After a weekend south of the border and a 14th place finish in the inaugural Telcel Motorola 200 on the road course in Mexico City, Reed Sorenson and the No. 41 Discount Tire Co. crew ventured back into familiar territory to the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Sam’s Town 300 this weekend.
Summing up his previous week in Mexico City Reed said, “Going into the weekend we really didn’t know how fast we’d be. In the race we had a top five car. But towards the end there I had to slam on my brakes to keep from running into the 36 car. We spun and then we put fresh tires on it and went from 34th to14th."
Looking forward to Las Vegas after a recent test session, the 19-year-old was confident that he and crew chief Brian Pattie
could get back on the right track by knocking out another top 10 finish.
“The only difference between now and during the test, the weather makes the track a little slicker,” he said.
“We’ll be good in the race. I think our car is really good on long runs. But we can’t take any chances with qualifying in order to make the field.”
Qualifying was held at dusk on Friday and Reed solidly qualified the car in seventh.
Once the green flag fell on the Sam’s Town 300 field on Saturday, he was quick to notice a loose condition in his racecar.
With less than 30 laps on the board he radioed his crew chief Brian Pattie, “We need to tighten it up. In turn three and four, it’s out of control.”
To his relief, the first round of pitstops fell on lap 42 under a yellow flag brought out by Jason Keller. Sorenson led his No. 41 Discount Tire Co. Dodge down pitroad to the attention of his crew and received a much needed wedge adjustment to tighten up his ride.
By lap 75 Sorenson continued to run comfortably in the op 10 when Pattie keyed to his driver, “Last lap you were the fastest car. We have about 30 laps before we have to pit.”
Within laps however a nervous Sorenson informed his team that he thought the No. 41 had collected debris on the front of the grill due to rising water temperatures. Spotter Lorin Ranier noted that a tearoff from one of the competitor’s windshields was plastered across the nose.
With fellow Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates development driver Ryan Hemphill within car lengths, Sorenson dug in and charged forward. As he inched closer the air off of Hemphill and a fellow competitor’s car thankfully blew the debris off.
With the water temperature slowly dropping Sorenson was able to refocus on the task at hand.
On lap 86 the yellow flag waived over the field for debris. This brought another round of stops and the opportunity for adjustments on the 41 Dodge. The crew chief/driver duo of Pattie and Sorenson however opted to make no adjustments and only added a fresh set of scuff tires.
The #41 was near the front again when the Busch Series visited Las Vegas. (Getty Images)
Reed stays in front of Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick and others at Las Vegas.
Lap 110 brought the fifth yellow flag of the day and also another pitstop. This time around Pattie called for a set of sticker tires and fuel. The stop was a quick one for the 41 crew - but a little too quick - and during the rush, a left front lugnut was left loose. Reed repitted one lap later to tighten the lugnut and lined the Discount Tire Co. Charger up in the 24th spot for the restart on lap 113.
Quickly maneuvering his Dodge through the field, Reed then found himself in a fierce three-wide battle with Joe Nemechek and Martin Truex, Jr. After some tense moments Sorenson prevailed with the position and settled into 11th with his eyes clearly focused on rejoining the hunt in the top 10.
While looking to continue his climb towards the front Sorenson and the No. 18 of J.J. Yeley got together battling for the same piece of racing real estate. The 41 and the 18 locked door-to-door leaving a trail of smoke behind them. Both drivers settled down and continued on.
“We had all four on the flat. There was almost a wreck there. I don’t know how he kept it out of the fence. I was pretty sideways,” Sorenson said of the run-in after the race.
Sitting comfortably in the top 10 the only green flag round of pitstops of the day fell with less than 30 laps to go, much to Sorenson’s delight. Heading up to the pitstop the savvy racer said that his car had gone from one extreme to another and his ride was now running a little on the tight side.
Shortly after making his final stop of the day Sorenson was on track only 10 car lengths ahead of then race leader Carl Edwards. Luckily, the yellow flag flew again on lap 176, allowing Reed to circle around the track and ensure a position on the lead lap.
With the checkered flag in sight, he buckled down for the remainder of the race and claimed the sixth spot, his third top 10 of the year.
“We had a really good car. It was a little loose on the first run. The second run, it was really good on the long runs. Then we had to come back in - we left a lugnut off of the left front. At the end, we just picked our way through there and got a top six.”
Next up for Reed and the Discount Tire Co. clan, a trip to his native Georgia and the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Last season Reed qualified a strong sixth, ran impressively all day long and even led the field for 47 laps but was caught up in a wreck with just three laps remaining.
“It’d be nice to take a car there that we know is a contender to win and get a win,” he said.
Looking for redemption in front of his hometown crowd Sorenson will attempt to qualify for the Aaron’s 312 on Friday at noon EST.
