Top Five at RIR Propels Sorenson and Team inside Standings Top 10

It was an all-around banner day for Reed Sorenson and the No. 41 Discount Tire team at Richmond International Raceway (RIR) Friday, as they dodged multiple wrecks and rebounded from a mid-race penalty to turn their top-10 start into a top-five finish.  The driver and team also took two steps forward in the NASCAR Busch Series championship standings, moving up to 10th place overall. 

“This Discount Tire Dodge we brought here this weekend is a great car, but we struggled through the center of the corners most of the night,” Sorenson commented after the race.  “I’m really proud of the pit crew.  They worked really hard tonight.  I think we improved our position almost every time we came down pit road and Brian [Pattie] worked the pit strategy very well.  We had a good car, but it was a combination of everything that got us this top five here tonight.”

Right off the truck Friday morning, the No. 41 Discount Tire Dodge was the fastest car on the Virginia short track.  The No. 41 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) car was at the top of the speed chart by the close of the morning practice session, posting a 126 mile-per-hour lap in 21.4 seconds.

Later that day, Sorenson kept up the pace to line him and his team up on the fifth row, in ninth place, for the start of the Emerson Radio 250 that night. 

As the race got underway right at 8 p.m. ET, Sorenson started working his way forward.  He radioed his guys to tell them the No. 41 Dodge was loose all around the track.  “The track feels looser tonight than it did earlier in the day,” he commented. 

Sorenson got up as high as sixth before the team took advantage of a yellow flag on lap 25 to pit for tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment to try to tighten up the No. 41 race car.  Racing resumed on lap 31 but the race was quickly interrupted again by another wreck on lap 35. 

Racing finally got back underway on lap 40 and just after a few green-flag circuits Sorenson told his team the car was now a little too tight getting through the middle of the turns.  Still, he managed to hang on to a top-15 run until the team made its second pit stop of the night on lap 113. 

The sixth yellow flag of the race had just waved so crew chief Brian Pattie called his young driver to pit.  Running 13th, Sorenson came down pit road for four tires and fuel, along with air pressure and wedge adjustments to try to free up the car’s cornering.  It was a wicked fast stop by the over-the-wall pit crew, but just as Sorenson left pit road NASCAR called over the radio to penalize the No. 41 team for exiting pit road too fast.  That meant they would have to restart at the end of the longest line.  With nothing to lose, Pattie called Sorenson back down pit road on lap 116 to top off with fuel, and then it was back to green-flag racing with the Discount Tire Dodge in 34th place.  

Reed passed more cars than anyone else on Friday night at Richmond. (Getty Images Photos)

After that, it was complete silence on the radio as Sorenson focused on rebounding from the setback.  Less than 20 laps later, the No. 41 was a top-20 car.  Sorenson radioed his guys to tell them the car was handling a lot more to his liking. 

The key call and move of the night came on lap 175.  Although they had just pitted less than 30 laps earlier, Pattie ordered Sorenson to pit under the 10th caution period of the race.  The team made a minor air pressure adjustment and topped the stop off with four tires and fuel.  A good portion of the teams didn’t pit, so the stop initially relegated the Discount Tire team from 11th to 18th, but Pattie knew he had the car and driver to get to the front.  He also knew his car was good to go on fuel the rest of the night.

Racing restarted on lap 180 and just five laps later, the No. 41 was in 15th place.  Then, just as the field came around to complete the 196th lap of the 250-lap competition, Sorenson was a top-10 contender.  Unfortunately, the end of the race was marred with two messy wrecks that resulted in almost 15 yellow-flag laps but there were just enough green-flag circuits left for Sorenson to turn his top-10 position into a top-five finish as he moved up to fifth place on lap 239 and remained steadfast the remainder of his run.

The fifth-place finish was the team’s fifth top-five of the 2006 season and gave them a two-position boost in the NASCAR Busch Series standings, where Sorenson and team now stand 10th overall. 

Next weekend, the Busch Series teams will have their first weekend off since May.  Their next race will be at Dover International Speedway on Saturday, September 23.  The race is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET and will broadcast live on TNT (TV) and MRN (Radio).