David Stremme
NNCS Daytona Advance
Race: Pepsi 400 on Saturday, July 7
Track: Daytona International Speedway (2.5-mile oval)
Location: Daytona Beach, Fla.
Reed Sorenson and the No. 41 Target Dodge Team Facts:
Sorenson on the 4th of July: “The second Daytona race always falls near the Fourth. It’s a little later this year because of some schedule changes, but it’s the week of the Fourth and what a cool event. There’s a lot of history surrounding this race and one that every driver has on his list to win. We had a solid run in February with the same car we’re using this weekend, and our superspeedway program is very strong so I’m feeling pretty optimistic about the race on Saturday…“I was racing a lot on the Fourth of July growing up, so we didn’t get to celebrate with the traditional family barbeque. It’s a special holiday because it represents our independence. This is a great country we live in and I for one appreciate the men and women who made it possible for me to do the things I love, like racing for a living.”
Showing improvement: Sorenson and the Target team, along with the entire CGRFS organization are showing signs of improvement, especially with the Car of Tomorrow (CoT). Sorenson recorded his career-best starting position (third) in last weekend’s event at New Hampshire International Speedway (NHIS). His previous best was a seventh (Dover – Sept. ’06 & Las Vegas ’07) in the old style car. Sorenson’s CGRFS teammate Juan Pablo Montoya recently recorded his first series win at Sonoma on June 24 and followed that up with a fifth-place qualifying effort at NHIS – both CoT races. Sorenson’s Target Dodge was extremely fast in the early stages of the race until experiencing suspension problems. Prior to the issue, the team had a firm grip on the setup and the car continued to be one of the fastest on the track after some repair work.
Points Update: The Target team is currently 27th in the overall NEXTEL Cup Series standings. The team is 57 points out of 25 and 196 outside of the top 20.
Chassis: Crew chief Jimmy Elledge and the Target team have selected chassis #602 for this weekend’s race at DIS. This car Sorenson drove to a 13th-place finish in the season opener at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
Be Sure to Tune In: The Pepsi 400 is set to go green at 8 p.m. ET Saturday. The race will air live on TNT (6:30 p.m. ET), MRN radio and Sirius Satellite Radio channel 128.
