REED EARNS A TOP TEN IN THE LONGEST RACE OF THE YEAR

Sunday night, NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Rookie Reed Sorenson started his first 600-mile race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (LMS) and finished it like an old pro. The 20-year old Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) driver not only completed all 400 laps, but tied his best finish in his young career by adding another 10th-place to his 2006 season stats.

“I’m real happy. It was a long day,” Sorenson said after the race. “We finally got our car right there at the end. We had some problems with the right-front jack bolt coming out and finally got it right at the end. The last 100 miles the car was really good. To be 11th at Darlington and 10th here, it’s a lot of momentum. We needed top-10s to get going here and got 11th and 10th so that’s pretty close. This is my first 600 and I felt like we did a pretty good job.”

It was the typical long May night at LMS, as the 43-car field took the green flag just before 6 p.m. ET Sunday evening. Multiple cautions followed and so did ups and downs for the No. 41 Target team. The team’s biggest nemesis of the night was a car that would restart a little loose and would then seem to handle just right before becoming a little too tight for Sorenson to get through and out of the corners.

The Target team took advantage of the yellow flags that waved, pitting to make air pressure, wedge and track bar adjustments to try to shake the snug handling, and were still able to maintain a 21st-place average running position the entire night.

In addition to trying to shake the tight handling, there were two other hurdles for the team to overcome. Another was dealt just halfway through the competition when the team made a regular pit stop under green for four sticker tires and fuel. It was a great stop, but then the 10th yellow flag of the event waved on lap 202 as Sorenson was pulling out of his pit stall. The bad-timing caution eventually put the team one lap down, but not for long. Another yellow flag waved just a little more than 20 laps later and gave the team the free pass to return to the lead lap.

”We had a lot of ups and downs and had to fight to get our lap back there when we pitted under green and got caught in the pits when the yellow came out,” Sorenson said. “Although we were trying to escape a lap deficit, it was nice to run out in front of the leader there.”

The No. 41 Dodge team went on to work its way back inside the top 20 and was back in business by lap 249. The team short pitted for gas only, coming down pit road in 22nd place. Then, as racing resumed on lap 254, the No. 41 was 19th on the infield scoring tower. From that point on, Sorenson and crew didn’t look back, even when they were dealt the final hurdle of their evening.

Crew chief Jimmy Elledge called his driver to pit road on lap 306

for a routine stop to take right-side tires and fuel. It was a great stop by the over-the-wall Target team, as Sorenson entered and left his pit stall in 19th place. However, just as the No. 41 car got back on track Elledge called to him over the radio to come back down pit road as soon as he got back around to the front stretch.

The team had discovered, after changing the right-side tires, a cut right-front tire. Sorenson followed orders and returned to the pits. The team went to work to figure out the culprit. The problem turned out to be a loose jack bolt that was causing the right-front fender to rub against the tire, slowly slicing it. Elledge took matters into his own hands as he asked some of the over-the-wall crew members to stay put and he went over the wall to make the necessary repairs. The good thing was the field remained under caution as the track workers continued to clean up. The extra yellow laps bought the Target team valuable time to remedy the situation. They did what needed to be done and as racing returned to green on lap 310 the No. 41 car was still a top-20 contender.

Less than 20 laps later, another yellow flag waved and the team made another stop for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment to deter the still-present tight handling and to make minor follow-up repairs from the loose jack bolt. Racing restarted for the 14th time on lap 320 with the No. 41 Dodge in 18th place.

On lap 340, Sorenson radioed his team to tell them, “The car feels better now than it has all night.” His spotter Lorin Ranier followed up saying, “The car definitely looks better than it has all night.”

Sorenson proceeded to move into 10th place by lap 368 and held his top-10 position the remainder of the event.

The top 10 was Sorenson’s second this year which tied his career-best finish so far in his young career as a NEXTEL Cup driver. His first top 10 was at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March.

Sunday night, Sorenson finished just one position short of grabbing rookie of the race honors, as fellow rookie Denny Hamlin finished just ahead of him in ninth place. Sorenson did

take a nice step up in the Raybestos Rookie ranks. He is now third with 105 points and just 27 points behind Hamlin who leads the rookie standings with 132 points.

Going into the 600, Sorenson and the No. 41 Target team were 24th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup championship standings, but now stand 20th after their impressive Sunday night performance.

Sorenson’s CGRFS NEXTEL Cup teammates Casey Mears and David Stremme finished 23rd and 31st respectively.

The Target team heads to Dover International Speedway this weekend to run in the Neighborhood Excellence 400. The race is scheduled to start at 2:10 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 4, and will broadcast live on FX (TV) and MRN (Radio).