Sorenson in 41 next season--full time Cup run

[TexasRaceLady]

Found this at Yahoo sports. Not sure of it's validity, but it does makes sense.
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Sorenson to run Cup schedule in fourth Ganassi car

By JENNA FRYER, AP Motorsports Writer

August 11, 2005

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Reed Sorenson, a hotshot 19-year-old Busch Series driver, will run a full Nextel Cup schedule next season in a fourth team for Chip Ganassi Racing, two people within the team told The Associated Press on Thursday.

A formal announcement was scheduled for Friday 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.

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 scored the last victory for the team in 2002 when he was filling in for an injured Sterling Marlin.

Marlin is being let go at the end of the season and replaced by the 28-year-old Stremme, who has risen through Ganassi's driver development program and is currently eighth in the Busch Series standings.

Sorenson is also a part of Ganassi's development program and has taken off since moving to the Busch Series this season. He has two victories and is locked in a tight battle for the series championship. He is now third in the standings, 104 points behind defending series champion Martin Truex Jr.

In addition to his move to Nextel Cup next season, Sorenson will continue to race the No. 41 in the Busch Series. It's a common strategy for younger drivers, who use the extra track time to prepare for the Cup races.

Mears, meanwhile, had been courted by several other teams. Although he is winless in his three seasons with Ganassi, Mears is considered highly marketable with the potential to be one of NASCAR's elite drivers. He's shown considerable improvement in his three seasons and is coming off a sixth-place finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend.

Ganassi has now doubled the size of the team he formed in 2001, his first year in NASCAR, when he fielded just two cars. And adding a fourth car sheds light on his refusal to let McMurray out of his contract next season, as McMurray has requested.

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, with garage insiders wondering why he wouldn't just speed up Sorenson's career and give him McMurray's seat in the No. 42.

But the creation of a fourth team with a full-time sponsor means Ganassi will have to look outside for a new driver when McMurray does leave. Holding him to his original deal gives Ganassi an extra year to find the replacement.

Updated on Thursday, Aug 11, 2005 6:41 pm EDT

 

[majestyx]

That seems to be the case, TRL. It's also posted on thatsracin.com that Ganassi has resigned Casey Mears. thatsracin.com article

Ganassi re-signs Mears, adds fourth team

Reed Sorenson to run Nextel Cup and Busch Series in 2006

By JIM UTTER

ThatsRacin.com Writer


WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Chip Ganassi Racing has exercised an option to retain driver Casey Mears, and in addition, will field four Nextel Cup teams in the 2006 season, ThatsRacin.com has learned.
A formal announcement of Ganassi's retention of Mears, as well as plans to add an additional Cup team, is expected Friday at Watkins Glen International.

Mears, who has driven Ganassi's No. 41 Dodge since he joined the organization in 2003, will move to another car whose number has not yet been decided, while current Busch Series driver Reed Sorenson will take over Mears' No. 41, sources confirmed.

Earlier this season, Ganassi team manager Tyler Epp said the team would keep Sorenson in the Busch Series in 2006 – and it will.

Sorenson will drive most – if not all – of the 2006 Busch season as well as compete for rookie of the year honors in Cup, sources said.

The move will give Ganassi four drivers under the age of 30 in Cup next season - and two rookies (Sorenson and David Stremme). Among the four, only Jamie McMurray holds a Cup victory.

Mears, 27, has two poles and two top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in 93 Cup starts. He is 24th in points this season. Mears, is the son of former IndyCar and off-road driver Roger Mears and the nephew of Hall of Fame IndyCar star Rick Mears.

Casey Mears previously competed in the Indy Lights Series, where he won at the Grand Prix of Houston in 2000.

Mears finished fourth in his CART (now Champ Car) series debut in 2000. In 2001, he earned two top-fives in four CART races after replacing the injured Alex Zanardi. Mears made his full-time NASCAR debut in the Busch Series in 2002.

Sorenson, 19, is in his rookie season in the Busch Series, but already has two wins and is third in points, trailing series leader Martin Truex Jr. by 104 points.

In 2003, the native of Peachtree City, Ga., became the youngest driver ever to win rookie of the year in the American Speed Association. That year, he finished fourth in points.

In only his second start in the Automobile Racing Club of America series, Sorenson won at Michigan International Speedway in June 2004.

 

[Lap3Forever]

I got a felling reed will wind up like Casey Atwood, and many more. He done good jumped the gun and now is a no body.

Anyone remember Buckshot Jones? he did the same thing.

 

[esorlxaw]

Lappy, I hope not, but i think you might be right...what has ganassi done in the past three years? Not a damn thing.

 

[shadowflames]

yeah he just might get burn, its a lil bit too soon for him to be at the cup level..but you never know..

 

[esorlxaw]

of course ganassi has stuck by his young guns pretty well (even when they decide to leave him) I suppose that could play out well for him, especially if Ganassi can get his cars a little bit more competetive.

 

[D.E.I Fan]

i think it is good for sorenson to have a full time cup ride. he has done good at bush series this year and i think he will have some good years with ganassi.

 

[muggle not]

I think there are too many young guns being brought up too soon and there has been some dilution in the experience/talent level in Nascar. Of course it all goes with the new direction that Nascar has taken.

 

[GoDJ]

I agree with that. I'd love to see Frank Kimmel get in a good car and see what he could do. He wins the ARCA series almost every year. He got a ride for a few races a couple of years ago, but it was a sucky ride and he didn't do much. However, he's an older guy and will probably not get another chance.

 

[wolfcub]

I think Gannassi is holding on to McMurray just to be spiteful. McMurray obviously did not know till the announcement what the deal was based on the story at NASCAR.com. I said it before, Ganassi is an ARSE!!!!