Late Caution Affords Target Team Top 15 At Phoenix

Reed Sorenson had a solid top 20 car in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR), and a late race caution with 29 laps remaining helped the Target Team secure a top 15 finish. During the final round of green flag stops, crew chief Jimmy Elledge elected to stay out as long as possible before bringing Sorenson

down pit road. The decision to do so gained them positions and kept them on the lead lap when the caution flag flew. Many other competitors that were running in front of Sorenson were caught a lap down because they had stopped prior to the green. The caution was a welcomed piece of luck that the Target Team hasn't had much of this season.

Sorenson lacked total rear-end grip throughout the practice sessions leading up to the race and the same held true once the green flag flew for the 312-lap event. Still, he was able to race up from his 27th-place starting position to 21st during the first 100 laps. Sorenson would go on to hover around the top 20 for a majority of the race, stopping multiple times for adjustments to help the handling problems. Elledge called for a plethora of changes including air pressure, track bar and wedge adjustments. The handling did improve throughout the event, but not enough for Sorenson to really get after it. He commented that when he wanted to get aggressive with the throttle the car would step out from under him. Considering what

the team was faced with in the handling department, the 15th-place finish was a small victory.

The Target team moved up two positions to 27th in the overall standings at the completion of the PIR event. The team is only 34 points out of 25th and 94 out of 20th.

There were six cautions for a total of 34 laps. The Target team pitted five times, all under caution. The time of race was 2 hrs, 53 mins, 48 secs.

Sorenson and the No. 41 Target team head to Talladega Superspeedway next for the Aaron's 499. The 188-lap event will be broadcast Sunday, April 29, on FOX, MRN radio and Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 128 (LIVE, 1:30 pm ET).

REED SORENSON: "It was a good day for us. We struggled with grip problems all weekend and we definitely have some work to do on our Car of Tomorrow program, but overall I'm very pleased with our results today. We needed a solid finish to help us out in the points. Jimmy (Elledge) made a great call to stay out as long as we could during that final round of green flag stops and it paid off. The guys did a great job today on pit road. We had some important guest from Target here today and it was nice to have a good run for them."