Reed Sorenson, No. 41 Target Dodge
400 at the Brickyard – Indianapolis Motor Speedway Advance – 8/6/06
Target Team Fast Facts:
On Display: Reed Sorenson will be at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis on Thurs., Aug. 3 from 10-11 a.m. for the unveiling of its motorsports display that includes both the No. 41 Target NEXTEL Cup car and the no. 10 Target IRL car. Chip Ganassi Racing and Target donated the cars, which will be on display through the winter. The event is open to the public and media, and the museum is located at 3000 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, Ind., (317) 334-3322.
Fastest at Indy Test: Reed Sorenson and the No. 41 Target team turned in the fastest lap during the second day of testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 12. Forty-two drivers and teams were on hand and 65 cars turned laps around the famed 2.5-mile oval dubbed “The Brickyard”. Sorenson’s lap of 49.480 sec./181.892 mph was also the fastest overall of the two-day test session in preparation for the 13th annual Brickyard 400 on Aug. 6. Sorenson’s Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates teammates David Stremme and Casey Mears turned the 13th- and 26th-fastest laps respectively.
Homeboy: Target team mechanic and rear tire changer Jason Sheets hails from Indianapolis.
Dodge Racers on the Circle: Reed Sorenson will be participating in the Dodge Racers on the Circle event at Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis on Thurs., Aug. 6. He will be signing autographs from 7-7:30 p.m. with fellow Dodge driver Jeremy Mayfield. For more information go to www.wibc.com/station/dodgeracers2006.aspx.
Chassis: Crew Chief Jimmy Elledge and the Target Team have selected chassis #206 for this weekend’s NEXTEL Cup Series race at “The Brickyard.” This season the car previously ran in the first Pocono race, the NEXTEL Open, Las Vegas and California, with its best finish coming at California (21st). The Target team ran this car a total of 11 races in 2005 with driver Casey Mears. The team recorded six top-10 finishes and two top-five finishes, including a sixth-place effort at Indianapolis and two near victories in the final events of the season at Texas Motor Speedway (fourth) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (fifth).
Just Down the Road: Sorenson’s double duty efforts, competing in both the NEXTEL Cup Series and Busch Series, take him just a few short miles down the road from Indianapolis Motor Speedway to compete in Saturday night’s Busch Series event at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.
* Sorenson made his first-career Busch Series start at the track in 2004 and captured his second-career pole position
there in 2005.
NEXTEL Cup Points Report: Sorenson and the Target team fell one position in the overall standings to 23rd after their 26th-place finish in the last event at Pocono. With a total of 1982 points, the team is 53 points out of 20th and 203 out of the top 15.
Rookie Round Up: Sorenson is currently third in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings with 168 points. He trails leader Denny Hamlin by 55 points. Sorenson has captured rookie of the race honors in four of the 20 races run thus far in ’06 (Atlanta – 10th, Martinsville – 12th, Michigan – fifth, Chicagoland – seventh).
Busch Series Update: Sorenson moved up three positions to 13th in the overall Busch Series driver standings after his fourth-place finish in the last event at Gateway International Raceway. His total of 2,238 points places him 164 out of the top 10.
Reed Sorenson on Indy…
“Making my first start at Indy ranks right up there with starting my first Daytona 500. The track is world renowned and racing there means you’ve reached the highest level in whatever form of racing you are competing in. To actually get a win there would put me in a category with some of the best racers there are. I’m very excited about this weekend’s race and I’m anxious to get on track.
“We had a really strong test there a couple of weeks ago and hopefully we’ll be one of the better cars when we unload on Friday morning. All of the teams tested there and have since made changes to their cars, so we’ll just have to wait and see how we stack up. My teammate Casey Mears and the Target team scored the pole there in 2004, finished sixth there last year with the same car we’re racing and Jamie McMurray finished third there in 2003 driving the No. 42, so Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates teams know how to get around the place. Chip (Ganassi) has an Indy 500 win, and it would be awesome to give him a Brickyard 400 trophy.”
