EARLY-RACE INCIDENT DERAILS SORENSON AND TEAM AT NASHVILLE

Reed Sorenson and the No. 41 Discount Tire team came to Nashville Superspeedway looking for their first win of the 2006 season, but an early-race accident turned their night around. The lap-two incident took out a good portion of the right-side sheet metal of the No. 41 Dodge and seemed to sideline the car’s overall handling the rest of the night, forcing the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) driver and team to eventually settle for a 23rd-place finish.

“The car was already loose during qualifying, and the early hit here tonight didn’t help,” Sorenson said. “The car lacked grip and the balance of the car just felt off, which I am sure the gap in the right side had a hand in throwing that off. It’s just disappointing. We all thought this was going to be our weekend, but it apparently wasn’t.”

This weekend was the first of six events this season that Sorenson will be splitting his time between two separate competition events in the same weekend, and most of the time those events will be in two separate states. This week, he started off in Pocono, Pa., practicing and qualifying the No. 41 Target Dodge at Pocono Raceway on Friday and Saturday. He then hopped on a plane Saturday afternoon and flew to Nashville to qualify and race the No. 41 Discount Tire Dodge that evening.

CGRFS development driver Kevin Hamlin helped shake down the Busch car for Sorenson during both morning practice sessions. By the end of the morning, Hamlin told his team, “You guys have a really good car here. It’s a little loose, but you’ve got a good car here for Reed to climb into tonight.”

Sorenson touched down around 2 p.m. CT on Saturday, just outside of the Tennessee track, and proceeded to qualify the Discount Tire Dodge shortly after that. The NASCAR Busch Series qualifying draw lined the No. 41 team up first to make their trial laps, and by the conclusion of the qualifying session the team lined up 36th for the start of the Saturday night race.

“That car was really loose,” Sorenson commented after his qualifying run.

As the sun began to set around Nashville Superspeedway, the pre-race ceremonies concluded, and then the green flag waved. Just as the field was coming around to complete the second lap of the 225-lap competition, cars started spinning. Sorenson’s spotter, Lorin Ranier, came over the radio telling his driver to go low. Sorenson followed orders, but just as he was working his way past one of the wrecking cars it came back down off the wall and hit the No. 41 Dodge. The hit caused substantial damage to the right side of the No. 41 car.

The Discount Tire team went to work to make the necessary repairs to the car, using bear bond to tape up the car’s right side. After pitting a total of three times under the yellow-flag conditions, the No. 41 car fell back into line in 39th place as racing resumed on lap eight.

Shortly after the restart, Sorenson radioed his team, “The car is really loose through the center and there’s a vibration.” He continued to wheel the CGRFS car up to 25th place before making his fifth pit stop of the night under yellow on lap 36.

The team went to work to try to tighten up the car for Sorenson, as it was loose in and off the corners of the race track.

The team took on four fresh tires and fuel, along with air pressure and track bar adjustments. It was an impressive performance by the over-the-wall Discount Tire team. Sorenson entered pit road in 25th place, but exited it in 19th place. The team had helped him gain a total of six positions on pit road.

Racing resumed on lap 40, and Sorenson began battling to hold his position. The car was lacking front grip, making it even harder to turn. Still, he managed to maintain a top-25 run, and just as he fell off the lead lap on lap 97, he was given the free pass to get back on it when the fifth yellow flag of the race waved on lap 98.

He came back down pit road, and the Discount Tire team changed everything they could to try to get the car’s handling to come around. They made air pressure, wedge and track bar adjustments, topped the stop off with tires and fuel, and then sent Sorenson back out in 23rd place.

The handling issues continued, but Sorenson and team made the best of their situation and held on to the top-25 run the rest of night.

Although they didn’t think they had that stellar of a night, the 23rd-place finish moved Sorenson and team up one position in the driver standings and two positions up in the owner rankings. They now stand 11th and 13th, in driver and owner points respectively. They are only 41 points out of 10th.

The NASCAR Busch Series heads to Kentucky Speedway next weekend for the Meijer 300 on Saturday, June 17. The race is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. ET and will broadcast live on FX (TV) and MRN (Radio).