One year ago Reed Sorenson was just getting familiar with the NASCAR Busch Series. In the season finale at Homestead in 2004, he finished fourth in what marked only his fifth start of the year.
Now, as he puts a full 35-race schedule behind him, he is by far one of the toughest competitors around.
Kicking things off this season in the opener at Daytona the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team rolled their No. 41 Dodge off of the hauler primed for a successful run. The pace of the season was set as Sorenson wheeled his Discount Tire Co. Dodge into the ninth position at the finish on the historic track.
Strong runs and consistency continued over the next few weeks with his first career win falling only six races into the season.
Sorenson guided his Brian Pattie prepared Dodge to victory lane as the Discount Tire ride embarrassed the Pepsi 300 field in Nashville in dominating fashion.
Sorenson claimed his first career Busch pole on the concrete track, led 197 of the 225 laps and easily took victory by nearly 15 seconds over the second place car. With his finish, Sorenson also took over the points lead which he held for two straight weeks.
Back-to-back weeks of on-track accidents due to circumstance bit the team in Phoenix and Talladega. But, the Discount Tire boys were far from giving up. Within weeks, Sorenson was able to regroup and laid down four straight showings of solid top five finishes including a runner-up finish in Dover.
The first half of the season flew by with the Pattie-Sorenson duo showing as strong contenders for the 2005 title, on track to reach the goal of finishing in the top five in points in Sorenson's rookie year.
At times throughout the season, it was hard to think of the skillful driver as a 19-year-old rookie because he, according to many competitors, drove like a veteran.
Following the adage ‘in with the old, out with the new’ as St. Louis said goodbye to their native son, 1989 Winston Cup Champion Rusty Wallace, as he bid farewell to racing in the Wallace Family Tribute 200, the young Sorenson swooped in and tallied career win number two.
The No. 41 Dodge led 60 of the event’s 200 laps under the lights after starting second.
One week later, the team followed up their win with their second pole award on the short track in Indianapolis. They also chalked up yet another top five after crossing the stripe in third.
Following Indy two weeks of mechanical woes frustrated Sorenson but he was determined to get back to winning form. All good things must come to an end? Not for the Discount Tire Co. backed team. In Richmond, he pulled out a finish of seventh and then returned to Dover and followed up his previous finish of second by finishing fourth.
As the year wound down the time came for Sorenson to make the jump to Nextel Cup in order to prepare for his 2006 season. Halfway through the summer, car owner Chip Ganassi announced Sorenson as the driver of the No. 41 Target Dodge next season.
The team decided to make the Atlanta fall event the site of his series debut.
Born and raised in nearby Peachtree City, Sorenson strapped into the No. 39 Discount Tire machine with the support of family, friends and the faces of many who had followed his racing career. Looking for nothing more but valuable seat-time, Sorenson qualified 22nd, was moving forward as he charged in the 19th spot, but contact with another car ended his day early.
The remainder of the season was focused back on the Busch Series and with just three events remaining, the team garnered two more top 10 finishes.
Unfortunately, the season finale in Homestead left them wishing that there could have been just one more race to end things on the right note.
Things are really looking up for Reed and his racing career. (Getty Images)
Rain crept into the Homestead-Miami area early and delayed the Discount Tire team on track. The weather altered the day’s events but both the Busch Series and Nextel Cup Series were able to get their practice sessions in.
And good thing they did, because Sorenson, thanks to car owner James Finch, had plans to make his second Cup start of 2005.
Piloting the No. 09 Dodge, Sorenson hammered down and ran within the top 10 in practice. He followed that up by solidly grabbing the 15th spot in qualifying.
The first pressure of the weekend, making the Ford 400 field was over and next up was the Busch Series’ finale, the Ford 300.
Reed's win at Nashville was one of the season's biggest highlights.
Sorenson had a stellar car and rolled off of the grid from 15th, but not even halfway through the event trouble broke out in front of the No. 41 Dodge as the No. 20 car of Denny Hamlin spun. Another car spun trying to avoid the mess and slid down track leaving Sorenson nowhere to go but straight into the nose of the stopped car. The Discount Tire ride had heavy damage and was forced into the garage for repairs.
Despite being numerous laps down, the team watched their driver return to the track to pick up additional points. Sorenson finished the event 33rd.
On the Cup side of things, Sorenson was successful in reaching his goal of completing all 400 miles, which he did after hurdling a major setback with the brakes.
The completion of his first Cup event was also the conclusion of the entire NASCAR racing season.
Now that the season is complete, despite just a few outings of misfortune throughout the 35-race Busch Series schedule, driver Sorenson, crew chief Pattie and the entire CGRwFS organization with the support of sponsor Discount Tire, were able to work together and compile two wins, two pole awards, 12 top fives and 19 top 10s.
Sorenson also scored a strong fourth place finish in the overall point standings. Through all 35 races, the Discount Tire machine took its turn out front leading in 26 of the events.
Crew chief Brian Pattie made the calls atop the pit box this season and is already hoping for a stronger 2006.
“We fell short from a couple of our goals. I thought we could finish top three and win about four races. We just need to eliminate DNFs. Our speedway program is pretty good and with Ernie Elliott helping our engine program, we did that for a reason. If you have a bad race in 35-40 it needs to be 15th-20th next year. Nothing outside of the top 15,” he says.
“Competition will be a lot tougher next year. Our goal number one is to win the championship, be no lower than third and be a force every week.”
In 2006 Sorenson will embark on his first full year of competition in the Nextel Cup Series along with CGR teammates Casey Mears and David Stremme. Sorenson and Stremme will both be looking for the rights at Raybestos Rookie of The Year title.
“David and I are good enough friends we can probably help each other. Casey’s been to all of these tracks a few times he will be able to help. David and I can help him with some of the short track stuff since we grew up doing that. We’ll all just learn together,” Reed says.
Despite his Cup excursions the 2006 lineup will have Sorenson back behind the wheel of the No. 41 Discount Tire Co. Dodge in the Busch Series again with crew chief Brian Pattie. His No. 41 Nextel Cup car will don the colors of Target with Jimmy Elledge serving as crew chief.
“I don’t think the Cup deal will take away from the Busch deal. You go to places, practices are back to back. The crew chiefs will listen when I’m running the other car. It will just be my job to not get confused with adjustments. I just have to be on top of what I know,” Sorenson says.
One of the men responsible for helping Reed get to the Cup level, Lorin Ranier, director of the driver development program at CGRwFS, is pleased with the young racer’s growth this season and looks forward to his continued climb up the racing ladder.
“It’s been a good year. He contended for the points, led for a bit, had two poles and won two races. If it wasn’t for a couple of DNFs with mechanical issues and run-ins, for his first year, it was pretty good. He’s learned a lot and progressed to the Cup level,” he says.
As the 2005 season concludes focus for Sorenson has shifted to his goals for 2006.
“I want to win a Busch championship. We fell short this year. We had some motor problems, I got in a couple of wrecks. There are a few areas where we can get better and we will work on over the winter. Last year we were building cars to get our car count up. But this year, we are already prepared,” he says.
“Goals in Cup, it's a huge question mark. I haven't really set a goal. You can't set goals that are unreachable and you can't set goals that are too easy as well.”
Looking forward to the 2006 racing season, all of us at ReedSorenson.com would like to wish the fans, sponsors, team members and everyone who helped make 2005 a success, a great holiday season! ~AMB
