Reed Sorenson literally kept his No. 41 Commit Cherry Discount Tire Dodge rolling on the last lap of the Dover 200 on Saturday, as he fought to turn his fifth-place running position into a fourth-place finish. Just as he came around out of Turn 4 to make the final sprint down the front stretch, he went to gain position and started spinning, halting with a hard smack against the inside wall. The good news was he still managed to cross the finish line to grab a sixth-place finish and most importantly he climbed from the car unscathed.
“That was hard hit,” Sorenson said after being released from the infield care center. “I thought I could get some better track position there, but I guess you can see that didn’t work out. Luckily, we still managed to get a sixth-place finish out of it so that’s pretty good.”
“We had a good car here today. It was a little tight early on, but the longer runs helped it loosen up. The guys did another great job on pit road. I wish we could’ve held on for a top five, but overall we came out okay.”
Sorenson and the No. 41 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) team were working on a strong finish all day at Dover International Speedway. They lined up in 22nd place to take the green flag and less than 30 laps into the show they were a top-15 contender.
Not too far into the run, Sorenson radioed his Crew Chief Brian Pattie and the No. 41 Commit Cherry Discount Tire team to tell them the car was tight off the corner.
“The car is tight off and it gets even tighter in traffic,” Sorenson said.
Although the car was a bit stubborn getting out of the turns, the 20-year old driver was able to wheel his way up toward the top 10 just before the team took advantage of the fifth yellow flag of the day to pit on lap 59 for four tires and fuel. Pattie also called for an air pressure adjustment to try to loosen up the car’s handling for Sorenson.
The No. 41 Dodge proceeded to be a top-10 contender, and at multiple times the fastest car on the 1-mile race track.
Pattie told his driver, “Keep it wound up and keep it rolling.”
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Sorenson did just that. In fact, together the driver and team maintained a top-10 run the entire second half of the 200-lap competition. They opted to pit one last time for four tires and fuel on lap 120, coming down pit road in ninth and leaving it in eighth.
Then, on lap 173, the No. 41 Commit Cherry Discount Tire Dodge broke inside the top five. Sorenson turned his focus to improving his track position as much as possible. He began to battle the No. 64 car, driven by Jamie McMurray, for fourth place. At times it looked like he was going to get past the No. 64 and then on the final lap the two went all out. First, the No. 64 got loose so Sorenson dove to try to get ahead of him. Then, just as the field was coming out of Turn 4 to take the green-white checkered flag, Sorenson
went to make one last attempt to get ahead and his car broke loose, circling around down the front stretch. He came to a stop, smacking the inside wall. The good news was he was okay and still managed to cross the finish line to score a sixth-place finish.
The tumultuous top-10 finish also gave the No. 41 CGRFS Busch team another boost up in the NASCAR Busch Series championship standings. The team now stands ninth in the owner ranks, just 87 points out of eighth. Sorenson held on to his 10th-place position overall and is only eight points out of ninth in the driver standings.
The No. 41 CGRFS Busch team will head to Kansas Speedway next weekend to run the Yellow Transportation 300 on Saturday, September 30. The race is scheduled to start at 3:05 p.m. ET and will broadcast live on TNT (TV) and MRN (Radio).
