Scotty McCreery returns to 'Idol' tonight

For Scotty McCreery, tonight's performance on American Idol will be part of his quickest trip to Los Angeles.

"We landed today and got to the studio about 11," says the show's Season 10 winner, who'll perform current single Feelin' It on tonight's one-hour results show (9 ET/PT, Fox). "As soon as the show's over, they're going to bus us back to LAX for a red-eye to Michigan," where McCreery has Friday and Saturday shows at the Island Resort & Casino in Harris.

That was still enough time to get a stop in at Chipotle, one of McCreery's favorite L.A. hangs. "I'd love to get a stop at In-N-Out Burger if we can before heading out," he says.

McCreery says he's glad to see a fellow North Carolinian, Caleb Johnson, still in the competition. "I was about 20 minutes outside his hometown doing a show last night," McCreery says. Today, "he was sitting outside as I was pulling up, so I got to chat with him for a little bit." Johnson was in the Hollywood Round of McCreery's season, "so to see it happen for him now is pretty cool."

McCreery was in Raleigh, N.C., on May 5 when some men barged into the apartment at gunpoint and robbed the singer and his friends. A 19-year-old has been charged in the robbery.

McCreery says he and his friends had just gotten some food from a local burger joint and were watching Gladiator when they hear a knock at the door.

"One of the guys who lived there, he just figured it was a neighbor," McCreery says. "He looked through his peep-hole — the guys didn't have a mask or gloves, so he didn't look suspicious at all. My friend opened the door to see if he had a question, and we think the other three guys were nestled up against the door so we couldn't see them in the peephole. As soon as the door opened an inch, they barged in, guns waving.

"The first guy in the room had an assault rifle, and he put that right against the sternum of the guy who opened the door. The main guy, who was casing the living room, he had a pistol to my head and a pistol at another guy's head.

"It definitely puts your life in perspective when you're staring down the barrel of a pistol."

McCreery currently is on tour and will be at Nashville's CMA Music Festival in June, hosting a fan-club party and playing in a celebrity softball game. "I've got to be in Birmingham, Ala., after the softball game," he says. "So I'm going to play in the game, then, as soon as that's over, bus down to Alabama.

"I'm as busy as I've ever been. Things are finally starting to click for me, career-wise, with road and radio. Things are pointing in the right direction."