Nick Joanides

Nick Joanides
Joanides in 2025
Born	Nicholas Joanides (1970-06-17)June 17, 1970 Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Died	December 5, 2025(2025-12-05) (aged 55)
NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series career
0 races run over 1 year
Best finish	N/A (2009)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
ARCA Menards Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish	107th (2024)
First race	2024 General Tire 150 (Phoenix)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
ARCA Menards Series East career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish	53rd (2006)
First race	2006 New England 125 (Loudon)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
ARCA Menards Series West career
38 races run over 9 years
Best finish	10th (2024)
First race	2004 King Taco 200 (Fontana)
Last race	2025 Star Nursery 150 (Las Vegas Bullring)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 14 1
Statistics up to date as of October 11, 2025.

Nicholas Joanides (June 17, 1970 – December 5, 2025) was an American professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the ARCA Menards Series West, driving the No. 77 Toyota for Performance P–1 Motorsports. He also competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, ARCA Menards Series East (when it was the NASCAR Busch East Series), and the now-defunct AutoZone Elite Division Southwest & Midwest Series in the past.

Racing career

In 2009, Joanides became the first driver in the history of Toyota Speedway at Irwindale to win championships in the top two premier divisions, and he did so in the same season. 2009 saw Joanides win the NASCAR AC-Delco Super Late Model Championship, NASCAR Auto Club Late Model Championship, NASCAR Whelen All-American Series California State Championship, and the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 Championship. He ended up third in the NASCAR All-American Series National standings. In total, Joanides competed in 42 races and scored seventeen wins, 33 podiums, 37 top fives, and 41 top-ten finishes.^[1][2]

On October 17, Joanides announced that he would be joining Rick Ware Racing for his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at Memphis Motorsports Park on October 24, 2009.^[3]

Joanides retired from full-time racing following the 2010 season. He came out of retirement late in 2015. Through the first 35 events, posted fifteen wins and 26 top-five finishes. In 2016, an engine failure in the third event of the 2016 season resulted in a 32 point loss. Joanides would go on to finish second in the final point standings, 24 points shy of the championship.^{[citation needed]}

Joanides returned to Performance P-1 Motorsports in 2018 for a part-time schedule in NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, scoring a top-five finish at All American Speedway in Roseville, California.^[4]

Joanides returned to the team in 2021 for a one-race deal in the 4th of July weekend race at Irwindale Speedway, posting the team's only top-ten finish of the season.^[5]

Joanides' No. 77 ARCA car at Sonoma in 2023

Joanides had one scheduled start in 2022 for Performance P-1 Motorsports in the March Race at Irwindale. With no other race on his schedule, Joanides was called by team owner Lowden Motorsports late in the afternoon to fill in for their driver, who was suffering from food poisoning. Joanides arrived just before the race, with no practice, qualifying or power steering, brought home The Hard Charger award by passing the most cars in coming from last on the grid to finish eleventh.^[6] On September 17, 2022, Joanides entered his first Spears SRL Pro-Late Model Series race and came away with the win. He nearly backed it up a year later, falling just short to finish second in the same event.

Joanides' No. 71 car at All American Speedway in 2023

In 2023, Joanides competed in five of the first eight ARCA West series races for No. 77 PP1M Team. On September 25, 2023, it was announced that Joanides would drive for the newly formed No; 71 Jan's Racing team owned by Jan Qualkenbush of Jan's Towing, beginning at All-American Speedway, the site of his career best ARCA West Series finish. The team later announced that for the first time in Joanides' career, he would run the full West Series schedule in 2024.

In 2024, Joanides posted two top-fives and five top-ten finishes. He also won his first and only Pole Award at Irwindale Speedway on July 6.^[7] Joanides would miss the final four races of the season due to health issues, but returned for the exhibition race at Irwindale Speedway in December.^[8]

Joanides' No. 77 ARCA car at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring in 2025, two months before his death

In 2025, Joanides made three starts for PP1M and the No. 77, getting a best finish of fourteenth at Madera Speedway.

Death

Joanides died on December 5, 2025, at the age of 55.^[9][10]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Nationwide Series

NASCAR Nationwide Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NNSC	Pts	Ref
2009	Rick Ware Racing	31	Chevy	DAY	CAL	LVS	BRI	TEX	NSH	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	IOW	GLN	MCH	BRI	CGV	ATL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CAL	CLT	MEM DNQ	TEX	PHO	HOM	N/A	0	[11]

Busch East Series

NASCAR Busch East Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	NBESC	Pts	Ref
2006	MacDonald Motorsports	72	Chevy	GRE	STA	HOL	TMP	ERI	NHA 20	ADI	WFD	NHA	DOV	LRP	53rd	103	[12]

