Reed Sorenson
NNCS Fontana Advance
Race:
Sharp Aquos 500 on Sunday, September 2
Track:
California Speedway (2.0-mile oval)
Location:
Fontana, Calif.
Reed Sorenson and the No. 41 Target Dodge Team Facts:
Memorex on Quarter Panel in Cali: Team Target tier one sponsor Memorex will adorn the upper-rear quarter panels of the Target Dodge this weekend in California in place of the normal Target Bullseyes. Memorex is the leading brand of optical media at U.S. retail and a portfolio brand of Imation Corp., which is headquartered in Cerritos, Calif., not too far from California Speedway. Additionally, Memorex will be the primary sponsor on both the CGRFS Busch Series entries (No. 41 & No. 42) this weekend at California and will continue to be the primary on the No. 41 Busch car driven by Reed Sorenson and CGRFS development driver Bryan Clauson for the remainder of the 2007 season.
Running on Empty: Sorenson and the Target team came up just two laps shy of capturing their first victory in last season’s Labor Day weekend race at California Speedway on Aug. 3. A pit strategy gamble afforded Sorenson a commanding lead with 10 laps remaining but the fuel cell ran dry coming to the white flag, relegating the team to a 21st-place finish.
Teammate Stremme on Target: As Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) continues to celebrate its long heritage with Target Racing, which has been with the team for 18 years making it one of the longest racing relationships in history, David Stremme and the No. 40 team will again be sporting the white and red Target paint scheme in this weekend’s Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway.
In the World of Open Wheel: Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon wrangled away the championship points lead from Dario Franchitti this past weekend at Infineon Raceway, winning Sunday’s Motorola Indy 300 race. The victory at Infineon marked the Target team’s 16th IndyCar series win, Dixon’s 10th IndyCar win, and his fourth of the year which is his career best total in a season to date. It also completes Dixon’s domination of road courses this season after earlier wins at Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio. With just two IndyCar races remaining in the 2007 season, Dixon regained the IndyCar championship lead by four points (560 points) over Franchitti (556 points) who finished third in Sunday’s race. Dixon’s teammate Dan Wheldon finished seventh, and remains fourth in the standings with a total of 414 points.
Larry Mac Golf Tourney: Sorenson participated in Larry McReynolds Seventh Annual Celebrity Golf Tournament on Tuesday, with proceeds benefiting Motor Racing Outreach and Special Olympics North Carolina. Ask how he shot and the driver of the Target Dodge had this to say… “My game is much better than it used to be. I practiced with some friends last week to get ready for the tournament and it definitely paid off. My team shot pretty well and it was a lot of fun. Most importantly it was for a good cause and I like to help out with these types of events whenever I can. I have my inaugural charity tournament coming up on October 24th during Atlanta race week and I’m really looking forward to it. Today was a lot of fun.”
CGRFS Wide Open in Hollywood: Sorenson, along with CGRFS teammates Juan Pablo Montoya and David Stremme attended the Running Wide Open in Hollywood with NASCAR party on Wednesday night benefiting the NASCAR Foundation. The red carpet event was put on by Hollywood event promoter Brent Bolthouse of Bolthouse Productions and included many VIPs and Hollywood A-Listers.
Golden State Natives: Two members of the Target team hail from California. Crew chief Jimmy Elledge (Redding, Calif.) and shock specialist Roger Parkinson (San Diego). Prior to joining Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) in 2003, Elledge served as crew chief for Andy Petree Racing from 1999-2002. He made his first trip to Victory Lane with driver Bobby Hamilton at Talladega Superspeedway on Apr. 22, 2001. Parkinson has been building shocks since 1976 and began working in NASCAR full-time in 1993. Prior to joining CGRFS in 2003, his NASCAR experience includes working for Bill Elliott Racing, Ohlins Racing Shocks and Andy Petree Racing.
Chassis: Crew chief Jimmy Elledge and the Target team have selected chassis #705 for the California race. This car has previously been raced at Chicagoland (12th), Pocono (24th), Texas (40th) and Atlanta (ninth). Sorenson had one of the strongest cars in the field at Texas, led laps and was running seventh when he experienced engine problems.
Points Update: The Target team maintained 26th position in the overall NEXTEL Cup Series standings after its 15th-place finish in the last event at Bristol. The team is just 55 points out of 22nd and 176 out of the top 20.
Be Sure to Tune In: The Sharpe Aguos 500 at California Speedway is set to go green at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) Sunday. The race will air live on ESPN, MRN radio and Sirius Satellite Radio channel 128.
