Reed Sorenson
Daytona International Speedway Advance Notes
Race: Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 17
Track: Daytona International Speedway (2.5-mile superspeedway)
Location: Daytona Beach, Fla.
Reed Sorenson and No. 41 Target Team (NSCS)
NOTES
Top Five in Shootout: Sorenson recorded an impressive fifth-place finish in his first appearance in the 30th annual Budweiser Shootout. He qualified for the event by capturing the pole position for last season’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sorenson currently holds the record for the youngest pole winner, at 21-years of age, for any event in the tracks 99-year history.
Picture Perfect: CGRFS recently announced that the Polaroid Company has signed a multi-year agreement to become a major associate sponsor on the No. 41 Target Dodge driven by Sorenson in the NSCS and the No. 9 and No. 10 Target Hondas driven by Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon in the IndyCar Series beginning with the 2008 season. In addition to placement on the cars and uniforms during each race, Polaroid will have a primary paint scheme during one event in both the Sprint Cup and IndyCar Series.
Daytona Duels: Sorenson will start 18th in the first of two Gatorade Duels on Thursday after qualifying 41st during last Sunday’s round of time trials.
Daytona Stats: This will mark Sorenson’s third Daytona 500 start. His previous finishes are 13th (2007) and 29th (2006).
Career Milestone: Sorenson will be making his 75th Sprint Cup Series start when he takes the green flag for the 50th running of the Daytona 500.
Total Non-Stop Action: On Monday, Sorenson, along with CGRFS teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, stood ringside for a three-way bout on TNA (Total Nonstop Action Wrestling) iMPACT!. Sorenson was teamed up with The Motor City Machineguns. The event will air Thursday evening at 9 p.m. on Spike TV.
QUOTES
Your thoughts on the season-opener at Daytona and your outlook for the 2008 season…
Reed Sorenson: “There’s nothing like getting down to Daytona and getting the season started. Everyone starts out with a clean slate and although it’s the first of 36 races, it’s important to get the season started off on the right foot. It kind of sets the stage for how the season is going to go, at least it seems that way. We had a good test in January, but we really won’t know how good the car is until we get out there in a big draft and turn a good number of laps. Handling is going to play a big role at Daytona, unlike the first CoT race at Talladega. The teams that put their finger on the handling will be up front at the end of the 500.
“Overall we’re looking forward to the season. We had a lot of DNF’s last year, but we finished higher in the points. We improved how the car ran at most of the tracks last year, but we had a ton of bad luck. I think if we can get rid of that we’ll be good. Jimmy (Elledge) and I are great friends and we know what the other is saying and thinking. This is our year and our goal is to win a race or two, eliminate the mistakes and finish consistently in the top 15 each week. If we can do that we’ll be in line to make the Chase.”
CHASSIS INFO
No. 41 Target Dodge (NSCS): The team used chassis #748 is last season’s second Talladega race and first CoT superspeedway race (10th-place finish)
