After an emotional weekend in his home state, Reed Sorenson and his Dollar General team had their chances at a top-10 finish terminated after a late-race accident in the Great Clips 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday night. The team had high hopes for a solid points night after two great practice sessions and a top-15 qualifying effort earlier in the day. After racing in the top-15 for the entire evening, those hopes were turned to frustration after contact and a subsequent accident on lap 169 of the 195-lap event. Sorenson finished 32nd, but maintained his third-place spot in the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship point standings, 40 points out of the lead.
After the drop of the green flag, Sorenson was very focused on the task at hand, saying very little as he moved up to the seventh spot by the first caution period of the evening on lap 41. Prior to coming down pit road, he radioed to the crew that he liked the handling of his Dollar General Chevy and wanted only tires and fuel. The team maintained their position with the stop and Sorenson restarted seventh on lap 46. The Georgia native remained in the top 10 through the second caution flag on lap 68. He was a little more descriptive of his car to crew chief Trent Owens, saying the car was a little tight early in a run, but the handling would free up as the run progressed. Owens called for a slight air pressure adjustment along with four fresh tires and fuel. The Dollar General team made quick work of the stop and gained Sorenson two spots on pit road to restart sixth on lap 73.
The field then spread out quickly as a long, green-flag run ensued. Sorenson explained that the Dollar General machine was handling tighter than before and Owens instructed the crew to make another air pressure adjustment on their green-flag stop on lap 123. When the field had cycled through the stops, Sorenson was scored in the 12th position. The caution flag waved on lap 133, with Sorenson in the 11th position. As the crew chief and driver discussed their options, Owens instructed Sorenson to bring the car down pit road to top off with fuel, as there were only 12 cars on the lead lap.
Unfortunately, the caution flag was shown to the field on lap 163 as the team was hoping the race would stay under green-flag conditions to the conclusion. Sorenson brought his Chevy down pit road one final time for an adjustment, his last set of tires and fuel. He took the ensuing restart in the 10th position. As the laps waned, the competition did anything but as two- and three-wide racing became popular around the 1.54-mile speedway. Caught in a tight pack of cars racing in the top 10, Sorenson was hit from behind which sent him into another competitor and then outside wall, ending the team’s evening just 26 laps from the conclusion of the race.
“Watching my guys try to get this car back out on track from the garage was not how we had hoped the evening would end,” Sorenson said. “This team works so hard, every single weekend and we felt like we had gotten into a bit of a stride here, especially this weekend. We had some great practices and the car was set up really well for this track. We all had hopes of gaining some spots in the standings. Now we must rally around each other and try to regroup as we head to Richmond next weekend. If there’s anyone that can do it, it’s this Dollar General team.”
Next Stop: The NASCAR Nationwide Series heads to Richmond International Raceway for the second of two races this season. The Virginia 529 College Savings 250 will be held Friday, September 9th at 7:30 p.m. and broadcast live on ESPN2 and MRN affiliates at 7:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. respectively.
Late Race Wreck Ends Solid Night for Reed
#32 Dollar General Chevrolet