ARCA Menards Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Menards Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	AMSC	Pts	Ref
2022	Performance P-1 Motorsports	77	Toyota	DAY	PHO Wth	TAL	KAN	CLT	IOW	BLN	ELK	MOH	POC	IRP	MCH	GLN	ISF	MLW	DSF	KAN	BRI	SLM	TOL	N/A	0	[13]
2024	Jan's Towing Racing	71	Ford	DAY	PHO 26	TAL	DOV	KAN	CLT	IOW	MOH	BLN	IRP	SLM	ELK	MCH	ISF	MLW	DSF	GLN	BRI	KAN	TOL	107th	18	[14]

ARCA Menards Series West

ARCA Menards Series West results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	AMSW	Pts	Ref
2004	Puskarich Racing	4	Chevy	PHO	MMR	CAL 29	S99	EVG	IRW	S99	RMR	DCS	PHO 16			IRW 24		23rd	523	[15]
			Pontiac											CNS 9	MMR 20
2005				PHO	MMR	PHO	S99	IRW	EVG	S99	PPR	CAL	DCS	CTS 13	MMR 23			34th	218	[16]
2018	Performance P-1 Motorsports	77	Toyota	KCR	TUS	TUS	OSS 9	CNS	SON	DCS	IOW	EVG 11	GTW	LVS	MER	AAS 4	KCR 13	19th	139	[17]
2019	DeLong Racing Inc.	64	Toyota	LVS	IRW 17	TUS	TUS	CNS	SON	DCS	IOW	EVG	GTW	MER	AAS	KCR	PHO	57th	27	[18]
2021	Performance P-1 Motorsports	77	Toyota	PHO	SON	IRW 9	CNS	IRW	PIR	LVS	AAS	PHO						49th	35	[19]
2022				PHO Wth	IRW 11			SON 22	IRW 17	EVG	PIR	AAS 10	LVS 15	PHO				18th	178	[20]
	Lowden Motorsports	11	Chevy			KCR 11	PIR
2023	Performance P-1 Motorsports	77	Toyota	PHO	IRW 16	KCR 10	PIR	SON 14	IRW 8									13th	327	[21]
			Ford							SHA 8	EVG Wth
	Jan's Towing Racing	71	Ford									AAS 11	LVS 17	MAD 8	PHO 27
2024				PHO 26	KER 5	PIR 14	SON 19	IRW 7	IRW 4	SHA 8	TRI 10	MAD	AAS	KER	PHO			10th	310	[22]
2025	Performance P-1 Motorsports	77	Toyota	KER	PHO	TUC	CNS	KER	SON 26	TRI	PIR	AAS	MAD 14	LVS 17	PHO			29th	75	[23]

References

1. "Series All-Star spotlight - Nick Joanides".
2. "Joanides Wins Another Track Championship. | MidValleySports.Com". October 4, 2009.
3. "Woodland Hills native Joanides takes his show Nationwide". October 24, 2009.
4. "Cole Rouse Gets His Redemption at All American". October 14, 2018.
5. "Jesse Love rallies at Irwindale for first West Series win of 2021". July 4, 2021.
6. "ARCA West at Kern County: Teams Reactions and Analysis". April 28, 2022.
7. Calloni, Josh (July 6, 2025). "Nick Joanides to Lead ARCA West Race to Green at Irwindale". Frontstretch.com. Retrieved February 26, 2025.
8. Winningham, Brett (December 22, 2024). "ARCA West: Trevor Huddleston Bid Farewell to Irwindale Speedway With Exhibition Victory - Speedway Digest - Home for NASCAR News". Speedway Digest. Retrieved February 26, 2025.
9. Linder, Brian (December 7, 2025). "NASCAR world rocked by death of second driver during weekend: 'Lost a great person'". PennLive.com. Retrieved December 7, 2025.
10. Frost, Sam (December 6, 2025). "NASCAR hit with another crushing loss as beloved motorsports star dead at 55". the-express.com. Retrieved December 10, 2025.
11. "Nick Joanides – 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
12. "Nick Joanides – 2006 NASCAR Busch East Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
13. "Nick Joanides – 2022 ARCA Menards Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
14. "Nick Joanides – 2024 ARCA Menards Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
15. "Nick Joanides – 2004 NASCAR West Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
16. "Nick Joanides – 2005 NASCAR West Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
17. "Nick Joanides – 2018 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
18. "Nick Joanides – 2019 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
19. "Nick Joanides – 2021 ARCA Menards Series West Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
20. "Nick Joanides – 2022 ARCA Menards Series West Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
21. "Nick Joanides – 2023 ARCA Menards Series West Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
22. "Nick Joanides – 2024 ARCA Menards Series West Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
23. "Nick Joanides – 2025 ARCA Menards Series West Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved July 11, 2025.

External links

• Official website
• Nick Joanides driver statistics at Racing-Reference