Reed Sorenson

Reed Sorenson

Sorenson in 2015
Born February 5, 1986
Peachtree City, Georgia, USA
Awards 2003 ASA National Tour Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
227 races run over 11 years
Car no., team No. 44 (Team XTREME Racing)
No. 29 (RAB Racing)
No. 34 (Front Row Motorsports)
2014 position 34th
Best finish 22nd (2007)
First race 2005 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 (Atlanta)
Last race 2015 Toyota Owners 400 (Richmond)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 15 1
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
199 races run over 10 years
2013 position 18th
Best finish 4th (2005)
First race 2004 Kroger 200 (IRP)
Last race 2013 Dollar General 300 (Charlotte)
First win 2005 Pepsi 300 (Nashville)
Last win 2011 Bucyrus 200 (Road America)
Wins Top tens Poles
4 86 2
Statistics current as of April 26, 2015.

Bradley Reed Sorenson (born February 5, 1986, in Peachtree City, Georgia) is an American stock car racing driver. He competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet SS for Team XTREME Racing and the No. 29 Toyota Camry for RAB Racing.

Early career

Sorenson's career started at age six when he began racing quarter-midgets. He won the national championship in 1997. He moved up to Legends cars the following year, winning 13 out of 25 races, southeastern championships and breaking track records in the process. In 1999 he won 30 out of the 50 races in which he competed. He raced in Legends for the next two years and won 84 events.

In 2002, Sorenson began racing in the American Speed Association (ASA), finishing in the top-ten seven out of his eight starts. He became a full-time driver in 2003 and won the highly coveted ASA Pat Schauer Memorial Rookies of the Year award at age 17. He caught his big break by signing a driver development contract with Chip Ganassi Racing.

NASCAR

In 2004, he won his first ARCA race at Michigan International Speedway, in the #77 Sherwin Williams Dodge. He finished in the top-five in all three of his ARCA starts Sorenson also ran in 5 NASCAR Busch Series events for Chip Ganassi Racing, and had 3 top ten finishes, and a top 5, which was a 4th place finish at Homestead.

2005

Sorenson was named the full-time driver of the #41 Discount Tire Company Dodge Intrepid for Ganassi for 2005 NASCAR Busch Series, competing for Rookie of the Year. He won his first Busch Series race at Nashville Superspeedway, winning by more than 14 seconds after starting on the pole and leading 197 out of 225 laps. After the 15th race (Federated Auto Parts 300) he was leading the points race by 51 points. Sorenson picked up another win at Gateway. He ended the season 4th in points and finished 2nd in the Rookie of the Year race to Carl Edwards.

Towards the end of the season, he was signed to move up to NEXTEL Cup to drive the #41 Target car full-time. He made his NEXTEL Cup debut in the 2005 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, racing as #39, but was involved in a crash and finished 41st. After a failed attempt to qualify for the Dickies 500, he ran in the Ford 400 for Phoenix Racing, where he finished the race in 28th.

2006–2008

Sorenson in his 2006 Busch Series car after his car hit the wall.

2006 brought on Sorenson's first season as a Nextel Cup regular, along with running a full-time driver in the Busch Series. His best finish in the 2006 Nextel Cup season was a 5th place effort at Michigan International Speedway, and he ended the season with five top-ten finishes. He finished 24th in the 2006 points Nextel Cup standings and was fourth in the 2006 Raybestos Rookie of the Year contest with 198 points finishing behind Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex, Jr., and Clint Bowyer. He managed to finish 10th place in the Busch Series standings with 14 Top 10s and 5 Top 5s in the car that he drove the year before.

Sorenson in his 2007 Busch Series car after an accident

Sorenson broke his 61-race winless streak in the Busch Series at Gateway International Speedway by leading 95 laps and avoiding late race cautions to win the Busch Gateway 250 in Madison, Illinois. In Cup, he had a career best finish of 4th at the Coca-Cola 600, and later a third-place finish at his hometrack at Atlanta. Sorenson got his first career pole at the Allstate 400. Sorenson became the youngest pole winner ever at Indianapolis Motor Speedway; at 21 years, 173 days old. He broke a record that stood for 72 years. It was previously held by Rex Mays, who won the pole for the Indianapolis 500 in 1935 at 22 years of age. Sorenson ended up leading 16 laps, and finishing in the 5th place, behind race winner, Tony Stewart. At the end of the 2007 season, he placed 22nd in the final standings, improving 2 spots from 2006.

