Reed Sorenson drove a cautious race at Talladega Superspeedway, running near the rear of the field for much of the event to hopefully avoid the huge wrecks that are typical for restrictor-plate races. When it was time to go, however, Sorenson was able to stick his Target Dodge right in the mix and draft his way to the front. The Target team ran as high as fifth position in the race and was in the top 10 when racing got dicey with about 10 laps remaining. Sorenson dropped back to 14th, but was in line to pick up some positions in the closing few laps. Unfortunately, a late caution slowed the action and sent the 188-lap event into overtime. Running low on fuel, Sorenson was forced to pit for a splash of gas and returned to run the final laps in 29th. He was able to avoid a last-lap accident and finish the race in 25th.
In addition to running towards the rear, Sorenson also had to drift towards the back in order to get clean air on the nose of the Target Dodge. The No. 41 experienced overheating problems from the word go, and each time Sorenson would get into the middle of the pack the water temperature would rise rapidly. After pulling tape off the front grill during pit stops, the car eventually stayed cool when Sorenson really needed to get down to business. Other than that, the car handled well and ran flawlessly all day.
The Target team dropped two positions to 29th in the overall standings at the completion of the Aaron's 499 at Talladega. The team is only 50 points out of 25th and 115 out of the top 20.
There were eight cautions for a total of 28 laps. The Target team pitted five times, all under caution. The time of race was 3 hrs, 18 mins, 46 secs.
Sorenson and the No. 41 Target team head to Richmond International Raceway next for the Crown Royal Presents The Jim Stewart 400. The race will be broadcast Saturday, May 5, on FOX, MRN radio and Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 128 (LIVE, 7 pm ET).
Reed's Talladega Quotes: "Our finishing position is a little disappointing because the car was much better than that. This whole restrictor-plate deal is tough and you just have to be in the right line in the draft at the right time. We weren't able to race too much in the opening laps because the car got really hot, and I chose to ride towards the rear and not get into that mess too much until it was time to go. The car got right up there when I needed it to and we were in position to bring home a top 10 finish before that last caution. We were a little worried about making it on fuel for the green-white-checker finish, so we had to come in for a splash and give up all of our track position. We finished in one piece and now we'll head to Richmond and see what we can do there. We had a really good test there a few weeks ago, so I'm looking forward to next weekend."
