Before he took on the NASCAR Busch Series, Reed Sorenson had run just about everything possible at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway. From Legends to ARCA to ASA, he’d turned many laps on the 1.5-mile track. But a facelift to the racing surface made it faster and a little more challenging this year.
New surface or not a trip to Lowe’s in the spring proved that the No. 41 Discount Tire Co. team was up for anything as they chalked up a successful fifth place finish.
Hoping for a repeat performance, the DTC team buckled down for two days of fierce competition on their hometown track.
After the final practice session on Thursday Sorenson and interim crew chief Jimmy Elledge showcased a strong Dodge with the
eighth fastest time overall. They improved their position Friday afternoon in qualifying after two quick laps good for the fourth starting spot.
“The only way I can explain it, the track is so fast. To be fast, your car is on the edge the whole way around. In qualifying, you are almost flat out the entire lap,” Sorenson said after his run.
Prepared for 200 laps of fast racing he stayed consistent through the first 30 when the first caution flag dropped.
The field snaked down pitroad for the first round of stops giving Elledge a chance for some strategy by calling for a two-tire change. The call rocketed the Discount Tire machine into the lead over the 43-car field.
Nearing halfway Sorenson’s steady run continued with a sporty top 10 showing. Just laps before another pitstop, on lap 70 Reed radioed Elledge with a handling update on his Discount Tire ride.
“It’s almost like you need four tires. It throws the car off balance. At least with my car it does.”
Tire troubles were the talk of the night at LMS with many cars losing right rears. Goodyear officials explained that the tire compound was simply unable to keep up with the faster pace at LMS.
Side by side racing also caused problems because of the higher speeds and the event saw two red flag periods due to major run-ins.
The #41 Dodge at Lowe's Motor Speedway (Getty Images Photos)
Unfortunately, Reed's ride also was collected as one of the casualties of the faster track. On lap 121 he had a close call with Matt Kenseth as he dropped the No. 9 machine to pitroad to service an ailing tire. Slight contact was made and Sorenson’s Dodge suffered a tire rub against the fender.
Just four laps later Reed’s machine sped through turn 1, broke loose and slammed the outside wall.
The accident however left a number of questions for the 41 team. Was it due to a cut tire from the contact or something else?
“We had a tire rub there,” Reed said. “But I don’t know if that caused it or what happened. It almost felt like something broke on the suspension.”
The late race misfortune left the Discount Tire team a severely damaged car and a 35th place finish at the end of the night.
But the important thing was that their driver was unhurt after such a brutal hit.
“That’s the hardest hit that I’ve had but I feel okay,” Reed said.
Despite the finish Reed maintains third in the overall driver standings with only four events remaining in the 2005 season.
“We had a good test at Memphis. We’re going back to Texas - we almost won there the first time. Phoenix, we had a good car there but got wrecked on the restart. And, we’re going to test Homestead,” Reed says previewing the rest of the season.
“The next four races I feel really good about. We should get a win at one of them."
