Friday, August 12, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Sources: Sorenson, 19, to get Cup ride
Busch driver to run
full 2006 schedule
for Ganassi Racing
STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Reed Sorenson, a 19-year-old NASCAR Busch Series driver, will run a full Nextel Cup schedule next season in a fourth team for Chip Ganassi Racing, two people with the team told The Associated Press on Thursday.
A formal announcement was scheduled for today at Watkins Glen International, and the two sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that Sorenson would be introduced as driver of the No. 41 Dodge. They did not want to be identified before Sorenson's official introduction.
Sorenson has two Busch victories and is third in the standings, 104 points behind leader and defending series champion Martin Truex Jr.
Casey Mears, meanwhile, will remain with Ganassi in a different car, the sources said. The car number has not yet been determined, but the sponsor will be mortgage lender Home123. Mears had an option in his contract for 2006 that the team picked up, removing him from the free-agent market.
Ganassi's planned 2006 lineup -- Jamie McMurray, Mears, Sorenson and David Stremme -- will have two rookies, and all four drivers are under 30 years old with just one Nextel Cup win among them (McMurray in 2002).
Stremme, 28, will replace Sterling Marlin, who is being let go at the end of the season.
McMurray has signed to drive the No. 6 Ford for Roush Racing in 2007 and, by announcing it so early, had hoped to get Ganassi to let him leave early. The car owner has been heavily scrutinized for refusing to do so.
• LVMS BULLRING -- NASCAR Super Late Model driver Rich Attisani has been fined $250 and suspended for one race by officials at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for running into the back of another driver's car during a caution lap at the Bullring on Saturday night during the NASCAR Weekly Series. ...
Super Late Models top Saturday's schedule that includes racing in Late Models, Chargers, Legend Cars and IMCA Modifieds divisions. Racing begins at 7:15 p.m.
• MOTORCYCLES -- Fastrack Riders and WERA West motorcycle road racers will compete Saturday and Sunday on the 2.5-mile road course inside Las Vegas Motor Speedway's tri-oval. For more information, call (949) 212-7325.
• BUSINESS -- Mike Yurick, a former operations director at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, has been named senior director of operations at California Speedway in Fontana, Calif.
Yurick takes over the post Monday and will oversee operations and facility maintenance departments at the Southern California track. He has spent most of the past two years as president of Riverside Motorsports Park, a planned, 1,250-acre multipurpose motorsports complex in northern California.
• OPEN WHEEL -- A.J. Foyt will switch from Toyota to Chevrolet engines in the No. 14 car driven by grandson A.J. Foyt IV for this weekend's Indy Racing League event at Kentucky Speedway. ...
IRL rookie Tomas Enge has been cleared by IRL officials to compete this weekend in Kentucky after missing the last two races because of injury. He suffered fractures to his T-12 and L-1 vertebrae during an accident at Nashville Superspeedway on July 16.
