extremely loose off the corners, making it difficult to pass. Nick did manage to salvage another solid top 5 finish. "Today was a struggle with the problems we had, but when a "bad day" is still a top 5 finish, it really shows how good this team really is. We keep making changes every week trying to catch the car who has been dominating and sometimes they don't work, but we've been making a lot of progress and I'm looking forward to getting back out there next week to give it another shot" Joanides said. 

With his fifth place finish, Nick moved up another position in the standings to sixth, just 6 points out of fifth and only 35 points out of third. The team got a late start to the season and suffered from new car blues in the first three races, leaving Nick 21st in the standings. However, over the past seven races, he has been more consistent than any other driver, earning the most points and top 10 finishes in that span.

JOANIDES SCORES ANOTHER TOP 5 FINISH

 (7-22-06) Borenstein Racing with driver Nick Joanides continue to show their championship caliber, scoring their sixth straight top 10 finish and third top 5 finish in the last four races. The point leader in the series has been dominant all season long with no other team even being close, but Borenstein Racing is breaking away from the pack and making a serious charge toward the leader. On Saturday, they equaled their best qualifying run of the season, posting the 2nd fastest lap among 30 competitors, but more importantly, their lap time was just a tenth and a half off of the leader and more than two tenths ahead of the third place qualifier. The last time they qualified second, they were four tenths off, so the significant gain gives the team hope that they are making the right changes and will soon be challenging for the top spot.

The team was poised for their best finish of the season from their front row start. The pole sitter however decided he did not want to give Nick any room on the outside coming to the green flag. Trying to stay out of the marbles on the outside of the track, Nick held his line when the pole sitter came up hard into his left front tire. The contact knocked the alignment of the front end off and caused the car to be extremely tight. Nick dropped back as far as the seventh position before making a late race charge up to the fifth position. FULL STORY

BORENSTEIN RACING SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES COAST TO COAST WEEKEND

 (7-15-06) The weekend certainly was not easy and they had to overcome several obstacles, but with virtually no time to spare, the Borenstein Racing Team successfully completed a carefully orchestrated coast to coast weekend. They competed in back to back events between New Hampshire and California in 24 hours.

Although they struggled with the handling of the car in the Grand National East Series event, they still posted respectable qualifying and finish results. Then followed that up with their fifth consecutive top ten finish in their regularly scheduled event at Irwindale Speedway. FULL STORY

JOANIDES AND BORENSTEIN RACING SET TO MAKE GRAND NATIONAL SERIES DEBUT AT NEW HAMPSHIRE

(7-11-06) With the goal of moving up to the Grand National West Series full time in 2007, Borenstein Racing, with driver Nick Joanides is taking the first step toward building a competitive program. They will compete in the Nascar Grand National Busch East Series event at New Hampshire this weekend to see how they stack up against the competition. FULL STORY

JOANIDES & BORENSTEIN RACING HAVE BEST PERFORMANCE OF SEASON!

(7-1-06) The story is getting repetitive, but a good story never gets old. For the fourth consecutive week, Borenstein Racing with driver Nick Joanides posted their best qualifying and race finish results of the season. The team was again hard at work during the week to improve the performance of the car and the effort continues to pay off as Nick just missed the fastest time in qualifying with a season best second place run. After the top eight cars were inverted for the start of the race, Nick rolled off the grid in the seventh position. As the green flag flew for the main event, the car running directly in front of Nick missed a shift, forcing him to slow to avoid the other car and dropping him to the ninth position before the completion of the first lap. Nick did recover, passing several cars to finish with a season best fourth place finish in an exciting four car battle for the lead.  FULL STORY

BORENSTEIN RACING CONTINUES POSTING NEW HIGHS!

(6-17-06) The Borenstein racing team has continued to improve every week through the strength of hard work from the team. Jackson Race cars has worked extremely hard to improve the chassis set up every week and the results have been good. Saturday however, the team proved that the old saying “it’s better to be lucky than good” is a very true statement as driver Nick Joanides zigzagged his way through several multi-car accidents to bring home a season best 4th place finish. FULL STORY

BORENSTEIN RACING CONTINUES MOVING TOWARD THE FRONT!

