TALLADEGA, Ala. – Whether you were at the race track or watching NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying from Talladega Superspeedway at home, it would have been easy to do a double-take when Premium Motorsports driver Reed Sorenson sat a top of the scoring pylon.
Known for their resilient effort to never give up, rather than their on-track performance, Premium Motorsports and Sorenson had to beat one car in order to make the field for Sunday’s Hellman’s 500, but they did more than just beat one car, they defeated all of them in first round qualifying at least.
After circling his No. 55 Premium Motorsports Toyota around the 2.66-mile superspeedway in a time of 49.324 seconds at 194.145 miles per hour, Sorenson outpaced drivers Ryan Reed, Matt DiBenedetto, David Gilliland, and even Ryan Blaney all whom he had to beat to earn a starting spot for his 11th appearance at Talladega.
The gamble worked, but at a cost.
Opting to use a pure qualifying setup rather than a traditional conservative and raceable setup, Sorenson will likely have to head to the garage for adjustments to his car to run the full race – rather than contend for his 16th top-10 of his career.
The 30-year-old driver has 10 Cups starts at Talladega with a best finish of 10th in 2007 driving for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.
Sorenson wasn’t as successful in Round 2 of Sprint Cup Series qualifying after the Peachtree, Georgia native qualified 12th more than a second behind pole winner Martin Truex Jr.
Even though the team earned their season-best start of 12th on Saturday afternoon, their performance in Round 1 from a lower budgeted team like Premium Motorsports certainly grasped the attention of many – and instead of sitting at home on Sunday, Sorenson will make his 258th Cup start and see what it delivers.
With Sorenson’s lap, David Gilliland, driving a third entry for Front Row Motorsports was the lone DNQ (did not qualify) for Sunday’s Chase elimination race, where the field of 12 Chase contenders will be narrowed down to 8 after 188 laps.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
