The No. 32 Dollar General team worked hard during all four practice sessions made available to them during their time at Texas Motor Speedway, preparing for qualifying and then the race Friday evening. Under very warm conditions Friday afternoon, Reed Sorenson qualified a solid 12th for the 15th Annual O’Reilly Auto Parts 300. After spending the majority of the 200-lap event in the top-15, Sorenson and the team finished seventh for the driver’s third top-10 finish of the season. Sorenson also gained a spot in the Nationwide Series driver’s standings and is tied for fourth with Elliott Sadler.
The field took the green flag under very warm conditions, and it wasn’t long before Sorenson radioed to his crew that his car was extremely loose. While he moved toward the front initially, he settled in to the 13th spot right before the field began green-flag pit stops. Sorenson brought the No. 32 Dollar General Chevy down pit road for service on lap 50, where the team made an air pressure adjustment and added two spring rubbers into the left rear in addition to changing four tires and adding fuel. After the stops cycled through, Sorenson was scored in the 13th position.
The caution was shown to the field for the first time on lap 68. Crew chief Trent Owens called his driver down pit road for another set of adjustments. The Dollar General team made fast work of the stop, gaining Sorenson two spots on pit road to restart 11th on lap 73. The caution came out a short time later on lap 87 with Sorenson in ninth. While some competitors chose to come down pit road, Sorenson remained on track, choosing to save a set of tires for later in the race. He restarted in sixth on lap 93.
Sorenson spent the first part of the run fending off competitors who had taken tires, and had settled into the ninth spot when the final caution came out on lap 123. After another round of slight adjustments, Sorenson took the green in the 10th spot on lap 128. He charged to the front from the drop of the green flag and had moved up to the sixth spot by lap 167. Unfortunately, the teams had to make one more stop for fuel before the conclusion of the race and Sorenson brought the Dollar General machine down pit road on lap 177 for a final green-flag stop. The team changed four tires and added one can of fuel. Because the field had stretched out under the long green-flag run, Sorenson rejoined the field in seventh and wasn’t able to gain another spot before the checkers fell.
“This finish is evident of the hard work this team put in down here over the past few days. We struggled a bit in the first practice sessions, but the guys continued to work and make this car better. We had a solid qualifying effort today and a good race. We started out the night a little loose, but Trent and the guys were able to make a few changes throughout the race to make that better. It was a good day for this Dollar General team and I’m glad we could start to build some momentum heading into these next few races.”
Next Stop: The NASCAR Nationwide Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway for a Saturday afternoon race on April 16th. The Aaron’s 312 will be broadcast LIVE on ESPN2 and on MRN Radio affiliates. LIVE coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. EST
Reed Bags a Top 10 at Texas
#32 Dollar General Chevrolet
