Reed Sorenson: NASCAR's Next Phenom That Almost Was

Summary

The Dale Jr. Download (June 10, 2026)

Reed Sorenson: NASCAR's Next Phenom That Almost Was

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Episode Overview

On this episode, Dale Earnhardt Jr. welcomes Reed Sorenson, one-time superstar prospect and former NASCAR Cup and Xfinity (O'Reilly/Busch) Series driver, for a candid conversation about Sorenson’s journey through racing. The pair trace Reed’s rise as a teenage phenom, the weight of industry expectations, flashes of brilliance, and the tough twists that steered his professional life. Reed opens up about moments of triumph, disappointment, career pivots, and racing’s often-unforgiving business realities. The conversation blends technical insights, behind-the-scenes stories, and honest reflection on what it takes (and what it costs) to chase a dream at NASCAR’s top levels.

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Early Career: Racing Roots and Rapid Success

Quarter Midgets and Grassroots Fun

• Reed’s dad, a lifelong dirt bike racing enthusiast, transitioned into dirt and asphalt late models, stopping once Reed began to chase his own racing dreams.
  • “When I started racing, he pretty much stopped almost at the same exact time.” – Reed (04:55)
• Started in quarter midgets at age 6 in Georgia—by age 8, he was traveling nationally.
• Reed cherishes grassroots memories, camaraderie, and the absence of pressure he’d feel later:
  • “There was pressure, but not like as you felt as you got older…you go run a race and then go hop on your bike and go ride the bike around with your friends…” – Reed (06:23)

Becoming a Regional and National Legend

• Won national championship in ‘97, moved to Legends cars (with special approval from Ken Reagan at only 12).
• Notched regional and national titles, capturing major wins—most famously a $10,000-to-win Legends race at Albany, Georgia:
  • “As a kid, $10,000 to me was a million…I bought a dog with it.” – Reed (12:28)
• Amassed 84 wins in two years, dominating the Thursday Thunder Legend series.
• Dale recounts the energy, efficiency, and limited adjustability of Legends cars—valuing the hands-on learning for young drivers.

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Jump to Late Models and the ASA: Path to Professional Racing

Late Model Learning

• Entering late models at 16, primarily at Senoia and Lanier, in a hand-me-down car from Jody Ridley.
• Limited late model starts before jumping to ASA.
• “We kind of ran in Florida, Georgia…we didn’t run a whole lot before I got into ASA though.” – Reed (13:54)

Breaking Through in the ASA

• Family-run operation, bought a car from Joey Clanton’s team, got technical help from friends and Port City Race Cars.
• Reed recalls packed, ultra-competitive fields, likening ASA to today’s Cars Tour:
  • “You show up…and there’s 25, you know, badass winning cars…” – Reed (15:23)
• Quickly tasted success: Seven top 10s, fourth at Irwindale, sharing rookie experiences and the importance of preparation.
• Ran full-time in 2003 (fourth in points), catching the eyes of NASCAR.

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Next Phenom: The Ganassi Development Deal & Busch Series Stardom

Scouted by Lauren Raniere

• Lauren Raniere, famed for identifying talent, connects Reed to Chip Ganassi after watching ASA performances on TV.
• Raniere’s support—financial and advisory—keeps Reed’s career afloat just as his family’s budget runs out.
  • “My parents were going to be done. Financially, like, they can’t do anymore. So when Lauren Raniere found me, that helped us…” – Reed (20:38)

The Weight of Hype

• Dale draws comparisons to other much-hyped young drivers (e.g., Casey Atwood), and Reed acknowledges the sudden shift from obscurity to “everyone watching.”
  • “There was a big buzz around you…Do you recall that?” – Dale (26:33)
  • “I think I felt it…More people knew who I was and what was going on.” – Reed (28:07)

Rapid Rise in the Busch (O’Reilly) Series

• Ran select ARCA and Busch races in ‘03-’04. By ‘05, full-time with Ganassi, winning at Nashville and Gateway, finishing fourth in points.
• Surprised by quick success, but kept grounded by regular top-10 expectations due to good cars and strong relationships with crew chief Brian Pattie and spotter Lauren Raniere.
  • “We expected every week to be in the top 10…and if we weren’t, we were disappointed.” – Reed (33:06)
• “We never had a weekend that said, ‘We’re not as good as them.’” – Reed (34:42)
• Lost rookie-of-the-year to Carl Edwards in a competitive field.

