A fifth, a second and now a third. The last three races have been fruitful for the No. 41 Discount Tire Co. team as they have showcased their strength with consistency and stellar finishes.
This weekend’s race at the Nashville Superspeedway was sure to be a good one after the 41 bunch dominated the spring race as driver Reed Sorenson put a beating on the field by leading 197 of the 225 laps en route to his first career Busch Series win.
“I was kind of shocked after this race. I didn’t really think too much about it until I went home,” he said in reflection of his dominant win.
“The last two races we got two top fives and gained a bunch on the points and that has given my guys a lot of confidence.”
The Federated Auto Parts 300 was set for Saturday under the speedway lights but rain washed out both qualifying and the race forcing a 1 PM EST start time on Sunday.
Waiting out the rain, both crew chief Brian Pattie and driver Sorenson were anxious to get the race in.
“We have a good car. I hate that qualifying got rained out. We had a pole-winning car here. We’ll get this thing going and hopefully do what we did last time,” said Pattie.
Once Sorenson strapped in on Sunday, it was typical raceday for the 41 gang as they proved a threat for the win.
After 10 laps Sorenson was turning the fastest laps on the track while running in the fourth position.
The opening laps of the race were normal for Sorenson but once the first yellow fell on lap 22 it became apparent that driver 41 was having radio troubles. He could hear the crew but they could not hear him.
No matter, he stole the lead from reigning Busch Series champ Martin Truex, Jr. on lap 30.
With the radio issues, Pattie did an amazing job of keeping his driver calm and focused by reading off lap times and reminding him of the car’s potential.
The scheduled competition yellow dropped just after lap 40 when Pattie keyed his driver to use hand signals to relay any needed adjustments.
Following the yellow the restart fell on lap 46 with Sorenson taking the flag from 19th. Within laps he was clicking off the fastest times even with heavy traffic and easily settled into eighth by lap 65.
Cruising along consistently in the top 10 an extended caution period blanketed the field at halfway on lap 113. The restart fell on lap 117 leaving Sorenson the
opportunity to put the hammer down and gain more ground. He quickly clicked off Tony Raines to break back into the top five.
The day’s first sequence of green flag pitstops shook down with less than 70 to go and the lightening fast Discount Tire crew did their part in keeping the sporty 41 Charger moving up the scoring pylon.
With 30 to go Pattie keyed to his driver, who was running third under a yellow flag period, to stay focused on the big picture, conserve and be easy on the right front tire.
After another quick yellow flag Sorenson’s No. 41 was able to pass Truex for third with less than 15 to go.
“It was a good day for us overall. We had some problems today and ended up coming home with a third place finish,” Sorenson said.
“We started out with some radio problems. We did our best and got the car working better. We got the car working better than everybody.”
With the finish Sorenson now takes over the points lead by 51 over Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex, Jr.
Reed returned to Nashville and left with a third-place finish. (51 Photos
