Successfully avoiding two major wrecks that took place in his direct path, Reed Sorenson was on his way to grabbing a well-earned top-five finish at Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday before a cut tire forced him to make an unscheduled, green-flag pit stop on lap 230. The flat tire relegated the No. 41 Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit Dodge from eighth to 24th, but despite the setback Sorenson was able to work his way up to 16th place before the checkered flag waved.
The No. 41 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) Dodge lined up 24th to take the green for the Sharpie Mini 300. Just 60 laps into the 300-lap show, Sorenson was inside the top 15.
There were two close calls for the CGRFS Busch team on Saturday. The first of the two incidents occurred on lap 25 when the No. 23 car spun just a few positions ahead of Sorenson. Lorin Ranier, the team spotter, directed the 21-year-old racer to go high to avoid making contact with the wrecking car. Sorenson successfully navigated through the situation without incident. Less than 100 laps later, the No. 41 car came close to being collected in a multiple-car collision. Miraculously, Sorenson drove straight through the wreckage and escaped without any major damage.
All day, the handling on the No. 41 Wrigley’s Dodge seemed to be a little loose getting into the corners and too tight off. Despite the handling issues, Sorenson managed to maneuver his way inside the top 10 by the halfway point of the race. He began working on moving inside the top five from there, and was in eighth place on lap 224, when he told his team the car felt like it had a tire going down. After a few more laps, it was clear Sorenson was running one tire short so Crew Chief Brian Pattie called him to pit road for a green-flag pit stop on lap 230. The over-the-wall crew fitted the No. 41 with right-side tires and sent the driver back on the track. The team looked over the pair that was pulled from the car and discovered a piece of debris had punctured the right rear.
Sorenson was now two laps down in 24th place, but raced his way up to 16th to finish inside the top 20. Sorenson’s teammate Juan Pablo Montoya finished 14th.
The No. 41 CGRFS team is now 31st in the overall Busch Series owner standings, with a current tally of 498 points. The team is just 32 points away from the top 25 and 92 points outside the top 15.
The Wrigley’s team will take next weekend off, and will then head to Nashville Superspeedway to run the Pepsi 300 on Saturday, April 7, with David Stremme behind the wheel of the No. 41 Wrigley’s Winterfresh® Dodge. The race will be broadcast on ESPN2 (LIVE, 3 pm ET).
Reed's Quotes:
“Compared to what we have gone through over the last few weeks, this was a good run for the Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit team today. We definitely had a top-five car, but we’ll take a clean car and 16th-place finish. Although the flat wasn’t great luck, we stayed on track and salvaged what we could there in the end to come out of here ok. Hopefully, the crazy luck we experienced this month is behind us now.”
