The No. 41 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) team dominated a good portion of the 250-mile race. The car unloaded strong off the truck Friday evening, spending both the first and final NBS practice sessions inside the top 10. Sorenson and team topped off their impressive pre-race preparations with an outside pole position during the late afternoon qualifying session Saturday.
In the early running of the 200-lap competition, Sorenson radioed crew chief Brad Parrott to tell him his car was a little too tight getting into the corners of the 1.25-mile speedway and lacking front grip. Still, Sorenson managed to overtake the lead on lap 54 and maintained the top position until the team pitted under green on lap 64 for air pressure adjustments, four tires and fuel. Then, as the rest of the field completed the green-flag-pit-stop cycle, the No. 41 returned to the front of the pack on lap 75.
Sorenson proceeded to lead a total of 43 laps until a nudge from the No. 60 car, driven by Carl Edwards, relegated him back to fourth. Sorenson did a good job keeping his car on the track after the contact and the 21-year-old racer stayed focused. Then, just as the field was embarking on the last quarter of the race, Sorenson regained the lead on lap 159 and never looked back, dominating the final 42 laps to bring home the second CGRFS NBS victory of the 2007 season and the Juicy Fruit team’s first of the year. Sorenson’s teammate Kevin Hamlin had a strong run, as well, bringing home his No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge in seventh place.
The win marked Sorenson’s third career NASCAR victory, and
second at Gateway. In fact, his last win was at the Madison, Ill.,
race track in July 2005, which he started from the outside pole
and led a total of 60 laps en route to victory.
The win also marks the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company’s debut in
victory lane as a primary sponsor. This 2007 season is the
company’s first year in NASCAR. The race win couldn’t have
come at a better time for Sorenson as it was his last scheduled
run in the bright yellow Dodge this season, which couldn’t have
concluded any sweeter.
The No. 41 team took six steps forward in the NBS owner
standings, where Parrott and crew are now listed in 15th place.
The CGRFS team is just 93 points outside the top 10.
CGRFS development driver Scott Lagasse Jr. will return behind
the wheel of the Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit Dodge next weekend for
the second time this season to race at the O’Reilly Raceway Park
(ORP) Saturday, July 28, in the Kroger 200. The race will
broadcast on ESPN2 (LIVE, 7:30 p.m. ET).
CGRFS Driver Quoteboard:
REED SORENSON: “We knew we had a good car in practice
but we didn’t think it was this good. We dominated all night. It was as good as when we won here earlier. This just feels great to be back in victory lane again and to get a win for this Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit team this season. It’s been a long couple of years in the Busch Series. We felt last year we let ourselves down and this year we've been letting ourselves down. But the last few weekends we've been pretty consistent. This feels right and it feels really good.''
