Darlington Raceway, “the track too tough to tame,” took a bite out of the No. 41 Target team’s run Sunday as a blown right-front tire sent Reed Sorenson’s red and white Dodge smacking against the outside wall on lap 115 of the 367-lap race. The team went behind the wall to make the necessary repairs to get Sorenson back on track just as the rest of the field was approaching the halfway point of the competition. Although the incident sent them into an unrecoverable lap deficit, the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) team didn’t give up and managed to pick up a few spots to finish 40th at the end of the day.
Rain delayed the running of the Dodge Avenger 500 Saturday night and forced NASCAR to postpone the race until Sunday. Luckily, the wet weather did clear out of the Darlington, S.C., area on Mother’s Day to get in the 500-mile contest.
Sorenson and the Target team lined up 16th to take the green flag and proceeded to maintain their starting position the entire first quarter of their run. The No. 41 Dodge was handling a bit too tight in Turns 1 and 2, so crew chief Jimmy Elledge called for air pressure adjustments on pit road to try to loosen up the stubborn car. Sure enough, around lap 74, Sorenson started gaining ground on his fellow competitors.
Then, on lap 115 the team’s day literally came to a screeching halt as the No. 41 Dodge hit and slid down the outside wall. Sorenson retreated to the garage and the team went to work, repairing the entire right-side of the race car. Just a little less than 60 laps later the Target Dodge was back on track to finish the race.
The Target team now stands 29th in the overall NEXTEL Cup Series ranks. The team sits 75 points out of 25th and 175 out of the top 20.
Sorenson and the No. 41 Target team head to Lowe’s Motor Speedway next for the NASCAR NEXTEL Open, which is the qualifying event for the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge. The non-points paying race will be broadcast Saturday, May 19, on SPEED, MRN radio and Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 128 (LIVE, 7 pm ET).
REED SORENSON: “I must have had a tire go down. The guys did a good job getting us back on track and we learned some more about the CoT here today. We made the best of what was dealt to us and we’ll just put this behind us and look to the next two weeks of racing at home. We had a good test session at Lowe’s last week so I’m really just looking forward to that and putting today behind us.”
