RJ Johnson of Canyon Country won the first NASCAR Late Model race of his career at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night.
He took over the lead in the Late Model standings at the track with the win.
Johnson was making his fourth career Late Model start at the track. He won the NASCAR Super Trucks championship at Irwindale last year.
“It’s really cool because this time last year, I was the guy behind trying to make my way up,” said Johnson, who drives the No. 15 entry for High Point Racing. “It’s cool to be ahead now and being able to go into a race thinking we don’t have to win. We want to win and we’re going to go for every win we can.”Johnson finished ahead of Mike Johnson of Covina, who was second, and Christian Copley, a driver from Santa Ynez.
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Travis Irving, a driver from Norco, entered the race as the leader in the Late Model standings. He finished fifth and dropped to second place in the Late Model standings.
In other races, Ken Maler Jr. of Acton finished second in the NASCAR Super Trucks race. It was his best finish in the Super Trucks at the track.
Ryan Partridge of Rancho Cucamonga won the Super Trucks race, his third in a row. Maler is in fourth place in the Super Trucks standings, 24 points behind Partridge.
Rookie Lucas McNeil of Saugus finished 14th in the Super Trucks race.
Rich DeLong III of Santa Clarita was second in the NASCAR Super Stocks race. He won the first three races of the Super Stocks season and has a 20-point lead in the Super Stocks standings at Irwindale.
Eric Sunness of Chatsworth won the Super Stocks race and is seventh in the Super Stocks standings.
Castaic’s Jason Heggemeier finished sixth in the Super Stocks race.
In the NASCAR Classic Stocks race, Tommy Mason of Canyon Country was fifth. Mike Colato Jr. of Chatsworth won the Classic Stocks race, his first of the season.
Go to Haddock in the Paddock for recaps of all the races and video interviews of some of the drivers from Irwindale.