Reed Sorenson climbed into the Dollar General Toyota on Saturday night with one
thing on his mind, winning the famed Sam Bass-designed Gibson guitar trophy that
had escaped him on the Nationwide Series’ April visit to Nashville Super Speedway.
A former winner at the 1.25-mile track, he was confident that they could do just that.
As the sun set, Sorenson found himself wrestling with a loose-handling machine for
much of the night. Despite the added challenge, he drove the Dollar General car to
a seventh-place finish and the No. 32 team’s 12th top-10 of the season!
As the sun began to drop in the evening sky over Lebanon, Tennessee, Sorenson
strapped into the No. 32 Toyota and prepared for 225 laps of racing at his sponsor
Dollar General’s “home track.” Headquartered in nearby Goodlettsville, Tenn., there
were nearly 200 Dollar General employees and guests present to cheer on the No.
32 team. Starting the night from the 11th position, he had already climbed into the
top-10 when the first caution of the evening occurred on lap three. Slowing his car under the yellow flag, Sorenson took the opportunity to report on the car’s handling to crew chief, Trent Owens.
“We started out a little free, but I think we’ll be good from here,” he said.
Sorenson lined the No. 32 in the 10th position for the restart on lap eight. Sorenson quickly gained a position, taking over the ninth spot on lap nine. He set his focus on the cars ahead of him and told Owens that he was struggling with a lack of rear grip. He worked his way past the No. 27 car for the eighth position and found himself on the rear bumper of the No. 98, chasing him down for seventh.
As they circled the track, weaving through lapped traffic, Sorenson held strong to the eighth position, determined to wear the No. 98 down and move forward. He told Owens that he was struggling with the car’s handling.
“What do you need help with?” Owens asked.
Sorenson replied, “More side bite in turns one and two and more front grip in turns three and four.”
On lap 46, he made the pass on for the seventh position and only five laps later, on lap 51, he used a lap-down car as a pick to pass the No. 99 for the sixth spot. As teams began to make green-flag pit stops, the No. 32 moved into the fourth position. The Dollar General team was beginning to prepare for their green-flag stop on lap 65 when the second caution of the night on lap 62 occurred. On lap 63, Owens called his driver to pit road for service. The crew quickly changed four tires with an air pressure adjustment, went one round down on the track bar and packed the Camry with fuel. Their fast stop gained Sorenson two positions on pit road and he lined the Dollar General Toyota up in the second spot for the restart on lap 68.
The leader chose to restart from the inside line, putting the No. 32 on the outside of row one. As green-flag racing resumed, Sorenson pulled down behind the No. 60 car. The No. 98 had a run on the inside of the Dollar General Toyota and made the pass on the next lap.
“I still need more grip,” Sorenson reported.
“10-4,” replied Owens. “I’m working on another game plan.”
NASCAR displayed the yellow flag on lap 84 for oil on the race track. Running in the third position, Sorenson brought the Dollar General Toyota to pit road. Owens instructed the crew to change four tires, make wedge and air pressure adjustments and add fuel. The four-tire call cost the No. 32 track position as some teams elected to take only two tires. He reassured his driver that the four tires would work to their advantage.
Sorenson restarted from the eighth spot, and quickly moved the Dollar General car forward. On lap 92, he dove low into turns three and four taking the seventh spot. It wasn’t long before he caught the No. 33 car and made the pass for sixth.
“The last two laps you’ve been as fast as the leader,” Owens encouraged his driver.
An accident on the frontstretch brought out the fourth caution of the night on lap 107. Sorenson reported that the adjustments had helped the car’s handling. Owens called his driver to pit road for a fuel-only stop. The gamble put the Dollar General Toyota in the first position for the restart on lap 113.
Sorenson exclaimed, “Whoa, we are loose!” Apparently he was not the only driver that was trying to hold onto a loose-handling car. On lap 118, the No. 27 spun suddenly in turn two.
“I wonder if it has something to do with the nose weight,” he speculated with Owens. “When we put gas into the car, I am just really loose.”
Green-flag racing resumed on lap 123 with the Dollar General Toyota running up front. After leading for a total of 15 laps, Sorenson forfeited the lead on lap 126 and slid back to the fifth spot. On lap 127, an accident in turn three brought out another caution. As the field slowed, he reported on the car’s handling to Owens.
“I’m doing everything I can to hang on,” he said. “I can’t arch it in at all because it feels like it over rotates. When the (No.) 22 got near me it was everything I could do to keep it from spinning out. It just wanted to snap loose.”
“It responded well to the wedge adjustment,” replied Owens. “We’ll go lower on the track bar the next time we get you in here. You’re doing a good job; just hold onto it as best you can. We’re going to stay out this time.”
On lap 134, the race restarted with the No. 32 Dollar General Toyota in the fifth position. He quickly drove up to the third spot and then settled into the fourth position. The seventh yellow flag of the night was displayed on lap 166 for debris on the race track.
Owens called Sorenson to pit road for service and adjustments. The Dollar General team quickly changed four tires, made an air pressure adjustment, packed a spring rubber into the left rear spring and packed the car with fuel. “Get it full,” Owens told his crew. “This will get us to the end of the race if we need it to.”
Sorenson lined the No. 32 Camry up in the seventh position for the restart on lap 171. He quickly drove three-wide and moved into the fifth spot. Despite reporting that he was continuing to experience a loose-handling condition in the rear of the car, he moved up to the fourth position on lap 184.
On lap 197, the final caution of the night was brought out by oil on the race track. Owens made the call for a two-tire pit stop on lap 198. As the No. 32 car came down pit road, he instructed the crew to change the right-side tires and not to add fuel. With some teams choosing to remain on the track, the Dollar General Toyota would be placed in the ninth spot for the restart on lap 203.
Sorenson quickly advanced the No. 32 up to the seventh position. Unable to gain additional ground in the final laps, the Dollar General team brought home their 12th top-10 of the season with the seventh-place finish. The No. 32 team remains in the fifth position in the Nationwide Series Owner’s Championship point standings.
“We were really excited to come back to Nashville with this being the headquarters for Dollar General and having so many great guests here tonight,” said Sorenson. “We had such a great race here in April that we were really looking forward to coming back. Unfortunately, we battled a loose condition most of the night and couldn’t get there in the end. The guys worked hard and had some good pit stops throughout the race. We will head to Kentucky next week with lessons we will take from tonight and see if we can’t improve our finishing position.”
Next Stop: The NASCAR Nationwide Series teams will head to Kentucky Speedway next weekend for the Meijer 300. Qualifying will be aired LIVE on ESPN on Saturday, June 12th at 4:00 p.m. EST. LIVE coverage for the Saturday night race begins at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN and on MRN Radio affiliates. The green flag is scheduled to drop at 8:00 p.m.
Sorenson Ends Up Seventh at Nashville
#32 Dollar General Toyota Nationwdie Recap
Reed took home a good finish at Nashville. (CIA Stock Photo)