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Cup Series: Highs, Heartbreaks, and Team Turbulence

Sudden Cup Call-up & Ganassi’s Struggles

• After only one full Busch season, Reed jumps to full-time Cup in 2006.
• Ganassi’s NASCAR program lagged behind its IndyCar success—consistent speed was elusive despite flashes of brilliance.
  • “Chip’s Cup program was never great…it wasn’t because of lack of effort…We just kind of had a roller coaster…” – Reed (37:12)
• Worked with “gunslinger” Jimmy Elledge as crew chief—innovation, clashes with engineering, wild setups, and memorable Indy car stories.
• Notable moments: winning the pole at Indy after a prior-year crash, battling through inconsistent performance.

The Decision to Leave Ganassi

• At 2008’s end, Ganassi offers a 3-year extension, but Sorenson jumps to Gillette/Evernham in search of better equipment—a move he later questions.
  • “Probably should have [stayed], but I thought…to go to Gillette’s was the right one. That was supposed to be a three-year deal as well and ended up being one.” – Reed (42:44)
• “Strictly a competitive mindset…I just thought this team seemed to have maybe better potential to run.” – Reed (43:31)

Downturn and the Harsh Realities

• As Gillette/Evernham collapsed and merged, Sorenson is left scrambling, finishes out a disastrous year mainly to keep mechanics employed.
• Multiple abbreviated rides followed—Braun, Red Bull, Richard Petty, Levine Family, Tommy Baldwin—interspersed with start-and-park gigs for budgets’ sake.
  • “The start and park thing was not something I was proud of doing but…it paid okay…people…oh my God you’re not there. Out of sight, out of mind.” – Reed (56:04)

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The Xfinity (O’Reilly) Series: One Last Shot

• Turner Motorsports proved the last robust, competitive shot—Sorenson ran at the front, won at Road America in 2011, was third in points late in the year.
• Abruptly “let go” five races before the finale for reasons never fully explained.
  • “I was in tears…we had worked so hard to put ourselves in that position…I still to this day don’t fully understand it.” – Reed (49:56)
• Lost the championship campaign, never to have another real title opportunity.

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Later Years: Survival, Perspective, and Spotting

Making It Work at the Back

• For much of the 2010s, Reed patched together Cup starts with underfunded teams, often with “finishing goals” to hit the budget (e.g., finishing 27th would mean financial success for certain teams).
• “There was a pen and paper with how much we’re spending and what we’re allowed to do.” – Reed (59:35)
• Ran on used tires, made the best of equipment, and “not being in the way” often mattered more than chasing wins.
  • “A lot of people have never been in a slow car…how hard it is.” – Reed (59:35)

The Transition: Letting Go of Driving

• By 2020, after COVID and the arrival of the Next Gen car, opportunities dried up.
• Transitioned to spotting, mainly for Josh Williams in Xfinity.
  • “I didn’t pick it, so that makes it even more difficult…it was a rough nine years…the competitiveness of you kind of gets lost…you’re just there making a living…” – Reed (67:20)
  • “Mentally, I turned it into a positive and tried to enjoy myself… There was a lot of positives that were kind of hidden in there.” – Reed (68:03)

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Reflections, Regrets, and What’s Next

Racing’s Lingering Itch

• Sorenson and Dale Jr. swap stories on fearing “getting beat” at grassroots races later in life, self-doubt, and how pride can get in the way of just having fun behind the wheel.

  • “I was afraid of getting beat…then I saw Chase Elliott go try [something new], got his ass kicked…‘I need that attitude’…should have did this 10 years ago…” – Dale Jr. (75:18)

• Reed considered occasional late model or legends starts, but life with kids (baseball, dance) and a busy spotting career keep him busy. Still, the racing fire never fully goes out.

The Next Chapter: Family, Spotting, and Goals

• Sorenson wants to “level up” to a full-time Cup spotting gig before stepping away.
  • “I haven’t really got a good Cup spotting gig yet, so I’d like to do that before I get out of the sport.” – Reed (80:57)
• Family is front-and-center: wife, two kids (7 and 10); vacation dreams include Alaska.
• He shares a desire to enjoy the “next 10, 12 years…and make sure the kids are in a good spot.”

