| Reed Sorenson | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sorenson atAuto Club Speedway in 2017 | |||||||
| Born | Bradley Reed Sorenson (1986-02-05)February 5, 1986 (age 39) Peachtree City, Georgia, U.S. | ||||||
| Awards | 2003ASA National Tour Rookie of the Year | ||||||
| NASCARCup Series career | |||||||
| 346 races run over 16 years | |||||||
| 2020 position | 36th | ||||||
| Best finish | 22nd (2007) | ||||||
| First race | 2005Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 (Atlanta) | ||||||
| Last race | 2020Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 (Texas) | ||||||
| |||||||
| NASCARO'Reilly Auto Parts Series career | |||||||
| 207 races run over 11 years | |||||||
| 2017 position | 112th | ||||||
| Best finish | 4th (2005) | ||||||
| First race | 2004Kroger 200 (IRP) | ||||||
| Last race | 2017O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 (Texas) | ||||||
| First win | 2005Pepsi 300 (Nashville) | ||||||
| Last win | 2011Bucyrus 200 (Road America) | ||||||
| |||||||
| NASCARCraftsman Truck Series career | |||||||
| 11 races run over 2 years | |||||||
| 2018 position | 72nd | ||||||
| Best finish | 72nd (2018) | ||||||
| First race | 2016Pocono Mountains 150 (Pocono) | ||||||
| Last race | 2018JAG Metals 350 (Texas) | ||||||
| |||||||
| Statistics up to date as of November 9, 2020. | |||||||
Bradley Reed Sorenson (born February 5, 1986) is an American former professionalstock car racing driver andspotter. He last competed part-time in theNASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 27Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE forPremium Motorsports, the Nos. 74/77 Camaro forSpire Motorsports, and the No. 7 Camaro forTommy Baldwin Racing. As of 2024[update], he works as a spotter forKaulig Racing's No. 11 ofJosh Williams in theNASCAR Xfinity Series. Sorenson began competing in NASCAR in 2004 as a Busch Series driver; he has four wins in the series. His first Cup start came in 2005 before moving to a full schedule the following year.
Sorenson's career started at age six when he began racingquarter-midgets. He won the national championship in 1997. He moved up tolegends cars the following year, winning thirteen out of 25 races, southeastern championships and breaking track records in the process. In 1999, he won thirty out of the fifty races in which he competed. He raced in legends for the next two years and won 84 events.
In 2002, Sorenson began racing in theAmerican 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 ASAPat Schauer Memorial Rookies of the Year award at the age seventeen. He caught his big break by signing adriver development contract withChip Ganassi Racing.
In 2004, Sorenson won his firstARCA race, atMichigan International Speedway, in the No. 77Sherwin-Williams Dodge. He finished in the top-five in all three of his ARCA starts. Sorenson also ran in five NASCAR Busch Series events for Chip Ganassi Racing, and had three top-ten finishes, and a top-five, which was a fourth place finish atHomestead.
Sorenson was named the full-time driver of the No. 41Discount Tire CompanyDodge Intrepid for Ganassi for2005, competing for rookie of the year. He won his first Busch Series race, atNashville Superspeedway, winning by more than 14 seconds after starting on the pole and leading 197 out of 225 laps. After theFederated Auto Parts 300, he was leading the points race by 51. Sorenson picked up another win atGateway. He ended the season fourth in points and finished second in therookie of the year race toCarl Edwards.[citation needed]
Towards the end of the season, he was signed to move up to theNextel Cup Series to drive the No. 41Target car full-time. He made his Nextel Cup debut in the 2005Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, racing as No. 39, but was involved in a crash and finished 41st. After a failed attempt to qualify for theDickies 500, he ran in theFord 400 forPhoenix Racing, where he finished in 28th.

2006 brought on Sorenson's first season as a Nextel Cup Series regular, along with running a full-time driver in the Busch Series. His best finish in the 2006 Nextel Cup season was a fifth place effort at Michigan International Speedway, and he ended the season with five top-ten finishes. He finished 24th in the 2006 points Nextel Cup standings and was fourth in the 2006Raybestos Rookie of the Year contest with 198 points finishing behindDenny Hamlin,Martin Truex Jr., andClint Bowyer. He also fell in the Busch Series, dropping from fourth in the standings as a nineteen-year-old the year before to tenth place in 2006.

Sorenson broke his 61-race winless streak in the Busch Series atGateway International Speedway by leading 95 laps and avoiding late race cautions to win the Busch Gateway 250 inMadison, Illinois. In Cup, he had a career best finish offourth, at theCoca-Cola 600, and later a third place finish at his home track at Atlanta. Sorenson got his first career pole, at theAllstate 400. Sorenson became the youngest pole winner ever at Indianapolis Motor Speedway; at 21 years, 173 days old. He broke a record that stood for 72 years. It was previously held byRex Mays, who won the pole for the Indianapolis 500 in 1935 at 22 years of age. Sorenson ended up leading sixteen laps, and finishing in the fifth place, behind race winner,Tony Stewart. At the end of the 2007 season, he placed 22nd in the final standings, improving two spots from 2006 (although he actually scored fewer points than in his rookie season).

