Reed Sorenson and the No. 32 Dollar General team put on a command performance at Iowa Speedway in the John Deere Dealers 250 and notched their second consecutive top-five finish on Sunday afternoon. After qualifying was rained out for the third week in a row, Sorenson started from the fifth position and spent almost the entire afternoon running in the top-five, even leading 77 laps, the most of any driver throughout the 250-lap event. With his fourth-place finish, Sorenson gained three points on the Nationwide Series driver point standings lead and continues to occupy the second position, seven points away from the top spot.
It did not take Sorenson long to show the standing-room-only crowd at Iowa Speedway that he had a fast Dollar General machine. Just five laps before the competition caution at lap 50, Sorenson had taken over the second spot. Quiet on the airwaves for the first part of the race, Sorenson came over the radio saying he needed a little more rear grip and crew chief Trent Owens called for a slight track-bar and air pressure adjustment along with four fresh tires and fuel from the Dollar General team. As he took the ensuing lap-56 restart in second, Sorenson only needed to reach turn one before he took over the lead, where he remained through the next caution on lap 109.
While the previous adjustment helped him, Sorenson explained he was a little tight off of the corners during a long, green-flag run. He brought the Dollar General Chevy down pit road for service and remained out front for the restart on lap 115. Sorenson survived two more quick caution periods and held on to the top spot while remaining on track. Unfortunately, after the lap-135 restart, he began to slowly slip backward through the field. By the time the team made their green-flag pit stop on lap 206, Sorenson was holding on to the sixth position. He came down pit road for four tires, two cans of fuel and an air pressure adjustment. As he rejoined the field, Owens radioed to his driver that the team had discovered a slow leak in the right-front tire which explained why the handling on the Dollar General car had changed as well as their loss of track position.
The caution flag was shown to the field one final time on lap 218 and Sorenson had moved back into ninth place after the green-flag stops had cycled through. The Dollar General team opted to take the wave around to get back on the lead lap, as five cars remained on track during green-flag stops. Determined to prove he had a fast car, Sorenson took off toward the leaders on the lap-228 restart. It took only three laps to reach the sixth spot, and three more to reach fifth. With 15 laps remaining, Sorenson took over the fourth position, where he remained until the drop of the checkered flag.
“For the second week in a row, we had a car capable of winning the race,” Sorenson said after the race. “On one hand it is really frustrating that we had that slow leak in our tire during the long run there in the middle of the race, but at the same time it is really encouraging to know we are so close to getting Dollar General and Turner Motorsports back to victory lane. We had such a fast car here today. It was a good points day for sure though and we’ll continue to ride the wave of momentum to Charlotte next weekend.”
Next Stop: The NASCAR Nationwide Series heads home to Charlotte Motor Speedway for a Saturday afternoon race on May 28. The Top Gear 300 will be broadcast LIVE on ABC (2:30 p.m.) and PRN Radio affiliates (2:00 p.m.).
Sorenson Leads Most Laps En Route to
Second Consecutive Top Five
#32 Dollar General Chevrolet
