Reed Sorenson and the Target team got off sequence after pitting during the third caution on lap 149 while most of the other teams on the lead lap remained on the track. Sorenson had raced his way up to 10th-place in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway through a couple of yellow flag stops and a round of green flag stops, but he and crew chief Jimmy Elledge elected to relinquish the track position in order to work on the chassis that had developed a pretty severe tight condition in the corners. As a result the team fell back to 16th, but they quickly regained the track position and then some when the rest of the competitors chose to pit during the next caution on lap 164.
Sorenson took the green flag on lap 168 in third and the only thing on his mind was challenging for the lead. He quickly made a move to the inside of the second-place running car, but as he was entering the corner the rear-end of the car got out from under him. Sorenson spun out but did an excellent job keeping the car off of the wall. Once he righted the Target Dodge he entered pit road for new tires and some adjustments.
The Target Dodge returned to competition running in 22nd and still on the lead lap. Sorenson continued to battle a tight handling condition in the corners, but he put up a good fight during the final 100 laps of the race. Sorenson did lead nine laps during the final round of green flag stops and once he pitted cycled out in 18th. He went on to take the checkered flag in 14th.
Sorenson and the Target team moved up to 23rd in the overall driver point standings. The team is 160 points out of 20th with nine races remaining in the 2007 season.
There were seven caution flags for a total of 27 laps, the average speed was 110.475 mph and the time of race was 2 hrs, 52 mins and 23 secs.
The NEXTEL Cup Series heads to Dover International Speedway next
for the 28th of 36 races on the 2007 schedule. The Dover 400 is set
to go green at 1:30 p.m. ET and will air on ABC, MRN and Sirius
Satellite Radio channel 128.
CGRFS Driver Quoteboard
REED SORENSON: “The car was pretty good early in the race but it
got pretty tight about midway through the race. We kept working
on it during pit stops and we got it better. Overall it was a good
race and we were very competitive today. I hate that I spun out
because that killed all of the track position we had gained. I had a
lot of brake turned toward the rear and I got on them pretty hard
trying to get under Casey (Mears). The back end just came around
on me. I feel really bad because we were better than a 14th-place
car, but it’s so hard to pass here. Still, we got a very solid finish out
of it and I’m really happy with the improvements we’re making with
the Car of Tomorrow.”
