Reed Sorenson off to strong start in his third full NASCAR season

ASSOCIATED PRESS

While most of the attention during the offseason has been on his older and far more experienced teammates, 22-year-old Reed Sorenson has been quietly preparing for a big season.

The youngster, beginning his third full NASCAR Sprint Cup season with Chip Ganassi Racing, got off to a great start Sunday with a fifth-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500.

Meanwhile, former Formula One star Juan Pablo Montoya, last year’s top Cup rookie, was 32nd and Ganassi newcomer Dario Franchitti, last year’s Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series champion, finished 33rd.

The day before the big race, Ganassi was asked about Sorenson.

“I think we’ve seen a maturation process in that guy over the winter and he’s stepped up,” Ganassi said. “I think part of that is having Juan as a teammate last year has helped him step up. I think bringing Dario on has helped him step up.”

Sorenson, driving one of six Dodges to finish in the top eight, said his fifth top-five finish in 75 Cup races was a conservative drive.

“The first half of the race was so hot and slick,” he said. “You could see everyone out there separating. We took the conservative side on tires. We just tried to keep an eye on the leaders — if we could still see them we were happy.”

Sorenson said the last hectic laps were fun.

“We had a lot more grip there at the end,” he explained. “We got two- or three-wide and pushed each other really hard and there happened to be about four Dodges lined up at the end. Everybody on the team has done a great job since we got [to Daytona] and I think that says a lot about what we can do this year.”