Sorenson started the 2008 season off with a fifth place finish in the Daytona 500.[1] This was the peak of his performances 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 byScott Pruett atInfineon Raceway in an attempt to gain points in the owners' standings. Sorenson ran a limited2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series competing in theAaron's 312 atTalladega Superspeedway in theFitz Motorsports No. 22Arctic Ice car.
Sorenson competed in theMissouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway to defend his win from 2007, in the No. 40 FastenalChip Ganassi Racing Dodge. He was involved in a mid-race wreck that ended his chance to defend his title. On August 26, 2008, it was announced that the 2008 season was to be Sorenson's last season with Ganassi, after signing a multi-year contract withGillett Evernham Motorsports to start the 2009 season. He ended the year 32nd in points.[citation needed]

On January 8, 2009,Gillett Evernham Motorsports and Petty Holdings announced in principle to form a new NASCAR Sprint Cup team that will be co-owned byRichard Petty, Petty Holdings (owned by majority shareholder Boston Ventures), and Gillett Evernham Motorsports. The new car number would be No. 43 and would be driven by Sorenson.[2] It was announced on January 19, 2009, that with the merger of Gillett Evernham Motorsports and Petty Holdings the newly formed team will be known asRichard Petty Motorsports.[3]
Sorenson's 2009 season was wildly disappointing; he had only one top-ten (at the season-opening Daytona 500) and finished 29th in the season standings. On September 10, 2009,Richard Petty Motorsports andYates Racing announced that they planned to merge in 2010, and Sorenson was not to be retained as part of the merger.A. J. Allmendinger took over the No. 43 following the season.[4]

Sorenson piloted the No. 32Braun Racing Toyota Camry in a part-time schedule consisting of 23 Nationwide races for 2010. He was to share the ride withBrian Vickers, but after Vickers was diagnosed with blood clots in May and cannot race, Sorenson is to take over for the rest of Vickers' planned Nationwide starts. In mid-January, Braun Racing announced that Sorenson would drive a part-time Sprint Cup Series schedule. After failing to qualify for theDaytona 500, the team announced they will attempt theKobalt Tools 500 in Atlanta, but decided to rather attempt theSamsung Mobile 500 in Texas, where Sorenson qualified 43rd and finished 39th. On June 16, Sorenson was hired byTeam Red Bull as a substitute driver for car No. 83 and driverBrian Vickers. At theCoke Zero 400 atDaytona, Sorenson drove the No. 83 car to an eighth place finish. It was the first top-ten for the team since Vickers was sidelined.[citation needed]

Prior to the 2011 season, Braun Racing was acquired by Turner Motorsports and the team switched manufacturers from Toyota to Chevrolet.[5] Sorenson remained with the team to run full-time for the Nationwide Series championship. He drove the No. 32 Dollar General Chevy and the No. 30 Rexall Chevy on occasions. He won his first road course race at Road America inElkhart Lake, Wisconsin on his first attempt at the track. This was his first win since 2007.
On October 4, Turner Motorsports announced that Sorenson would no longer be driving the No. 32 Dollar General Chevy, and Brian Vickers would be assuming the driving duties immediately. Turner Motorsports gave no reason for the switch; and Sorenson was third in points at the time. Turner did acknowledge that Dollar General would not sponsor their car after 2011. Sorenson managed to pick up a last-minute ride withMacDonald Motorsports to drive their No. 82 car for the remainder of the year.[6]
In 2012, Sorenson drove the No. 52 Chevrolet forJimmy Means in the season-opening Nationwide Series event atDaytona International Speedway.[7] AtBristol Motor Speedway andCalifornia Speedway in March, Sorenson drove the No. 74 forTurn One Racing in the Sprint Cup Series.[8]
Sorenson made his debut in the No. 32 team owned byFrank Stoddard for the night race atTexas Motor Speedway with sponsor from Jani-king.[9]
Sorenson drove the No. 32 forFAS Lane Racing in select races for the 2012 Sprint Cup Season. Later in the year, he attempted to qualify for theBrickyard 400 driving the No. 91 Ford forHumphrey Smith Racing, but failed to qualify for the race. He qualified for thePennsylvania 400 the following week, making his first race in the No. 91, which had changed to Toyota.

