For the second weekend in a row, the Nationwide Series race thrilled fans with a wild finish in the final restrictor-plate race of the season at Daytona International Speedway. Reed Sorenson and the Dollar General team came away with a third-place finish after working with Turner Motorsports teammate Jason Leffler in the closing laps of the race. After taking the white flag from the 10th position, Sorenson got behind Leffler and never looked back, as the two locked bumpers to make the final circuit around the 2.5-mile track while maneuvering through a great deal of traffic. With numerous cars wrecking behind them, Sorenson, Leffler and race winner Joey Logano crossed the finish line almost simultaneously, only .04-seconds apart. With the third-place finish, Sorenson earned the Nationwide Series Dash 4 Cash bonus award of $100,000 and became eligible for the second Dash 4 Cash race at Iowa Speedway in August. The finish also extended Sorenson’s series point lead to nine over second-place and the Dollar General team remains first in the owner point standings.
Under very warm temperatures on Friday afternoon, Sorenson qualified his Dollar General machine ninth for the Subway Jalapeno 250. Following the drop of the green flag, Sorenson quickly found teammate Justin Allgaier and the pair worked together trough the second caution of the evening on lap 34. After the lap-38 restart, Sorenson found his other Turner Motorsports teammate, and he and Leffler quickly moved their way to the front, allowing Sorenson to lead one lap. The caution came out on lap 43 and crew chief Trent Owens called his driver to pit road for two left-side tires and fuel. He took the ensuing lap-48 restart in the 11th position.
During the next run, Sorenson unfortunately couldn’t get hooked up with one of his teammates and fell back in the pack slightly. He was able to latch on to the No. 19 car of Mike Bliss to try and keep pace with the lead pack of cars. Fortunately, the caution came out on lap 79 allowing the Dollar General team to come to pit road one final time for fresh tires and fuel. Sorenson rejoined the field in the 22nd position, but immediately found Leffler after the restart on lap 84. Sorenson had moved up to the 16th position when the final caution flag of the night came out on lap 90. Leffler and Sorenson quickly formulated a plan over their team radio and were ready for the final seven-lap shootout.
With the assistance of spotter Tony Hirschman, the No 32/38 tandem rocketed towards the front and only needed the white-flag lap to make up the seven positions and work their way to the front of the pack. As a large portion of the field was wrecking behind them, Sorenson and Leffler crossed the finish line third and second, respectively.
“What a wild, wild finish tonight. I can’t thank my teammate Jason [Leffler] enough for his help today. Without it, we could have never gotten the finish we did. We just both decided we were going to hook up there in those final laps and head to the front. I had a ton of fun there and we were so close to getting that win. It just shows how strong this team is and the potential we continue to have for success. It was great too for this Dollar General team to win that Dash 4 Cash bonus- it’s awesome that Nationwide Insurance puts that up there to encourage us Nationwide Series-only guys. I know we are all pumped up as a team and ready to head to Kentucky next week and keep the momentum going!”
Next Stop: The NASCAR Nationwide Series heads to Kentucky Speedway for the first and only time this season for the Feed the Children 300 on July 8. Mark Martin will return to the No. 32 Dollar General car for the final time in 2011 and Reed Sorenson will be back in the No. 30 Rexall Chevrolet. The second consecutive Friday night race will air on ESPN beginning at 7:30 p.m. EST with coverage on PRN affiliates to start at 7:00 p.m.
Reed Sorenson Takes Nationwide Series
Bonus After Third-Place Run
#32 Dollar General Chevrolet