(5-27-06) Nick Joanides and the Borenstein racing team continue to make progress towards the front posting yet again their best finish of the season. Nick posted the 5^th fastest qualifying lap for their best main event start of the season. With several caution flags at the start of the event, he was shuffled back as far as the 8^th position early in the event. While nearly half the race was run under caution, limiting his passing opportunities, Nick did manage to move up and caught the 4^th and 5^th place cars before running out of time and finishing in the 6^th position, bettering their previous best 7^th place finish the week before. FULL STORY

BORENSTEIN RACING POSTS BEST FINISH OF SEASON

(5-20-06) Borenstein Racing with driver Nick Joanides continue to make quick progress to the front of the pack experiencing new highs each week. Two events ago they posted their first top 10 finish in just their second start. The following week, they qualified 4th fastest in a 36 car field. This week, after chasing electrical problems throughout the test day on Friday, thanks to Danny Grill of M&R Racing Engines, they were finally able to solve the problem. The electrical problems however prevented the team from working on the chassis set up, resulting in a disappointing 16^th place qualifying run. With the help of Jackson Race Cars, they were able to make changes to the car to improve the handling. Through the heat races and the main event, Nick was able to pass several cars and bring home a solid 7^th place finish, the best of the season for this four race young team. FULL STORY

BORENSTEIN RACING MAKES HUGE GAINS WITH FIRST TOP 10 FINISH!

 (4-21-06) After more than a month of weather delays and then suffering from the "New Car Blues" in their first event of the season that resulted in a disappointing 20th place finish, Borenstein Racing with driver Nick Joanides made huge gains in just one week to post their first top 10 finish in only their second race.  

Weather rained out practice last week and the team suffered from several electrical and fuel problems with their virtually brand new car in the first event of the season. With the lack of practice time, there was just not enough time to get the issues solved before the race. These problems prevented the motor from running at full strength in the race. Jackson Race Cars however worked extremely hard throughout the week and with the weather finally cooperating, the team was finally able to get some much needed testing in. The effort paid off as the problems were solved and the team was finally able to work on the chassis set up to gain speed. The test time proved extremely valuable as the team gained more than 7/10ths of a second from the first practice session to the time they qualified. FULL STORY

NICK JOANIDES TO DRIVE FOR BORENSTEIN RACING IN 2006

(4-8-06) With Nascar announcing that the Elite Division would end following the 2006 season, Nick Joanides decided not to make an effort to pursue the Elite Division in 2006 as there are only 8 races on the schedule and it seemed pointless to put such an effort into a dying series. 

With his options open, Loren Borenstein has hired Nick to drive for him in the Nascar Weekly Racing Series Late Model Division. Borenstein racing is a brand new team and has looked to racing veterans to reach early success. After purchasing a car for the series, Loren has hired Jackson Race Cars to update and maintain the car and provide track support. Jackson Race Cars has been building championship winning cars for more than 30 years and with Nicks driving experience of more than 15 years, Borenstein racing has all the pieces in place to avoid many of the growing pains that most new teams have to endure and they look to be competitive right out of the gate. "Loren has shown true commitment and dedication to building a race winning team and is providing us with everything we need to win races, so I couldn't be  happier with the position I am in" said Joanides.

After three failed attempts due to rainouts of the first three scheduled races, the team will make their season debut this Saturday, April 15th at Irwindale Speedway. 

NICK JOANIDES HAS STRONG SHOWING AT THE ALL-STAR SHOWDOWN

(11-12-05) After running virtually every race more than 2,000 miles from home this season, it took Nick Joanides more than 40,000 miles of round trip travel to compete in the Nascar Autozone Elite Division Midwest Series with a goal (and just about every full time drivers goal in the Elite Division) of earning an invitation to the Toyota All-Star Showdown which ironically is held at his home track, Irwindale Speedway, just 40 miles from his home.

Due to the distance for Nicks EDS Motorsports team which is based in Appleton Wisconsin to Irwindale Speedway, team owner asked Nick if he could make other arrangements for the Showdown. Nick teamed with Gail Chase and Jackson Race Cars to compete in the event. 

Practice began on Thursday and the team showed their strength out of the box, posting lap times in the top 5 in both practice sessions. They followed up their efforts on Friday with another top 5 practice run and were poised for the first preliminary race. Nick started the event in the 5th position and by lap 5 had already charged up to the second position. Once there, leader Greg Pursley had built about a 2 second lead on the field, however Nick was posting the fastest lap times and closing in. A caution flew at lap 15 to bunch up the field. Pursley got a jump on the restart, however as the race settled into it's first long green flag run, Nick's car became loose exiting the corners. Nick managed to hold on to a top 5 finish.

The team headed to main event on Saturday evening with high hopes. Nick started the race in the 10th position and settled in to that position through the first portion of the race when the loose condition developed again. The team pitted several times through the remainder of the event to make adjustments to the car, falling as far back as 36th. With the last third of the race being plagued by several cautions, passing opportunities were limited, but Nick still managed to get back up to the 15th position in the 40 car field. Not what the team had hoped for after being solidly in the top 5 all weekend, but still a solid finish after coming from the rear.

NICK JOANIDES QUALIFIES FOR THE ALL STAR SHOWDOWN

(10-08-05) After traveling over 40,000 miles this season to compete in the Nascar Autozone Elite Division Midwest Series, Nick Joanides headed to La Crosse Speedway needing to maintain his 10th place position in the point standings to qualify for the All Star Showdown which is practically in his backyard at Irwindale Speedway, located just 40 miles from his home in Woodland Hills, California.

