On a very warm afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Reed Sorenson and the No. 32 Dollar General team turned in a solid performance and scored a fifth-place finish in the Top Gear 300. After three weeks of qualifying rain-outs, Sorenson qualified his Dollar General Chevy in the sixth position, making it the fourth week in a row he has started in the top-10. After struggling a bit with the handling of his car initially, solid pit strategy and adjustments put Sorenson in a position to collect his third consecutive top-five. While he dropped one spot in the driver point standings, he gained five points on the leader and is only two points out of the top spot. The finish was also Sorenson’s seventh top-10 finish in the past eight races.
At the drop of the green flag, Sorenson fell back slightly from his sixth-place starting position as he was struggling to find rear grip and dealing with a loose-handling race car. By the third caution on lap 72, Sorenson had been able to move into the ninth spot and came down pit road for adjustments. Crew chief Trent Owens called for a track bar and air pressure adjustment along with four fresh tires and fuel. Sorenson rejoined the field in the 11th spot, as there was differing pit strategy among competitors.
Just before the half-way point of the 200-lap race, Sorenson had moved into the top-10, where he remained through the Dollar General team’s green-flag pit stop on lap 135. Sorenson brought the his Chevy down pit road for four tires and fuel along with the addition of some grill tape. The team packed the fuel cell full of gas, hoping they would be able to make it to the end of the race without another stop. When the pit stops had cycled through, Sorenson was scored in the 12th position.
The caution flag was shown one final time on lap 147 and Owens made a last-,minute decision to bring his driver down pit road for a quick top-off of fuel. The veteran crew chief did not want to use the team’s last set of sticker tires in case there was a late-race caution. After the quick splash of fuel, Sorenson rejoined the field in sixth position. As a few competitors decided to take tires, Sorenson fell back to seventh-place on lap 157. Owens decision proved to be a good one however, as drivers began running out of fuel with 10 laps to go. On lap 198, Sorenson moved into the fifth spot, where he remained until taking the checkered flag.
“We had a top-10 Dollar General car for sure today,” Sorenson said after the race. “It just seemed that as we would make our car better, everyone else did too. Trent [Owens, crew chief] definitely made the right call for me to come back down pit road there for a splash of fuel so that we were in a position to get another top-five. We are unloading fast cars every weekend and that is so encouraging to me. I know we are going to get to victory lane here one of these weekends which is exciting to think about. We will continue to ride this momentum into Chicago next weekend.”
Next Stop: The NASCAR Nationwide Series heads back to the Midwest and Chicagoland Speedway for a Saturday night race on June 4. The STP 300 will be broadcast LIVE on ESPN (8:00 p.m.) and MRN Radio affiliates (7:45 p.m.).
Sorenson Earns Third Consecutive
Top-Five at Charlotte
#32 Dollar General Chevrolet
