TEAM REPORTS (BRISTOL) - GANASSI/SABATES ADVANCE
Reed Sorenson and the No. 41 Memorex Dodge Team Facts:
· Memorex On Board: The No. 41 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) Dodge will carry the purple colors of Memorex this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS), and continue to carry those same colors the remainder of the 2007 NBS season. Memorex, the leading brand of optical media at U.S. retail and a portfolio brand of Imation Corp., announced in January it had signed an agreement with CGRFS to serve as primary sponsor of the No. 41 Memorex Dodge in the NASCAR Busch Series (NBS) starting this month. Memorex has been riding as an associate sponsor on the No. 41 Wrigley’s Dodge since February, but will take center hood this weekend. Reed Sorenson will pilot the No. 41 this weekend at BMS, next weekend at California Speedway and then also at Dover International Speedway in late September. CGRFS development driver Bryan Clauson will make his NASCAR debut in the Memorex Dodge at Richmond International Raceway (RIR) in early September, and then race the car in the remaining seven NBS races after Dover.
· Standings Update: The No. 41 CGRFS Busch team now stands 15th in the overall NBS owner ranks. It is just 152 points outside the top 10.
· Chassis: The purple Memorex colors will be carried by chassis #558 this weekend at BMS. It is a new car that will be making its first start of 2007 this weekend in Tennessee.
· When to Watch: The NBS Food City 250 is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET Friday, August 24, and will broadcast live on ESPN2, PRN radio and Sirius Satellite Radio channel 128. Qualifying for the 250-lap competition is scheduled to start at 4:35 p.m. ET Friday and will be broadcast live on SPEED (TV).
David Stremme and the No. 42 Wrigley’s Winterfresh® Dodge Team Facts:
· Wrigley’s on board with Stremme at Bristol: The No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) Dodge will carry the cool blue colors of Wrigley’s Winterfresh this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) for the Food City 250. It will mark the seventh time this year Wrigley’s Winterfresh has graced the hood of a CGRFS car. The chewing gum made five starts with David Stremme in NASCAR Busch Series (NBS) competition this year, collecting one pole, one top-five finish and four top-15 finishes (two of which were 11th-place finishes). It also made an appearance in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series (NNCS) with Stremme at Talladega Superspeedway this past April when the No. 40 team raced its way to an eighth-place finish, which still marks Stremme’s career-best NNCS finish to date.
· Stremme 2007 NBS Stats: Stremme has put forth an impressive effort in Busch Series competition this 2007 season. In 12 NBS starts, he has collected one pole, two outside pole positions, two top-five finishes, two top-10 finishes and seven top-15 finishes. His average starting position is 16.5 and he has been averaging a 15th-place finish. He also has completed 99.6 percent of the laps he has attempted this year in NBS competition.
· Chassis: Crew chief Brian Pattie and the Wrigley’s Winterfresh team are returning chassis #452 to BMS this weekend. It is the same car Reed Sorenson and the No. 41 team raced to a 16th-place finish (started 24th) at the Tennessee short track in March. The car also proved to be the No. 41 CGRFS Busch team’s best chassis last season. With a total of six starts in 2006, the car tallied four top-five finishes and five top-10 finishes. The same chassis played a key part in the team’s high point of 2006 when Sorenson drove the car to two fourth-place finishes back-to-back in July at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and Gateway International in St. Louis, Mo. Sorenson went on to record a second-place finish in early August at the O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Ind. The only time the chassis finished outside the top five was at Richmond International Raceway in May when the team practiced, qualified and raced inside the top 10 all day and night. Unfortunately, a late hit from another car on lap 229 sent the No. 41 CGRFS Dodge slamming into the outside wall and out of the race the remainder of the night (finished 36th).
· Standings Update: The No. 42 CGRFS Busch team is now 22nd in the overall NBS owner standings. The team is just 79 points away from the top 15 and 231 away from the top 10.