For the second week in a row, Reed Sorenson and the No. 32 Dollar General team scored a top-10 finish Saturday night in the U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway. Even though he ran in the top-15 for the majority of the 250-lap event, Sorenson struggled with a tight-handling race car. Once again, the Dollar General team stepped up to the challenge and continued to make adjustments on the car, never giving up the fight for a good finish. With the season well into the second half and every point counting towards the goal of a championship, Sorenson scored a sixth-place finish. He also ran away with the second Nationwide Series Dash 4 Cash award of $100,000. Sorenson remains in second-place in the battle for the championship, 12 points behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Sorenson qualified the No. 32 Dollar General car in the 16th spot for the second race at Iowa Speedway this season. Just after the drop of the green flag, Sorenson radioed back to the team that his car was tight in the middle of the corners. Fortunately, the caution came out on lap 24, allowing the team to make a wedge and air pressure adjustment along with changing four tires and adding fuel. Sorenson restarted 14th.
By the lap-99 caution, Sorenson had gained one position to 13th. He was still suffering from handling issues in the corners. Crew chief Trent Owens prescribed another round of changes, including a track bar adjustment and the addition of spring rubbers to the right rear spring. Sorenson restarted 11th. Over the next 50 laps, he flirted with breaking into the top-10 and a lap 152 caution allowed the team to make another set of changes to help their driver do just that. On the ensuing lap-184 restart, Sorenson restarted eighth and broke into the top-five on lap 179.
Owens called his driver to pit road one final time under a lap-184 caution for a quick wedge adjustment and splash of fuel. Unlike other competitors who came to pit road, Owens decided not to take tires with the hopes of gaining track position. Sorenson restarted in the third position, but in the closing laps he was unable to fend off those competitors who had taken tires. He went on to take the checkered flag in sixth. With his sixth-place finish, Sorenson was the highest finishing Dash 4 Cash driver and took home another $100,000 from Nationwide Insurance. He remains the only driver eligible for the $1 million prize at the conclusion of the season.
“I’m really proud of this Dollar General team and the ‘never give up’ attitude they displayed this weekend,” Sorenson said. “We had some handling issues here, but fortunately, we continued to fight and make adjustments and were able to have a solid day. Week in and week out, these Nationwide race finishes prove that you just have no idea what is going to happen at the end. We continue to put ourselves in a position for good finishes at the end, even though we may struggle to get there. It was awesome to be able to take home that Dash 4 Cash award again. I’m hopeful we can keep that streak alive in the next race at Richmond.”
Next Stop: The NASCAR Nationwide Series makes the trip to upstate New York and Watkins Glen International for the second road course race of the year. The Zippo 200 will be held next Saturday and will be broadcast live on ESPN and MRN affiliates at 2:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. respectively.
Reed Scores Another Top-10 and
Dash 4 Cash Award at Iowa
#32 Dollar General Chevrolet
