NASCAR Super Late Models at Irwindale

Rip Michels of San Fernando won't be returning as a driver to the NASCAR Super Late Model division at the newly named Toyota Speedway at Irwindale any time soon.
He won last year's Super Late Model championship, driving a car for Bob Bruncati, and won 11 races, seven in a row at one point. But Bruncati sold the car to Dave Eshleman of Fontana and Michels decided he was going to put his own team together. He has a Super Late Model car and wants to race in the Stockcar Racing League. But Michels said he won't be at Irwindale for opening night on Saturday. His first race might not be until April 26, when the SRL makes it first visit to Irwindale.
That leaves the Super Late Model division wide open.
The favorites include Scott Dodd, Dan Moore, Travis Thirkettle and Nick Joanides.
Dodd, a rookie last year from Mira Loma, won one race last year and finished eighth in the Super Late Model standings.
Moore, a veteran driver from Burbank, had eight top-five finishes and was sixth in the Super Late Model standings last year. Michels is part of Moore's crew and will be working in the pits on opening night.
Thirkettle is driving a car from Tim Huddleston's High Point Racing team. Huddleston has six cars in the NASCAR Late Model division at the track and has won three straight Late Model championships. Thirkettle won one of those, in 2006.
"The nice thing about Travis, when we got Travis, we inherited his dad," Huddleston said. "That's a two-for-one package right there."
Jim Thirkettle, Travis' dad, used to race late models at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield and Saugus Speedway and made a handful of Cup starts back in the 1970s. He won seven track championships at Mesa Marin.
Joanides, a driver from Woodland Hills with experience in NASCAR's Grand National Division West Series and the defunct Southwest Series, will be driving a car for Lloyd McGhee. Joanides won two races in the Late Model division for McGhee at the end of last season. This will be McGhee's first season in the Super Late Models.