Sorenson Finishes 40th At Infineon
Results from Infineon
1. Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge
32. David Stremme, No. 40 Coors Banquet Dodge
40. Reed Sorenson, No. 41 Target Dodge
SONOMA, Calif. (June 24, 2007)-Reed Sorenson and the Target team put themselves in position to get a solid finish in the Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway with good pit strategy and exceptional fuel mileage. After starting 29th, Sorenson maneuvered around the 1.99-mile road course more like a veteran than someone who was making just his second-career start at the California track. A call to pit on lap 26 under green flag conditions by crew chief Jimmy Elledge proved to be a good one as Sorenson had just crossed the pit lane line as the caution flag flew. The Target team was able to continue with their pit stop while all others had to remain on track until pit lane was officially opened under caution. Once the competition pitted Sorenson found himself third in the running order and maintained his position well against some of the best road course racers in the business.
Sorenson commented after the pit stop that the Target Dodge had become extremely loose after a few adjustments were made to fix a tight condition. Eventually the condition got the best of him as the Target Dodge stepped out from under him exiting Turn 4. He made substantial contact with the retaining wall and was forced to the garage for repairs. The Target Dodge eventually returned to the track four laps down. Sorenson went on to take the checkered flag in 40th, but more importantly his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya captured his first career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series win and the first for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates since 2002.
The Target team now sits 27th in the overall NEXTEL Cup Series ranks and is 175 points out of the top 20.
There were seven cautions for a total of 14 laps. The time of race was 2 hrs, 56 mins, 11 secs, and the average speed was 74.547 mph.
Sorenson and the No. 41 Target team head to New Hampshire International Speedway next for the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 on July 1. The race is set to go green at 2 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on TNT, MRN radio and Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 128.
CGRFS Driver Quoteboard
REED SORENSON: “I’d like to congratulate my teammate Juan Pablo Montoya and the Texaco/Havoline team on their win today. This is a huge win for the entire organization. My hats off to those guys.
“I hate that I spun out. We were getting great fuel mileage and had positioned ourselves to get a pretty good finish had the strategy played out right. The car was really loose on corner exit and it just got out from under me. It’s just a tough deal because we had a pretty good car and could’ve used a good finish here today. We’ll just try and get it back next week at Loudon.”