Reed Sorenson, No. 41 Nicorette® Dodge
Rock & Roll 400 – Richmond International Raceway Advance – 9/9/06
Nicorette Team Fast Facts:
Paint Scheme: Sorenson will be sporting a different look this weekend at Richmond, driving the No. 41 Nicorette® Dodge. The special Nicorette® paint scheme is another part of the only smoking cessation sponsorship in NASCAR history featuring the brands Nicorette® nicotine gum, NicoDerm® CQ® nicotine patches and Commit® nicotine lozenges. This unique NASCAR sponsorship also features the first-of-its-kind “QUIT Crew” program that provides quit smoking counseling and information to the NASCAR community. Over 170 NASCAR team members, officials and media, including several employees from the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates organization, have enrolled in the program. Free quit smoking counseling is also available to race fans at the Winner’s Circle Exhibit located in the fan walk area at 30 NASCAR races including Richmond this weekend. For more information on Nicorette® and its NASCAR programs, go to quit2winracing.com. The Target scheme will return next weekend in New Hampshire.
Another CGRFS Title: Following nine grueling hours of endurance racing at the inaugural Discount Tire Sunchaser at Miller Motorsports Park, Scott Pruett put the finishing touches on a fourth-place finish with co-drivers Luis Diaz and Target IndyCar pilot Scott Dixon to secure the Rolex Sports Car Series Team Championship for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates for the second time in three years. To learn more, go to www.chipganassiracing.com
Chassis: Crew Chief Jimmy Elledge and the No. 41 Team have selected chassis #614 for this weekend’s NEXTEL Cup event at Richmond. This is a new short track car prepared this season and it last ran at New Hampshire. Sorenson led a total of 31 laps in the event and was running in the top five when he was forced to pit for fuel as a late caution resulted in a green-white-checkered flag finish.
NEXTEL Cup Points Report: Sorenson and the No. 41 team fell one position to 23rd in the overall standings after their 21-place finish in the last event at California Speedway. With a total of 2489 points, the team is 99 points out of 20th and 196 out of the top 15.
Rookie Round Up: Sorenson is currently third in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings with 183 points. He trails leader Denny Hamlin by 67 points and second place Clint Bowyer by 20. Sorenson has captured rookie of the race honors in five of the 24 races run thus far in ’06 (Atlanta – 10th, Martinsville – 12th, Michigan – fifth, Chicagoland – seventh, Michigan 2 - eighth).
Busch Series Update: Sorenson moved up one position to 12th in the overall Busch Series driver standings after his 19th-place finish in the last event at California. He is only 34 points out of 10th place.
Reed Sorenson on Richmond…
“I’ve been looking forward to running the car we’re taking to Richmond since the New Hampshire race. It’s definitely one of our best cars and probably the best handling car I’ve had in a race this season. We were a legitimate top-five team and had a shot at winning it for sure before we had to pit for gas because the race went long. Richmond is an awesome track and there is going to be plenty of excitement there this weekend with about five or six teams fighting to secure a spot in the Chase. We’ll be giving it all we have, and hopefully we’ll be just as good as we were at New Hampshire if not better.
“We almost had one last week at California. There was so much going through my mind those last few laps that I could barely drive. It’s unfortunate that we came up a couple laps short, but it was totally the right call. You have to take chances like that sometimes to get a win. We were close and put ourselves in position to get a victory and that’s all I can ask for.”