Preserving Racing Memories

• Reed and Dale swap stories about memorabilia, old race cars, and the generational nature of racing artifacts. Reed’s prized possession: a helmet autographed by friend/teammate Dan Wheldon before his passing.
  • “That’s my coolest helmet…” – Reed (92:09)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On growing up racing (06:23):
  Reed Sorenson: “You go run a race and then go hop on your bike and go ride the bike around with your friends and come back and race and then go goof off again…”

• On ASA competition (15:23):
  Reed Sorenson: “You show up to the racetrack and there’s 25, you know, badass winning cars. Yeah, yeah.”

• On quick success in the Busch/O’rilley series (33:06):
  Reed Sorenson: “I don’t know if ‘not that hard’ is the right word…other than I can do this and racing against…two of the guys you just named, and…it’s like, ‘Hey, I can race with these guys.’”

• On Cup Series struggle (37:12):
  Reed Sorenson: “While I was there, Chip’s cup program was never great…and we just kind of had a roller coaster of trying to get better…It was a lot of hard work…and it wasn’t from lack of effort or there. There was nothing we. Anybody did wrong. We just were struggling.”

• On the infamous sudden firing (49:56):
  Reed Sorenson: “I was in tears, to be honest, because, like I said, we had worked so hard that year to put ourselves in that position. And those are the guys I’ve had for two years. Like, those are my guys. Like, what do you mean you’re gonna...”

• On out-of-sight, out-of-mind (56:16):
  Reed Sorenson: “If you stay home, people are oh my God, you’re not there. Out of sight, out of mind…”

• On moving on (68:01):
  Reed Sorenson: “Mentally, I turned it into a positive and I tried to enjoy myself…having working for Jay [Robinson] he treated me very good, enjoyed working for him. So there was a lot of positives that were kind of hidden in there. You just had to bring them out.”

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Reed Sorenson’s racing start, Legends, and late models: 04:20 – 13:54
• ASA story & shift to NASCAR pipeline: 14:10 – 21:03
• Development deal with Ganassi / rising hype: 18:41 – 26:33
• Bush/O’Reilly Series breakout, wins, & confidence: 32:22 – 34:42
• Cup series call-up, Ganassi, team struggles, and new car stories: 34:42 – 42:44
• Moving to Gillette/Evernham, aftermath, and career fallout: 42:58 – 49:56
• Xfinity (O’Reilly) resurgence and firing mid-title chase: 47:12 – 51:01
• NASCAR survival jobs, underfunded teams, and “the grind”: 55:25 – 67:20
• Personal transition: no more driving, becoming a spotter: 65:02 – 70:05
• Reflections on racing, memorabilia, and family priorities: 72:06 – end

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Final Thoughts

Dale Jr. and Reed Sorenson deliver a nuanced, sometimes bittersweet look inside racing’s “other side”: the pressure of potential, the hard realities when things don’t break right, and the dignity in working to stay afloat. Sorenson’s path is extraordinary not just for its high points, but for the perseverance and perspective he’s gained. In truth, his is a career that speaks for countless drivers whose names flashed brightly—and whose stories remain unfinished.

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“People are gonna be glad to hear you’re out there kicking ass. And now hopefully they'll give you a hard time about trying to get back in a race car. I love seeing guys like you get out there and do it another time or two.”
– Dale Jr. (95:31)

Transcript

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[Dale Jr.]

The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media.

[Reed Sorenson]

You're Dale Jr. Should I say it? It's Dale Jr. Podcast.

[Dale Jr.]

