Denver, NC ~ You’ve already read why the UARA is the best racing, RACE22.com already broke the news that Nick Hutchins has teamed up with Brandon McReynolds and will be a huge threat for the 2009 UARA-STARS Series championship, but today the plot thickened a little more.

2008 NASCAR Whelen All American Series North Carolina State Champion, Hickory Motor Speedway and Tri-County Motor Speedway champion added his name to the list of All-Star drivers who will compete for the 2009 UARA-STARS Series championship. Add Loden to the above mentioned McReynolds, the 2008 Melling Select Rookie of the Year, Darrell Wallace, Jr. and series wins leader, Jamey Caudill and you’ve got four of today’s best Late Model Stock Car competitors.

Loden, who has dominated Hickory Motor Speedway over the last few years is looking for a new challenge and with the competition in the UARA being unquestionably the toughest anywhere in Late Model Stock Car racing he’s come to the right place. Loden’s car owner, Bob Ryan, called today to allow RACE22.com to be the first to break the news that Team Loden is going to be full-time in the UARA-STARS Series.

“We’re excited about going UARA racing this season. We would have run it in the past, but the schedule in past years made it impossible for us to do it and this year there isn’t a race more than four hours from us this season,” said Ryan.

Ryan pointed out that the tours new policy of opening the track between 9-10am instead of the early morning openings was a huge part of the decision to join the tour in 2009.

“We can do the one-day shows, but when you’ve got to be at the race track for two almost three days like in the past with the series it was just impossible for our team to be there. It’s going to be great to be a part of the tour and see where we stack up.”

For Loden’s part, he’s ready to tour around and see how he runs at a different track every week instead of running one track week-in and week-out according to Ryan.

“Andy said he wanted to do it a month ago or more, but thought I wouldn’t be interested. We sat down and hashed things out and talked to the sponsors and they were all for it. It’s a good time for us and Andy wants a little more of a challenge this year and we know we’ll get it on the tour,” concluded Ryan.

Loden adds another element to the UARA-STARS tour he’s a cool, calm and collected veteran racers who knows how to get the job done on the track. He’s proven how good he is at Hickory and Tri-County Motor Speedway and this past September he turned up the wick in running strong in the Bailey’s 300 at Martinsville Speedway, the biggest race for Late Model Stock Cars anywhere.

You can expect Loden to help turn the UARA-STARS up another notch and he’s been one of the honored at the Las Vegas NASCAR Whelen All-American Series banquet in recent years and he won’t want to be just a face in the crowd when it comes time for the UARA-STARS Banquet next January.