Reed Sorenson and the No. 32 Dollar General team fought hard for a ninth-place finish Saturday night in the 30th running of the Kroger 200 at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis. A tight-handling condition, that even puzzled crew chief Trent Owens, plagued the group through both practices and the race. The team showed their mettle though, making adjustment after adjustment during the 204-lap event, trying to help their driver. After a series of late-race cautions and help from spotter Tony Hirschman, Sorenson maneuvered through the obstacles, bringing the Dollar General Chevy home in the ninth spot. He is now second in the point standings, just three points behind leader Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Sorenson and team first experienced a tight-handling race car in the first practice session and continued to work on it through the second session. Sorenson qualified the Dollar General Chevy in the 16th position and unfortunately, began to fall back at the start of the race. By the first caution on lap 48, Sorenson had fallen off the lead lap, but fortunately as the first to do so, was awarded the lucky dog and returned to the lead lap. Owens called his driver to pit road for a bevy of adjustments along with four fresh tires and fuel. Sorenson took the restart in the 19th position on lap 53.
Unfortunately, the adjustments did little to help the handling on the Dollar General machine. Always a fighter, Sorenson never gave up and did his best to take position from those also struggling. While running in the 14th spot, Sorenson dove toward the inside retaining wall on lap 175 to avoid a three car incident that brought out the red flag for nearly 15 minutes. When the yellow was shown again, he brought the No. 32 Chevy down pit road for another round of changes including a wedge, track bar and air pressure adjustment. He restarted in the 13th position on lap 185.
The final caution flag waved on lap 198, setting up the first and only attempt needed at a green-white-checkered finish. Sorenson took the lap-202 restart in the 11th spot. As the field came around to take the final lap, the No. 11 spun on the front stretch, but the leaders had already taken the white flag. Sorenson fought hard on that final lap and picked up two more spots to finish ninth, his 14th top-10 finish of the season.
“We had such a tight car this weekend,” Sorenson said after the race. “My guys tried just about everything they could to free me up and they worked hard to make a ton of changes on pit road tonight. I know we are going to take the car back to the shop and really try and figure it out. I have every faith in this Dollar General team that we can do that. I’m really excited to get to Iowa next week and I think it’s a place we could get to victory lane and get the points lead back for sure.”
Next Stop: The NASCAR Nationwide Series returns to Iowa Speedway next weekend for the second race of two this season. The U.S. Cellular 250 will be held next Saturday night under the lights with the broadcast live on ESPN2 and MRN affiliates at 7:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. respectively. Sorenson will also get his second shot at bringing home the Nationwide Series Dash 4 Cash award of $100,000.
Reed Sorenson Take Top 10 in Lucas Oil Finale
#32 Dollar General Chevrolet
