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NASCAR NNCS (DOVER) - SORENSON PRE-RACE NOTES


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Reed Sorenson and the No. 41 Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit Dodge Team Facts:

· He’s Down with Dover: Sorenson has a solid track record at the track known as the “Monster Mile.” In four NASCAR Busch Series (NBS) starts, Sorenson has two top-five finishes and four top-10 finishes. He isn’t too shabby in the NEXTEL Cup garage either, posting an 11th-place effort last September and a 19th-place finish last June. Sorenson has completed all but one of the possible 1,602 laps of competition in races he has run at the 1-mile oval. His average combined start is 15.5 and his average finish is 8.7.

· Commencement for Clauson: Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) development driver Bryan Clauson is going to put on the brakes this Friday, June 1, to take part in his graduation from Noblesville (Ind.) High School. The very next day he will get back to racing at Iowa Speedway in the ARCA/REMAX Prairie Meadows 250. Saturday’s run will mark Clauson’s second ARCA start. His first was at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Fla., this past March when he made an impressive debut, scoring a top-five start and finish. Clauson, led by crew chief Steve Boyer, qualified to start the race in third place, and then led a total of 61 laps in the No. 40 Memorex Dodge en route to a second-place finish. Clauson will be racing the No. 4 Memorex Dodge in this upcoming weekend’s ARCA race. The ARCA/REMAX Prairie Meadows 250 is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. ET Saturday, and will broadcast live on SPEED (TV).

· Checking in on Bacon: Along with Clauson’s commencement, CGRFS development driver Brady Bacon is also celebrating his 2007 high school graduation. On the racing side of things, he most recently competed at O’Reilly Raceway Park (ORP), where he set the fastest time and then went on to score a sixth-place finish in the USAC National Midget Car race last Saturday. Next stop on his action packed schedule is the USAC National Midget Car race at the Dodge City Fairgrounds in Beaver Dam, Wis.

· Lagasse Jr. Truck Racing in Dover: CGRFS development driver Scott Lagasse Jr. is scheduled to compete in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) race this upcoming Friday at Dover International Speedway. He will be driving the No. 16 truck for Dave Fuge. Friday’s run will mark Lagasse Jr.’s first NCTS start of the 2007 season. He competed in 10 NCTS races last year for Bobby Hamilton Racing (BHR), which included the June 2006 race at Dover (started 20th, finished 35th). The 26-year-old racer is coming off of a recent win and consecutive top-five finishes in the ARCA/REMAX Series. He scored his career-first ARCA/REMAX victory in the Kansas Lottery $150 Grand at Kansas Speedway in late April, and then went on to score a fourth-place finish at Kentucky Speedway May 12. The truck race is scheduled to run at 4:45 p.m. ET and will broadcast later Friday night on SPEED (TV) at 8 p.m. ET. Qualifying for the 200-lap competition is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. ET Friday and will broadcast live on SPEED.

· What’s the Latest: Last Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (LMS), Sorenson and the No. 41 Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit team were working on improving their top-30 starting position, when a mishandling race car escaped from Sorenson’s grip and went into the outside wall. The team went to work to repair the car in the garage and sent Sorenson back out about 50 laps later to only discover the car wasn’t going to be able to get back up to pace, and therefore forced the team to say good night way too early in 42nd place. The No. 41 CGRFS Busch team is now 29th in the overall NASCAR Busch Series standings, just 87 points outside the top 25.

· Chassis: Crew chief Brian Pattie and the No. 41 Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit team are bringing new chassis #755 to Delaware this weekend for the running of the Dover 200 on Saturday.

· Don’t Miss Any of It: The Dover 200 is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET Saturday, June 2, and will broadcast live on ESPN2 (TV), MRN (Radio) and Sirius Satellite Radio channel 128. Qualifying for the 200-lap Busch race is scheduled to take place at 11:05 a.m. ET Saturday, and will broadcast live on ESPN2.