Reed Sorenson won't verify driving No. 43 car, but respects its history
Reed Sorenson says everyone will have to wait for a final announcement before he'll talk about driving the No. 43 NASCAR Sprint Cup entry made famous by Richard Petty, but he admits that it would be a pretty amazing car number to take over.
Sorenson is part of the alignment of drivers for the new team that will be formed by the planned merger between Petty Enterprises and Gillett Evernham Motorsports. While team Chief Executive Officer Tom Reddin has said that Sorenson will drive the No. 43 this season, the driver is hesitant to make that official. Still, he said that it would be quite a job to land.
"Well, it's kind of hit me all at once here," said Sorenson, who drove for Chip Ganassi Racing full time from 2006 through 2008. "It's going to be pretty awesome. Like I said, it's the only thing you could say about it. It's going to be cool. Richard was at the track the other day when we were testing, which was awesome to have him there. I think he's going to be around all year long. He's a real hands-on guy. He likes to know what's going on with the cars, with the drivers and everything like that.
"I think if you ask anybody that's grown up racing or anybody that's in racing if they would drive the No. 43 in the Cup series, I'm sure everybody would say yes. I'm excited about it. I think everybody on the team is, as well, whether it be the tire guy or the guy working up at the desk. I mean, it's an honor, I guess you could say, to represent the 43, the number, what it means. Hopefully we can get it back into victory lane."
Sorenson says he's not too concerned about issues with sponsorship. The new group has primary sponsorship for two full-time Cup teams and limited sponsorship for the third. It also hopes to run a fourth car on a part-time basis. Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler have been announced as drivers for the organization this season, and it is likely that AJ Allmendinger could drive the fourth car on a part-time basis.
Sorenson believes that his team is set.
"I think everything's situated now," he said. "But I don't think I'm supposed to announce the sponsors yet. I think they want to do that. We have a pretty good lineup. They announced the Air Force already, which is actually a cool deal. Get to go up in an F-15 in a week or so. Looking forward to that. Then we got actually, I think, a total of five sponsors.
"It's going to be pretty cool. I think it's going to be fun representing all the sponsors we have for next year. I think everything's settled now. They had to get rid of some engine employees and things like that because we don't have the clients that they had. Petty was leasing motors from them. So was Robby Gordon. They don't have that business anymore, so they had to lay off a few people, just like most race teams did this year. I think they're done with that.
"They've shuffled crew members around. I think they're still looking for a crew chief maybe for the 19 car. I think everything is set on our team and Kasey's team. They've shuffled a lot of stuff around, moved a lot of people around. I guess they're just trying to find some new success. But I think everything's kind of starting to settle down, and everybody knows where they're going to be for next year."
