Sabates: Sorenson likely headed to Gillett Evernham

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Sunday, August 24, 2008
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Geoff Burke
Getty Images for NASCAR

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Reed Sorenson appears headed to Gillett Evernham Motorsports to drive the No. 10 car next year, according to Chip Ganassi Racing co-owner Felix Sabates.
 
Sorenson, in his third year in Sprint Cup with the Ganassi team, said Friday that he did not have anything done yet for 2009, and Chip Ganassi Racing President Steve Lauletta said in a phone interview earlier in the day that they were still in talks with Sorenson.
 
Sorenson was 24th in points in 2006, 22nd in points in 2007 and 30th this year entering the Saturday race at Bristol. He was replaced for the road-racing event in Sonoma, Calif., earlier this year.
 
“From my point of view, his contract is over,” Sabates said. “I think Reed is today as good as he’s ever going to be. If somebody else wants to put him in a car, fine with us.
 
“We have a pretty good idea that he’s going to drive the 10 car. I wish him good luck.”
 
A spokesman for Gillett Evernham Motorsports said the team had no comment. Patrick Carpentier currently is the driver of the No. 10 car. Gillett Evernham also fields Cup cars for drivers Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler.
 
Sorenson’s departure would mean the team must replace a driver for the No. 41 car that has sponsorship from Target. The organization also must find a sponsor to fill 18 races for Juan Pablo Montoya, who found out this week that Texaco is leaving the sport.
 
“Texaco was a great sponsor for a long time, but for the last year they really have been disconnected with the sport,” Sabates said. “They have focused on other things. We really didn’t get much support from them. The money wasn’t all that great.
 
“For us, it was a blessing that we can go out and find somebody who can pay us some real money.”
 
Sabates said he had confidence that the organization will find a sponsor.
 
“Texaco was a liability for us because out of loyalty to them, we weren’t aggressively looking to replace them,” Sabates said. “We kept hoping they maybe would wake up one of these days and decide they need to be in NASCAR. The company, I feel bad for them, they only made $6 billion last quarter.
 
“The Texaco management is disconnected from racing. All the new people don’t know what a race car looks like.”
 
The outspoken owner also indicated that people shouldn’t think that NASCAR should do more to keep sponsors. Chevron, in making its announcement, said it was leaving the sport to focus monies on more local and regional marketing efforts.
 
“We didn’t try very hard,” Sabates said. “If we had really thought that we wanted them to stay with us, I would have had [NASCAR President] Mike Helton and [NASCAR CEO] Brian France on an airplane flying out to San Francisco to meet with them. To me personally, it’s not a big loss.”

Comments

17 responses to "Sabates: Sorenson likely headed to Gillett Evernham". Post a Comment.
  1. 1
    Richard Clower said:
    Aug 24, 2008 at 8:36 AM

    That Reed is as good as he will ever be? How would you know? Your cars are sub par and you are light years behind the other teams in nascar!
    Felix, you sound bitter and your making lame excuses for a pathetic organization.
    You guys will be out of racing real soon.
    Texaco was tired of running at the bac of the pack, you've had to shut down the 40 in sprint and the 42 in Nationwide.
    Face it, you're going broke!

    Run Reed Run!!!! Congrats to GEM on an excellent move to get a young and talented driver that will be loyal to the organization.

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  2. 2
    Patricia Christmann said:
    Aug 24, 2008 at 10:17 AM

    Boy, talk about "sour grapes" or "sore loser". Get a grip on reality, Felix.

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  3. 3
    Patricia Christmann said:
    Aug 24, 2008 at 10:17 AM

    Boy, talk about "sour grapes" or "sore loser". Get a grip on reality, Felix.

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  4. 4
    Ashley said:
    Aug 24, 2008 at 1:27 PM

    While I do agree with Felix's assessment of Reed, I find it appalling that he would say this stuff in public. It's petty and uncalled for. So this is what LOYALTY looks like to Ganassi/Sabates Racing! Amazing words from an organization that has had every "decent" driver in its' stable leave as fast as they could the last few years. Jamie McMurray and Casey Mears obviously had the right idea-- leave before Felix unceremoniously kicks you to the curb.

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  5. 5
    Brent Lazo said:
    Aug 24, 2008 at 1:30 PM

    And yet another driver consistently in the back of the pack landing a new ride for next year. It's amazing that the free agent market is so limited that guys like Mears and Reed Sorenson are the most sought after. I like Reed and I hope his performance is due to sub-par equipment but is moving from one struggling Dodge team to another really the answer?

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  6. 6
    Andrew Briscoe said:
    Aug 24, 2008 at 2:23 PM

    Can you blame Sorenson for jumping ship? They've closed one CGR Cup team this year because of lack of sponsorship, they lost half their 2009 Sponsorship with Texaco (I bet Texaco is celebrating leaving) for another car, and the rumor is their 3rd car's sponsor is leaving (Target would be smart to leave CGR, I think) even though it owns part of the CGR IRL team.

