Slippin’ and slidin’ in the mountains of Colorado Reed Sorenson guided the No. 41 Discount Tire Co. Dodge Charger home to a strong seventh place finish on Saturday in the Salute to the Troops 250 at the Pikes Peak International Raceway.
After a 33rd place qualifying run on Friday Sorenson was ready early Saturday to get the 250-mile race under way to better his weekend.
“The track’s neat. I like it. We had a good car in practice,” Sorenson simply said.
The high heat was expected for raceday and as things played out, it added an obstacle around the slippery track surface. By the time the first caution flag fell on lap 26 Sorenson told his crew, “It’s slick everywhere. It’s not loose or tight, just slick.”
Crew chief Brian Pattie then called his driver down pitroad for the first stop of the day. The crew did their job but another car caused problems on the exit.
“On the first pitstop we got blocked in. It’s so hard to pass here - and the track was so slick, it took a lot out of it,” Sorenson said as his No. 41 Dodge looked to regain the lost position.
With temperatures near 100 degrees Sorenson dug in gunning in 11th by lap 87. It was obvious his No. 41 was a lot stronger than the lineup showed and Sorenson was determined to give the team the finish they deserved after all of their hard work preparing the Dodge.
The second yellow flag waved over the 43-car field on lap 96 giving competitors another set of stops. Fighting the heat the Discount Tire Co. pit crew didn’t miss a beat as they put down a stellar stop getting Sorenson out in 10th at the restart on lap 100.
En route to a solid finish the Pattie prepared machine clocked in laps quick enough to pace the field.
“You were the fastest lap that time,” Pattie told Sorenson repeatedly.
With the race over halfway complete Sorenson battled lap after lap with the Johnny Sauter machine for position but a yellow flag forced yet another a pitstop for the team. Sorenson’s sporty crew gained the position over Sauter on pitroad and got their driver back on track in the eighth position.
The remainder of the event held steady for the entire Discount Tire team. Solid pitstops by the crew and smart driving by Sorenson settled the team into a strong seventh place finish after all 250 laps were complete.
“It was hot today. The car was really good with the track being so slick. After qualifying I was ready to race because I knew we had a good car,” Sorenson said.
The top 10 finish was the 12th for the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Busch Series team on the year.
Next week Sorenson and crew will head to the Gateway International Raceway in St. Louis, Mo. Last week the team
tested the 1.25-mile track readying for the 250-miler.
“The test was good. It was really hot when we were there. It’ll be hot again next week but we have a good car,” Sorenson said looking forward.
