Pit Strategy Rewards Target Team with First Top-Five of the Season

Sorenson took the initial green flag in 25th and during the opening laps commented that the No. 41 Dodge was “pretty good.” That was a far cry from where the team started out the weekend and an indication they were going to be strong in the race.

The first strategy call by Elledge came during the second caution of the race on lap 10. Rather than pit, like many other teams, he elected to leave Sorenson on track vaulting the Target team to 14th on the leader board for the next restart on lap 17. Sorenson would eventually pit during the third caution on lap 22 for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment to free up the chassis in the corners.

The skies looked ominous and crew chief Jimmy Elledge took full advantage of the rain storm that was approaching Michigan International Speedway. The 3M Performance 400 had reached the halfway point, meaning the race would be official if the weather came and washed out the remainder of the day. While running in 11th, Reed Sorenson pitted the Target Dodge during the next to last caution for two tires only. The call to do so placed him in first position for the restart on lap 115. Sorenson went on to lead a couple of laps, but fell pray to a few competitors behind him with four fresh tires. Eventually the sky opened up, but about five minutes too late for the Target Team to capture their first victory. Still, they capitalized on the pit strategy call by bringing home their first top-five of the season and the first of Sorenson’s NEXTEL Cup career.

As the race pressed on, there were varying strategies that saw about half the field pitting during one caution and the other half pitting during the next. Everyone knew that storms would eventually cancel the day’s activities and they were all jockeying for position to be the first car when the rain came.

After a 25 lap run that began on lap 84, everyone was forced to pit when the seventh caution flag flew on lap 110. At that point Elledge made the call to take two tires, which would eventually be the right one. Sorenson held off some hard charging cars with four new tires, only dropping back to fifth before the final caution flag flew on lap 124. Eventually the red flag unfurled on lap 129, signaling the completion of the event.

“That was a great call by Jimmy (Elledge) and the guys to take two tires,” Sorenson said at the completion of the event. “I was a little worried, but Jimmy promised the rain was coming and it did. We had a really good car today and had we not made the strategy call for the rain, I definitely think we could’ve finished in the top 10.

“We made some big changes to the car prior to the race because we were horrible in practice. The car was pretty good from the start other than being a little tight at times. Today was a great effort by the entire team and hopefully this will quick start a string of solid finishes for us.”

The Target team jumped up four positions to 20th in the overall standing with their fifth-place effort. The team is 116 points out of 15th and 299 out of the top 10 heading into the next event at Infineon Raceway on June 25. Sorenson moved up to third in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings with a total of 136 points, and he now trails leader Denny Hamlin by 38 points.

Sorenson’s Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates teammates Casey Mears and David Stremme finished seventh and 19th respectively at Michgan.