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Catching up with … REED SORENSON
Q. Who are some of the people who influenced you throughout your racing career? A. "Growing up watching a lot of guys in Nextel Cup racing, I'd probably say Dale [Earnhardt] Sr. and Jeff Gordon were probably my two favorites. Davey Allison was probably right after that. I actually got to meet Dale Sr. and Jeff Gordon, so that was pretty cool. I've got pictures of them with me. I wish I was a little bit older at that time so I could have been into the racing end watching it, but back then, I was just a race fan and was just happy to meet drivers and get autographs and things like that." Q. Does Ganassi Racing feel like it has a sense of momentum? A. "We had some momentum.We had two dead-last finishes this year, and I wouldn't really call that consistent, so we've got to make sure we don't do that anymore.We've had some decent runs, but the only good race we had was at Atlanta, so we've just got to get a little bit better when we go to some of these places. I think at Martinsville we finished 18th, so that was just kind of an OK day. The test at Richmond went really well. I think we hit on something there a little bit, so we've just got to get our cars favorable for a top-10 finish every weekend and make sure we stay out of wrecks and things like that." Q. What tracks are you looking forward to running? A. "I'd like to think all the tracks that we run pretty well at.We go to Chicago, Texas, Atlanta, Charlotte, Kansas, places like that.We feel like we've got good cars there and a pretty good starting setup. I'd like to think if we can get our Car of Tomorrow tuned in well, we can run good with that. I was a little worried about Bristol and Martinsville.We didn't really have a fast car and none of the guys on the team did, so we felt like we definitely got a lot better after the Richmond test." Q. How cutthroat is it toward the end of a race? A. "I can use that word for sure. It depends on where you are. When you're at a place like Martinsville, there's not much giving out there, that's for sure. These races are so competitive now when you get down to the last 10 or 20 laps. Most of the time we have a debris caution or something like that, and we get all bunched back up. It's tough. Everybody is trying to run qualifying laps out there, and some guys are better than other guys on new tires, so it makes it interesting. There's not much giving and taking out there. You've got about an inch of room on each side of the car, and hopefully you can squeeze through and get as many as you can at the end. It's definitely an important part of the race." Q. Have you reviewed how drivers win at the end of a race?
A. "We haven't been in that situation yet where we have a shot to win like that, so it's the same thing with the guys running ninth and 10th. They're going for the win, and you're fighting for your 10th-place finish back there. You're definitely on the edge the last five or six laps or 10 laps."
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