Logano returns to defend title
Leading drivers in NAS- CAR’s minor leagues return to Irwindale this weekend for two nights of the Toyota All-Star Showdown, an event widely considered the most prestigious short-track stock car racing in the nation.
Even one of the sport’s newly minted big leaguers, 18-year-old NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Joey Logano, also is scheduled to appear because he’s the defending winner of the Showdown’s banner race.
“I can’t wait to go back” to Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, said Logano, who this year was promoted to the Cup series to replace Tony Stewart in the No. 20 Home Depot car for Joe Gibbs Racing.
“That track is just a real cool race track,” he said of the half-mile Irwindale oval. The Showdown is “pretty much the Daytona 500 of short-track racing, and it would be awesome to go back and win it again.”
The Showdown brings together drivers in various second-tier developmental NASCAR leagues and starts tonight with a 150-lap race for super late model cars and a 50-lap “last chance” race for drivers hoping to qualify for Saturday’s main event.
On Saturday night, the program features a 75-lap late-model race followed by the feature event, the 250-lap Camping World Series race that Logano won last year.
Racing starts at about 7 both nights, with practice and qualifying earlier in the day.
Other drivers scheduled to appear include three-time NASCAR truck champion Ron Hornaday Jr.; Eric Holmes, who won last year’s Camping World Series West title; Matt Kobyluck, the 2006 Showdown winner and last year’s Camping World Series East champion; Peyton Sellers, who finished second to Logano in last year’s Showdown, and 18-year-old Marc Davis, another Gibbs developmental driver.
Off-road motorcycle racing legend Ricky Carmichael, who has a vast Southern California fan base from his years in supercross and motocross, also is slated to appear as he pursues a career in stock car racing.
“I’m pumped to be racing for my fans out there,” said Carmichael, 29, who is driving for the team of veteran NASCAR driver Ken Schrader.
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