Reed Sorenson

Infobox NASCAR driver
Name = Bradley Reed Sorenson


Birthdate = birth date and age|1986|2|5
Birthplace = Peachtree City, Georgia
Awards = 2003 American Speed Association (ASA) Pat Schauer Memorial Rookies of the Year [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Speed_Association#Pat_Schauer_Memorial_Rookies_of_the_Year]
Cup_Car_Team = #41 - Chip Ganassi Racing
Previous_Year = 2008
Prev_Cup_Pos = 31nd
Best_Cup_Pos = 22nd - 2007 (NEXTEL Cup)
Cup_Top_Tens = 14
Cup_Poles = 1
First_Cup_Race = 2005 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 (Atlanta)
Prev_Busch_Pos = 88th
Best_Busch_Pos = 4th - 2005 (Busch Series)
Busch_Wins = 3
Busch_Top_Tens = 41
Busch_Poles = 2
First_Busch_Race = 2004 Kroger 200 Presented by Tom Raper RVs (IRP)
First_Busch_Win = 2005 Pepsi 300 (Nashville)
Last_Busch_Win = 2007 Busch Silver Celebration 250 (Gateway)
Updated_On = August 26, 2008

Bradley Reed Sorenson (born February 5, 1986, in Peachtree City, Georgia) is a NASCAR driver who currently drives the #41 Target Dodge Charger in the Sprint Cup Series for Chip Ganassi Racing, but will be driving for Gillett Evernham Motorsports starting in the 2009 season.

Early career

Sorenson's career started at age six when he began racing quarter-midgets. He won the national championship in 1997. He moved up to Legends cars the following year, winning 13 out of 25 races, southeastern championships and breaking track records in the process. In 1999 he won 30 out of the 50 races in which he competed. He raced in Legends for the next two years and won 84 events.

In 2002, Sorenson began racing in the American Speed Association (ASA), finishing in the top-ten seven out of his eight starts. He became a full-time driver in 2003 and won the highly coveted ASA [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Speed_Association#Pat_Schauer_Memorial_Rookies_of_the_Year Pat Schauer Memorial Rookies of the Year] award at age 17. He caught his big break by signing a driver development contract with Chip Ganassi Racing, in addition to graduating from Woodward Academy.

NASCAR

In 2004, he won his first ARCA race at Michigan International Speedway, and ran in 5 NASCAR Busch Series events for Chip Ganassi Racing. In the five races, Sorenson had 3 top ten finishes, and a top 5, which was a 4th place finish at Homestead.

2005

Sorenson was named the full-time driver of the #41 Discount Tire Company Dodge Intrepid for Ganassi for 2005 NASCAR Busch Series, competing for Rookie of the Year. He won his first Busch Series race at Nashville Superspeedway, winning by more than 14 seconds after starting on the pole and leading 197 out of 225 laps. After the 15th race (Federated Auto Parts 300) he was leading the points race by 51 points. Sorenson picked up another win at Gateway. He ended the season 4th in points and finished 2nd in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_NASCAR_Busch_Series#Rookie_of_the_Year Rookie of the Year] race to Carl Edwards.

Toward the end of the season he was signed to move up to NEXTEL Cup to drive the 41 Target car full-time. He made his NEXTEL Cup debut in the 2005 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, racing as #39, but was involved in a crash and finished 41st. After a failed attempt to qualify for the Dickies 500, he ran in the Ford 400, where he finished the race in 28th.

2006

2006 brought on Reed's first season as a Nextel Cup regular, along with running a full time driver in the Busch Series. It all started with a 29th place finish in the Daytona 500. He had better luck in the Busch Series equivalent, finishing 9th. Reed's best finish in the 2006 Nextel Cup season was a 5th place effort at Michigan International Speedway.

He finished 24th in the 2006 points Nextel Cup standings and finished was the fourth in the 2006 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASCAR_Rookie_of_the_Year Raybestos Rookie of the Year] contest with 198 points finishing behind Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., and Clint Bowyer.

He managed to finish 10th place in the Busch Series standings with 14 Top 10s and 5 Top 5s. This would mark the end of Reed running full time in the Busch Series.

2007

In the start of the 2007 season, Sorenson started 25th in the season opener for the NASCAR Busch Series, Orbitz 300. After a disappointing collision with Kasey Kahne, his night ended, and he came home 38th. In his second Daytona 500, Reed marched his way to front after starting 33rd, and finished 13th, besting his former best finish of 29th at Daytona. Three weeks later, he went on to earn his first top 10 finish of the year,coming home 9th at Atlanta. Sorenson scored his career-best finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway, a 4th-place finish; and came home with another top-15 finish at Chicago, where he finished 12th. He broke his 61-race winless streak at Gateway International Speedway by leading 95 laps and avoiding late race cautions to win the Busch Gateway 250 in Madison, Illinois.

On July 28, 2007, during qualifying for the Allstate 400, Sorenson got his first career pole. Sorenson became the youngest pole winner ever at Indianpolis Motor Speedway; at 21 years, 173 days old. He broke a record that stood for 72 years. It was previously held by Rex Mays, who won the pole for the Indianapolis 500 in 1935 at 22 years of age. Sorenson ended up leading 16 laps, and finishing in the 5th place, behind race winner, Tony Stewart. At the end of the 2007 season, Reed placed 22nd in the final standings, improving 2 spots from 2006.

2008

Sorenson returned to the #41 in 2008, and started the season off well with a 5th place finish in the Daytona 500. This was the peak of his performances to date for the season. He got another top ten finish with some late race strategy in a rain shortened New Hampshire race. He was temporarily replaced by Scott Pruett at Infineon Raceway in an attempt to gain points in the owner standings.

Reed has ran a limited 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series competing in the Aaron's 312 at Talladega Superspeedway in the Fitz Motorsports #22 Artic Ice car. He got involved in a mid-race wreck that ended his day. He also competed in the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway to defend his win from 2007 in the #40 Fastenal Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge. He was involved in a mid-race wreck that ended his chance at defending his title.

On August 26, 2008 it was announced that the 2008 season will be Sorenson's last season with Ganassi, after signing a multi year contract with Gillett Evernham Motorsports to start the 2009 season. [ [http://www.evernhammotorsports.com/main.cfm?pagename=article&articleId=11382] ] Sponsorship and car number will be announced at a later date.

2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup results

References

External links

* [http://www.reedsorensononline.com Reed Sorenson Official site]
* [http://www.chipganassiracing.com Chip Ganassi Racing]
* [http://www.evernhammotorsports.com/main.cfm Gillett Evernham Motorsports]
* [http://racing-reference.info/driver?id=sorenre01 Career statistics at racing-reference.info]

Persondata
NAME=Sorenson, Reed
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= NASCAR driver
DATE OF BIRTH=February 5, 1986
PLACE OF BIRTH=Peachtree City, Georgia
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=