2008 Cup racecar

Sorenson started the 2008 season off with a 5th place finish in the Daytona 500.[1] This was the peak of his performances for the season. He got another top ten finish with some late race strategy in a rain shortened New Hampshire race. He was temporarily replaced by Scott Pruett at Infineon Raceway in an attempt to gain points in the owner standings. Sorenson ran a limited 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series competing in the Aaron's 312 at Talladega Superspeedway in the Fitz Motorsports #22 Arctic Ice car. He got involved in a mid-race wreck that ended his day. He also competed in the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway to defend his win from 2007 in the #40 Fastenal Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge. He was involved in a mid-race wreck that ended his chance at defending his title.

On August 26, 2008, it was announced that the 2008 season was to be Sorenson's last season with Ganassi, after signing a multi year contract with Gillett Evernham Motorsports to start the 2009 season.[2] He ended the year 32nd in points.

2009

On January 8, 2009 Gillett Evernham Motorsports and Petty Holdings announced in principle to form a new NASCAR Sprint Cup team that will be co-owned by Richard Petty, Petty Holdings (owned by majority shareholder Boston Ventures), and Gillett Evernham Motorsports. The new car number will be #43 and will be driven by Sorenson.[3] It was announced on January 19, 2009 that with the merger of Gillett Evernham Motorsports and Petty Holdings the newly formed team will be known as Richard Petty Motorsports.[4] Through Sorenson's 2009 season, he has struggled at many of the intermediate and road courses, and has excelled at flat tracks like Phoenix International Raceway and Martinsville. On September 10, 2009, Richard Petty Motorsports and Yates Racing announced that they planned to merge in 2010, and Sorenson was not to be retained as part of the merger. A.J. Allmendinger took over the #43 following the season.[5]

2010

Sorenson piloted the #32 Braun Racing Toyota Camry in a part-time schedule consisting of 23 Nationwide races for 2010. He was to share the ride with Brian Vickers, but after Vickers was diagnosed with blood clots in May and cannot race, Sorenson is to take over for the rest of Vickers' planned Nationwide starts.

In mid-January, Braun Racing announced that Sorenson will drive a part-time Sprint Cup Series schedule. After failing to qualify for the Daytona 500, the team announced they will attempt the Kobalt Tools 500 in Atlanta, but decided to rather attempt the Samsung Mobile 500 in Texas, where Sorenson qualified 43rd and finished 39th. On June 16, Sorenson was hired by Red Bull Racing Team as substitute driver for car #83 and driver Brian Vickers. At the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona Sorenson drove the #83 car to an eighth place finish. It was the first top 10 for the team since Vickers was sidelined.

2011

Sorenson's car at his first win at Road America.

Prior to the 2011 season, Braun Racing was acquired by Turner Motorsports and the team switched manufacturers from Toyota to Chevrolet.[6] Sorenson remained with the team to run full-time for the Nationwide Series championship. He drove the #32 Dollar General Chevy and the #30 Rexall Chevy on occasions. He won his first road course race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, in his first attempt at the track. This was his first win of any level in the sport since 2007. On October 4, Turner Motorsports announced that Sorenson would no longer be driving the #32 Dollar General Chevy, and Brian Vickers would be assuming the driving duties immediately. Turner Motorsports gave no reason for the switch; and Sorenson was third in points at the time. Turner did acknowledge that Dollar General would not sponsor their car after 2011. Sorenson managed to pick up a last-minute ride with MacDonald Motorsports to drive their #82 car for the remainder of the year.[7]

2012

In 2012, Sorenson drove the No. 52 Chevrolet for Jimmy Means in the season-opening Nationwide Series event at Daytona International Speedway.[8]

At Bristol Motor Speedway and California Speedway in March, Sorenson drove the No. 74 for Turn One Racing in the Sprint Cup Series.[9]

Sorenson made his debut in the #32 team owned by Frank Stoddard for the night race at Texas Motor Speedway with sponsor from Jani-king.[10]

Sorensen drove the No. 32 for FAS Lane Racing in select races for the 2012 Sprint Cup Season. Later in the year he attempted to qualify for the Brickyard 400 driving the No. 91 Ford for Humphrey Smith Racing, but failed to qualify for the race. He qualified for the Pennsylvania 400 the following week, making his first race in the No. 91, which had changed to Toyota.