I gotta say it. Hey everybody, it's Dale Jr. Back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. We got a great guest for you today. Reed Sorensen is going to come in here and talk to us about his career racing cars. Reed was a, you know, kind of a, a phenom or, or there was a lot of hype around him when he was coming through the ASA ranks. I remember this, I remember hearing on the tv, this guy's in the, you know, Chip Ganassi pipeline. This guy's getting support and recognition from cup level owners and he might be the, you know, the, the next kid up into the, the Bush Series. At the time it was real and there was some, there was some big, big excitement, energy around, around what he might become now. He would get into the O'Reilly series or the Bush Series, win some races. But is when he got to the cup level, things just didn't, did not go well. Want to talk about that? Want to get his version of events and see kind of where he thought things turned sideways. He's, he's a good dude. I've, I've known him a long time. Easy going, not a, not going to ruffle feathers, not going to make waves. And maybe, you know, that was probably to his detriment at times. He kind of let, you know, get pushed around a little bit maybe in some of the negotiations or I don't know. I know, don't, I'm just kind of assuming but I don't, you know, didn't feel like when he needed to push back or he needed to like, you know, be aggressive on his future or his next opportunity maybe just. I don't know, just didn't have. Have that extra gear. But we're going to find out. It's going to be great to talk to him. I've seen him around the racetrack. I know he's spotting, doing some work there and staying pretty busy, but let's see what he's been up to. This episode is presented by Arby's. New meat in 3 bucks. Get more meal for your money At Arby's. We have the meats. Let's bring Reed into the studio. First thing I want to ask you out of the gate, a buddy of mine just brought this up. 2016 dega. You're in a premium car. You go out and qualify first, or in the first round of qualifying, you went out and set it on a pole, and then you. Nothing nefarious going on. You go out in the second round, and you're running right where the premium car traditionally runs. What did you do to the car to make it go out there and sit on the pole in the first round?

[Reed Sorenson]

I did not do anything.

[Dale Jr.]

Do you know anything about it?

[Reed Sorenson]

I do not. It was fast. Yeah, I know. We had to come in and change fluids and everything. After one lap, I took one lap of green, and then we pitted immediately. And I know NASCAR was over there, and, you know, oh, when the race began. When the race began, like, I had to. They said this oil can't make it past one lap or two or whatever. So we came in immediately, and it took 10 laps or something like that to change all the fluids. And I think NASCAR took the airbox and all that good stuff, but. Oh, gosh, no. I didn't do anything different as far as driving. I knew it was faster because it was bottoming out.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. I thought you maybe knew what they had done to the car to make.

[Reed Sorenson]

No, it was fast. Pat Tristan was a crew chief. You need to get him in here.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. So, Bradley reed Sorenson, born February 5, 1986, in Peachtree City, Georgia. Your dad was a racer?

[Reed Sorenson]

He was.

[Dale Jr.]

What did he race?

[Reed Sorenson]

So my dad grew up racing dirt bikes, and that was kind of his passion. Still is today. Uh, every week, I'll be on the spotter stand. He's texting me the. You know, the. The running order of the supercross, or now they're in moto. Then he got into dirt, light models and a little bit of asphalt, late models. Um, he actually ran one bush race at Lanier. You know where is.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

Um. And if I'm correct, Jeff Gordon Won in the Baby Ruth car, that race. And I think my dad finished 13th, but that's where he ran late models, so he knew the track like the back of his hand. And, yeah, he ran. He ran one race, but when. When I started racing, he pretty much stopped almost at the same exact time. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

What type of racing did you get involved in? Quarter inches out of the gate. Where were you racing that at?

[Reed Sorenson]

Well, we started out in. In Georgia there, and at 6 years old, but by the time I was 7, 8, we were traveling all over the country. Yeah. Not just the Southeast, but we would go how we raced in Vegas. We raced in Vancouver, Canada, for one of the grands, you know, all over the country. Technically, not so much like in the middle of the country, but east coast and west coast, they had tons of races. And I ran three different classes. A lot of traveling.

[Dale Jr.]

Man, when you look back on that part of your life. I was joking with Connor Zillich this week after Sunday. I said he had a rough day. He said, man, this ain't no fun. I said, well, I hate to tell you this, but the grassroots parts, the. Probably the funnest of it all, I said, every. Every rung up the ladder, it's a little less fun. I said, so there you have that to look forward to. But, you know, when you think back over all the things that you got to do, how much fun were you having as a kid running that quarter midget?

[Reed Sorenson]

It was a lot of fun. Yeah, because at that time, there was pressure, but not like as you felt as you got older as a teenager and moving forward. So you go run a race and then go hop on your bike and go ride the bike around with your friends and come back and race and then go goof off again. And as a kid, you know, we always swam at the hotels. That was a big thing. And, you know, there was time where you goofed off, but you still had to focus on your racing. But you had both going on, and you saw your buddies at the. That you didn't see, you know, at school and stuff like that. It was like a whole separate group of friends. So, yeah, yeah, it was a lot of fun.