    When you have these circumstances around you, I'd bet you would want to leave.

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  7. 7
    Joyce Keith said:
    Aug 24, 2008 at 3:49 PM

    Reed Sorenson has proven when he has reliable equipment (like at Indy last year) that he can run with the best of them, but Ganassi's cars are junk. And Mr. Sabates is only in NASCAR today because Chip Ganassi was stupid enough to bale him out when he was going down the tube before. He's like alot of losers when they see someone with talent have enough of a losing proposition, they bad mouth the smart one who is heading for a better place. We were at Ganassi a few weeks ago and they are doing so well that their team store is only opened for 4 hr. a day and they have laid off like 70 people. I just hope Dario gets a chance somewhere else to or can get back in Indy cars. He's another talent screwed by these two losers. If Reed teams with GEM it will be awesome!!!

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  8. 8
    Richard Gabovitz said:
    Aug 24, 2008 at 7:46 PM

    I wish Reed would have enough guts to tell Sabates to stick it up his _ _ _ and walk out. Let's see how good the ALSO RANS can run with out him for the rest of the year. I'm not a Reed fan, but I like the kid and his demeanor. I hope he gets a good ride in 2009. I'm sure TEXACO is tired of wasting their CHUMP change on disrespectful teams like Ganassi/Sabates. Go back to IRL where you belong.

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  9. 9
    gary abbott said:
    Aug 25, 2008 at 5:35 AM

    hey felix dont be too concerned about what reed is doing we want to know what you are doing apart from blowing your mouth off lets see a bit more action from your team in 09 thats if you are all still around then the ball is in your park cobber

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  10. 10
    said:
    Aug 25, 2008 at 7:50 AM

    Sounds like Sabates is high on himself. No one is doing well there. I will be happy to see Reed move on. He has nothing to lose. It would be even better for Montoya to leave also. Sabates says he doesn't care about sponsors, like Texaco. I do. They didn't support him. Maybe they just have had enough of him. What good does he have to give? A #1***. Since he doesn't care, get out of NASCAR because others do care. Felix is not fit to have any relationships with people. Respect would be a start.

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  11. 11
    Richard Clower said:
    Aug 25, 2008 at 9:14 AM

    Joyce you are correct.
    Reed has always been a winner in whatever he has driven until he got in Sprint car with Ganassi.
    250+ wins in Qtr midgets, 80+ wins in Legends, won 2nd ARCA start, won 11th Nationwide start and has 3 Nationwide wins.

    This guy can flat out drive a race car. GEM will give him that chance to shine.

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  12. 12
    Michael Murray said:
    Aug 25, 2008 at 10:16 AM

    Just as I claimed last week on the Reed deal he is all Vanilla and don't care how good or bad the equipment is he is a pack filler just like Casey Mears. Brent dead on! Reed has proven nothing just like his soon to be former car owner expressed. Others this year have done a lot more with less. Folks I just don't understand were all this praise comes from for Reed? Face it he now will have to race in on time in 09' and expect him to run no better than what he as done to this point in his Cup career. Sub pair at best

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  13. 13
    Chazzo Ozzahc said:
    Aug 25, 2008 at 11:01 AM

    Sub-par driver moving from one sub-par team to another. "pack filler" , i like that.

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  14. 14
    Marvin Ragan said:
    Aug 25, 2008 at 12:32 PM

    Don't underestimate Reed's talent. Put him in a good car and you will see him win races. Regardless of how good any driver is, they cannot win in sub-par equipment, which is what Reed has had from the beginning with Ganassi. Moving on will be a great plus for Reed.

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  15. 15
    Nascar Fan said:
    Aug 25, 2008 at 3:21 PM

    Hey Andrew Briscoe:
    Can you clarify your comment
    "and the rumor is their 3rd car's sponsor is leaving (Target would be smart to leave CGR, I think) even though it owns part of the CGR IRL team."

    What 3rd car and who are you saying owns part of the CGR IRL team?

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  16. 16
    Jay said:
    Aug 25, 2008 at 9:34 PM

    Sabates is burning his bridges. If I'm not mistaken, his ownership/associate role with the team runs out in the next couple of years. When Ganassi bought the team, he had like a 5 year deal to stay as an advisor or something like that.

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  17. 17
    said:
    Aug 28, 2008 at 8:25 AM

    Maybe all Reed needs is chance in a much better car. There seems to be a lot of pack fillers. Some of those most likely have good equipment. As for Sabates, he should take a class on communication. His attitude makes me even more happy that Reed, Stremme, and the others before moved on.

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