2013

Sorenson's No. 43 in 2013

In February 2013, it was announced that Sorenson would drive full-time in the Nationwide Series in the No. 40 Chevrolet for The Motorsports Group.[11] Following an injury to Michael Annett, Sorenson substituted for Annett in the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Ford for several races.[12]

In September Sorenson returned to the Sprint Cup Series, replacing Scott Speed in the No. 95 Ford for Leavine Family Racing.[13] However, he failed to secure the seat for 2014, with Leavine instead picking Michael McDowell to drive the car.

2014

In February 2014, Sorenson announced that he would be running his first full Sprint Cup Series schedule since 2009, driving the #36 Chevrolet for Tommy Baldwin Racing, replacing J. J. Yeley.[14] Veteran crew chief Todd Parrott was brought in to work with Sorenson. After struggling with limited sponsorship in the beginning of the year, the team came around during the second half of the season with additional sponsorship, recording 5 top 25's and 10 top 30's in the final 16 events of the season, with a high of 14th at Talladega. The team finished with an average finish of 29th.

2015

On February 9, 2015, Sorenson was signed by Team XTREME Racing to compete in the Daytona 500 with sponsorship from Golden Corral.[15] Sorenson joined RAB Racing for the following race at Atlanta.[16]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series

References

  1. ↑ ReedSorensonOnline.com, Sorenson Finishes Fifth in Daytona 500
  2. ↑ EvernHamMotorsports.com , Sorenson Signs with GEM
  3. ↑ GillettevernhamMotorsports.com, Petty Holdings & Gillett Evernham Motorsports To Form New Team
  4. ↑ NASCAR.com, Richard Petty Motorsports born out of GEM merger
  5. ↑ Richard Petty Motorsports and Yates racing announce plans to merge.
  6. ↑ http://nationwide.nascar.com/nationwide-series/2010/news/headlines/bg/09/24/turner-motorsports-acquires-braun-racing/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ "Reed Sorenson in the MacDonald Motorsports No. 82 for the remainder of the season". Mooresville, North Carolina: MacDonald Motorsports. October 26, 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
  8. ↑ Adamczyk, Jay (February 17, 2012). "Sorenson driving for Jimmy Means at Daytona". Jayski's Nationwide Series Silly Season Site. ESPN. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  9. ↑ Owens, Jeff (March 16, 2012). "Greg Biffle wins pole for Cup race at Bristol". SceneDaily.com. The Sporting News. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
  10. ↑ "Peachtree City's Reed Sorenson To Drive FAS Lane Racing's No. 32 Ford In Samsung Mobile 500". SB Nation Atlanta. Vox Media. April 11, 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  11. ↑ "Sorenson Returns To Series With TMG". SPEED Channel. Fox Sports. February 6, 2012. Retrieved 2013-02-06.
  12. ↑ Neff, Mike (March 4, 2013). "Michael Annett's Nationwide Series Sub: Reed Sorenson?". Frontstretch.com. via Jayski/ESPN. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  13. ↑ Bruce, Kenny (September 4, 2013). "Sorenson to Drive No. 95 car for LFR". NASCAR.com. Retrieved 2013-09-16.
  14. ↑ "Reed Sorenson Hired to Drive for Tommy Baldwin". ABC News. February 4, 2014. Retrieved 2014-02-04.
  15. ↑ Spencer, Lee (February 9, 2015). "Reed Sorenson joins forces with Xtreme Motorsports". Motorsport. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Atlanta Entry List". Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved February 23, 2015.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Reed Sorenson.