IRWINDALE, California — Blake Koch and the Golden Gate - Richard Childress Racing Development Team have started off the 2010 NASCAR, K&N Pro Series season in positive fashion as they have officially made the line up for Saturday's Toyota Showdown in Irwindale, California.
Friday night 21 was the lucky number for the entire Golden Gate Racing Team and owner Jim Offenbach. Koch debuted the brand new Daystar Network #21 Chevrolet and drove it to the 21st qualifying spot out of the 45 cars entered in the Toyota All Star Showdown.
"We went out to qualify pretty early and the track conditions weren't the best just yet," said Koch. The car was pretty good and the track really picked up a lot of time. I'm happy with how we did. We will be where we need to be for the Showdown on Saturday."
Koch was the 10th car to take the Irwindale half mile on Friday night. Initially the native of West Palm Beach Florida muscled his way to the fifth qualifying position out of the 10 cars that had qualified thus far. Koch's official lap time was an 18:753, which secured the 21st qualifying position by the end of the process. With the exception of provisional bumps, the top 26 qualifiers go directly into the Saturday's Showdown. Drivers who do not qualify for a provisional must advance through a last chance race.
Due to their success in qualifying, the well seasoned Golden Gate Racing Team avoided the grueling secondary qualifiers Friday night and will take the green flag from the middle of the field Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET. The event is broadcast live on Speed Television.
The Golden Gate Racing Team has a number of marketing partners for the 2010 racing season. The Daystar Television Network is the team's primary sponsor. Associate sponsors include San Francisco's Golden Gate Meat Company, Superior Lamb Company, Golden Gate Petroleum, Hill Meat Company, Foodcomm International, Tire Kingdom and Signco.