Nick blew a tire early in practice and the team was not able to get the new tires back from Hoosier in time for him to get back on the track for practice. Having never seen the track before this weekend, expectations for qualifying were low since the team never really got an opportunity to work on the handling of the car in practice. Nick and the team however were pleasantly surprised with a strong 12th place qualifying effort. 

In the first five laps of the race, something in the right front collapsed, causing the car to be extremely tight. From this point, Nick just concentrated on the big picture and raced only the cars he was competing against for the top 10 finish in the standings. While he struggled with the car all night long, Nick did manage a respectable 14th place finish and gained one position in the points to finish 9th in the final point standings. His finish secured his invitation to the Showdown, where he will rejoin Jackson Race Cars, driving a car owned by Gail Chase, combining his 2005 EDS Motorsports Midwest Series team with his 2004 Colorfast Southwest Series team for this event.

NICK JOANIDES TO RUN FINAL TWO EVENTS IN THE WEST SERIES

(9-15-05) Nick Joanides and Puskarich Racing are teaming up to run the final two races in the Nascar Grand National West Division at Thunder Hill Raceway and Mesa Marin Raceway. "After a great top-3 at Mesa Marin last year, I really wanted to go back this year and with Nascar's influence, we decided to go ahead and run at Thunder Hill Raceway in Texas as well".

"I love Mesa and although it has not always returned the same love to me, it was very important for me to be a part of the final event ever run there and thanks to Tom Puskarich and his team, I will have the opportunity to do that" Joanides said. FULL STORY

TABLES FINALLY TURN FOR JOANIDES AT KENTUCKY WITH A 4TH PLACE FINISH.

(9-10-05) After a season with great performances, but horrible luck, resulting in no top 10 finishes going into Kentucky, Nick Joanides and his EDS Motorsports team hoped to get on the right track. This time however the tables were completely reversed as it appeared their season was not going to improve at Kentucky Speedway. They qualified just 26th out of 30 cars, nearly three seconds off the pace. This event was a special combination race between the Southeast Series and Midwest series. The Southeast series clearly had the advantage at Kentucky, where restrictor plates are used to slow the cars overall speed. The Midwest series teams had never competed in a restrictor plate race, where as the Southeast series has several restrictor plate events and their experience showed as they took 17 of the top 20 positions in qualifying. Nicks times were just 8/10ths of a second off of the majority of the Midwest series competitors. When the race started, Nick used his experience in the draft to charge his way through the field and bring home a solid 4th place finish, by far the best finish of the season.  FULL STORY

BAD LUCK FOR JOANIDES AT MILWAUKEE

(8-28-05) As the entire season has gone for Nick Joanides and his EDS Motorsports team, their performance and speed has been solid, but out of the ordinary problems keep preventing the team from getting the finishes they feel they deserve. Milwaukee was no different with a broken wheel being the culprit this time, ruining what was sure to be at least a top 5 finish. FULL STORY

(7-15-05) Three races, three missed opportunities. Nick Joanides' Midwest Series career has not gotten off to a good start after three races. Brake failure in the first race took Nick out of third place at Rockford. Overheating took him out of 6th place at Colorado National Speedway. The team was hoping to turn their luck around and appeared on their way as they had one of the fastest cars in practice and were competing for a top 5 finish when a cut tire forced Nick to pit under green. With the pit area at Raceway Park in Shakopee, Minnesota being outside of the race track, it is impossible to come to the pits without losing multiple laps. By the time Nick made it back to his hauler, got the tire changed and back to the track, he had already lost 7 laps. To make things worse, Nascar does not allow cars to return to the track under green flag conditions, forcing Nick to wait an additional 7 laps for a caution. Nick still managed a 12th place finish, but a huge disappointment  when the team clearly had one of the fastest cars on the race track. The team hopes their luck will change next week at Pikes Peak International Raceway, which is a one mile superspeedway that Nick has run well at in the past.

(4-03-05) Nick Joanides went back to school as he ran his first first ever laps at Rockford Speedway in Illinois, with his new EDS Motorsports team. Nick quickly adapted to his new team and the track and started the race from the outside of the front row. Nick ran solidly in the top 5 through the first 100 laps of the 150 race when his brakes began to fail, forcing him to cruise to the finish, ending up with a 14th place finish. "It's not the finish we had hoped for, but we had a solid top-5 run going until the brakes went out, so I'm happy about the potential I see with this team and how well we ran for our first race together. I was really impressed with how hard this team works, they're a great bunch of guys and I look forward to getting to the next race in Colorado", said Joanides.

2006 Schedule and Results