Reed Sorenson

Known as the track ‘too tough to tame,’ Reed Sorenson’s Discount Tire Co. team made the trip to Darlington, SC with no fear. Last fall the No. 41 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates bunch claimed a strong ninth place run on the 1.366-egg shaped track and heading back, they were all ready to equal that effort.

Mother nature however had her own plans and knocked out all on-track activity on Thursday. Practice and qualifying were then bumped to Friday with the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 start time set for 8 PM EST.

After two tough weekends behind them the Discount Tire crew was ready for a solid finish. Starting things off, Sorenson charged his Dodge into the 18th position in qualifying.

The run however was far from smooth sailing.

Gunning for position Sorenson slapped his Charger against the outside retaining wall leaving cosmetic damage on the right side of the car.

“I let out of the gas halfway out of turn one and got into the wall a little bit,” Sorenson said.

“We just tried to get a little bit extra during qualifying.”

After impounding the cars following the qualifying session, NASCAR finally dropped the green flag shortly after 8 PM as the lights set a glow over the historic Darlington track.

Early on Sorenson struggled with an extremely tight racecar and fell just outside of the top 20.

“Once the race started we never really got it good all night. It was really tight,” driver No. 41 said.

Crew chief Brian Pattie set in for a full night’s work and made the calls he needed to with the turning point the team needed all night long finally falling under a caution flag on lap 67.

After dropping down pitroad to the attention of the crew, the restart fell on lap 71 and within 10 laps, it appeared that the 41’s tight condition was remedied as Sorenson began clicking off cars for position.

“We slowly got it better. We just didn’t have the front grip we needed, when we loosened it up we lost rear grip,” Sorenson explained.

A near disaster fell on lap 95 when the car just ahead of Sorenson, piloted by Shane Hmiel, got completely sideways and smacked the wall. Hmiel’s ride then shot down track in front of Sorenson.

As the racer’s heart rate climbed, he managed to pick up the position as Hmiel collected his machine.

“He got loose. He barely touched the wall and then he overcorrected it. I was behind him for a while and I’d go one way, then another way. He almost spun out but then gathered it up,” Sorenson explained.

After passing Hmiel, next in his path was the Jeremy Mayfield entry. By lap 100 he was running 16th.

The fourth yellow flag of the night on lap 119 left Sorenson 12th in line for the restart.

Two more yellow flags would fall as the laps clicked down throughout the 147-lap event. The sixth and final yellow of the night dropped on lap 137.

Pattie opted to call Sorenson down pitroad for a fresh set of tires while other lead cars stayed on track. The call was a strategic one with the field taking the restart in the single-file formation.

The 41 Dodge only dropped one position and lined up 13th with just seven laps remaining.

Charging towards the checkered flag Sorenson battled door-to-door with Clint Bowyer.

Carl Edwards was gunning ahead but contact with Denny Hamlin shot him down track before he regained control and raced with Bowyer to the stripe.

“The 2 got inside the 60, they touched and they almost wrecked,” Sorenson said after following them across the line in the 12th position.

After two tough outings for the 41 gang, they have begun their climb back up the success ladder with a strong run just outside of the top 10.

Next weekend they will hit the short track in Richmond, VA. for another week of racing under the lights.

“We just tested there and the car was good,” Sorenson said. “Other teams tested and I felt like we were the fastest car there.”