In February 2013, it was announced that Sorenson would drive full-time in theNationwide Series in the No. 40 Chevrolet forThe Motorsports Group.[10] Following an injury toMichael Annett, Sorenson substituted for Annett in theRichard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Ford for several races.[11]
In September, Sorenson returned to the Sprint Cup Series, replacingScott Speed in the No. 95 Ford forLeavine Family Racing.[12] However, he failed to secure the seat for 2014, with Leavine instead pickingMichael McDowell to drive the car.[citation needed]

In February 2014, Sorenson announced that he would be running his first full Sprint Cup Series schedule since 2009, driving the No. 36 Chevrolet forTommy Baldwin Racing, replacingJ. J. Yeley.[13] Veteran crew chiefTodd Parrott was brought in to work with Sorenson. After struggling with limited sponsorship in the beginning of the year, the team came around during the second half of the season with additional sponsorship, recording five top-25s and ten top-thirties in the final sixteen events of the season, with a high of fourteenth at Talladega. The team finished with an average finish of 29th.[citation needed]
On February 9, 2015, Sorenson was signed byTeam Xtreme Racing to compete in theDaytona 500 with sponsorship fromGolden Corral, driving the No. 44 Chevy.[14] Sorenson joinedRAB Racing for the following race at Atlanta.[15] He was also signed withPremium Motorsports after lack of sponsorship killed both of his prior teams.[16]

Sorenson attempted to make hisCamping World Truck Series debut at Daytona, driving the No. 63 forMB Motorsports. Sorenson also joinedHillman Racing for theDaytona 500, driving the No. 40 Chevrolet but didn't qualify.[17] Sorenson missed both events. Sorenson returned to Premium Motorsports, driving the No. 55 Chevrolet starting at Martinsville. Sorenson later made his Camping World Truck Series debut at Pocono, driving the No. 49 Chevrolet Silverado for Premium Motorsports where he finished eighteenth.
Sorenson returned to Premium for the 2017 season. He failed to qualify after being (possibly) intentionally wrecked byCorey LaJoie inCan-Am Duel 1. After the race, Sorenson called the move "pretty crappy" and "moronic" and added on that LaJoie, making his first Daytona laps during the Duel, could've hurt someone, drawing comparisons toKyle Busch's 2015 Daytona wreck, after which he missed eleven races.[18]
After flagship driverMichael Waltrip announced that he would retire from NASCAR competition after the2017 Daytona 500, Premium Motorsports announced that Sorenson would drive the No. 15 Toyota for the rest of the 2017 season, following Robinson's purchase ofHScott Motorsports' No. 15 Chevrolet. However, Premium removed Sorenson from the 15 for Dover, replacing him withRoss Chastain. Although he did run Pocono and Michigan, he was replaced again byKevin O'Connell at Sonoma, andD. J. Kennington at Daytona he then returned to the No. 15 until he was again replaced, this time byGray Gaulding at Pocono. He bounced around the No. 15 and No. 55 entry's for the rest of the year.

Sorenson drove mainly the No. 7 and No. 55 entries for Premium Motorsports throughout the year, with also driving the Bristol night race inRick Ware Racing’s No. 51 entry. He qualified for Ross Chastain at the Michigan August race in the No. 15 when Chastain was in Mid-Ohio for the Xfinity race.
In March 2019, Sorenson joinedSpire Motorsports' No. 77 for thePennzoil 400 at Las Vegas.[19] Throughout the 2019 season, he split the ride with various other drivers and also raced for Premium in the No. 27.
Sorenson returned to Premium's No. 27 for the2020 Daytona 500.[20] He made the starting lineup after finishing eighteenth in Duel 1 of the2020 Bluegreen Vacations Duels.[21]
In 2021, Sorenson became thespotter for Xfinity driverJosh Williams.[22]
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
| Year | Team | Manufacturer | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dodge | 22 | 29 |
| 2007 | 33 | 13 | ||
| 2008 | 5 | 5 | ||
| 2009 | Richard Petty Motorsports | Dodge | 34 | 9 |
| 2010 | Braun Racing | Toyota | DNQ | |
| 2014 | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | 39 | 16 |
| 2015 | Team Xtreme Racing | Chevrolet | 14 | 32 |
| 2016 | Hillman Racing | Chevrolet | DNQ | |
| 2017 | Premium Motorsports | Toyota | DNQ | |
| 2020 | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | 40 | 31 |
| NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | NCWTC | Pts | Ref | |||||||||||||||
| 2016 | MB Motorsports | 63 | Chevy | DAY DNQ | ATL | MAR | KAN | DOV | CLT | TEX | IOW | GTW | KEN | ELD | 97th | 01 | [50] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Premium Motorsports | 49 | Chevy | POC 18 | BRI | MCH 21 | MSP | CHI 28 | NHA | LVS | TAL 18 | MAR | TEX 24 | PHO | HOM 28 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2018 | Premium Motorsports | 15 | Chevy | DAY | ATL | LVS | MAR | DOV 30 | KAN | CLT | TEX 27 | IOW | GTW | CHI | KEN | ELD | POC 30 | 72nd | 17 | [51] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 50 | MCH 28 | BRI | MSP | LVS | TAL | MAR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 49 | TEX 20 | PHO | HOM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
| ARCA Re/Max Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | ARSC | Pts | Ref | ||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Braun Racing | 77 | Dodge | DAY | NSH | SLM | KEN | TOL | CLT 4* | KAN | POC | 39th | 720 | [52] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chip Ganassi Racing | MCH 1* | SBO | BLN | KEN | GTW | POC | LER | NSH | ISF | TOL | DSF | CHI | SLM | TAL 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points