[Dale Jr.]

So what, you won a national championship in 1997, then you got into legend cars?

[Reed Sorenson]

Yes, well, we, you know, I raced quarter midgets from six to 12, I guess.

[Dale Jr.]

Got any idea how many races you won?

[Reed Sorenson]

I mean, it was. We ran, like I said, I ran three classes, and we ran all the time. Maybe my parents have that stat somewhere, but we won a lot of races. And, you know, just because I ran three classes, sometimes four, when. Because the Honda engine started coming around right when I was getting done with it. So that got popular because it was cheaper to run those Honda engines. You didn't have to have them rebuilt. They actually got faster the more you ran them. But interesting story about legends cars. Is supposed to be 14. And Ken Reagan actually more or less, is the one that got me approved down there at Atlanta motor speedway.

[Dale Jr.]

A lot of people don't know that about Ken.

[Reed Sorenson]

So.

[Dale Jr.]

Ken, I remember just to. For the people listening, Ken Reagan is the guy driving the 77 car when kale yarborough and Richard preddy are banging doors in the 1984 July Daytona race. Coming to the finish line. The yellow flag's out. It's the last lat. Come into the white and the yellow, and whoever wins is going to have chicken with the president of the United States because Reagan has landed. And David Reagan, the president. David Reagan. Or I'm sorry, Ken Reagan. Ken Reagan is in the 77 that they're going around as they're coming to the finish line. And Ken Reagan used to run cup all the time. And they're from the area of Atlanta, Georgia area, around there.

[Reed Sorenson]

South there. South there. Yep.

[Dale Jr.]

And he. Outside of his racing in the cup series back in the 80s, which he ran a limited schedule for many, many years, heavily involved in legends cars and helping still is people like you. Yes.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. And he did. And he. I don't know if you ever met him, but he's. He. He's fun to talk to him or two. Yeah. Yeah. And so you were supposed to be 14. I was 12 and I went out and my mom actually had driven a legends car. My uncle who bought one, had my mom and another woman driving a legends car for fun. So I got in that one and tested it. And we. We liked that better than the bandoleros because of the power, you know, the suspension, all that stuff.

[Dale Jr.]

Bendoleros don't have a suspension.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah, they just power your wide open all the way around almost. And anyways, in my dad's eyes, that was a better learning tool to move forward. And it was. So Ken got me approved before 14. And, you know, right off the gate there, we ran Atlanta motor speedway summer shootout here.

[Dale Jr.]

A little over track on the front straightaway.

[Reed Sorenson]

Right. And then there was tracks in Georgia. We ran, you know, three, eight miles linear. One of them, Senoia. But yeah, that was the legends car series was fun. We. We ran those, you know, during the summer, you'd run Three times a week because you'd run Tuesday here, Thursday at Atlanta and Saturday somewhere. But yeah, I actually saw Ken Atlanta race weekend because they gave an award out for the most popular driver deal in Atlanta, Marine Speedway. And it's. It's my award. So I got to meet. Meet the guy and. But Ken, yeah, he helped me out a lot to get in there and got me in the door a little bit early.

[Dale Jr.]

Who's working on this car?

[Reed Sorenson]

Legends car? Yeah, basically me and my dad. Yeah. Yeah, they were. I don't know how much you know about them. They're fairly easy to work on, which is great for someone at my age, you know, 12, 13 years old, to not screw something up.

[Dale Jr.]

They got a tire rule and some limitations. You can't do a lot of crazy things with brake pads and things like that. Springs and shocks. Pretty standard.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. And the biggest thing like during the summer is we ran a different gear every track, like even Charlotte. And it was two different gears, which you wouldn't think they would be. So you know, they have a big. We were in chunks of. That took. I don't know, for me as a kid, it took 30 minutes, 45 minutes to do it right. But that was something we had to do every week. And you know, during the summer we'd get back from here. You know, I couldn't drive. I couldn't help my dad drive. We'd get back at, you know, four or five in the morning where you just have that next day to get ready for Atlanta Mercury. That's if you don't have any damage, which we seem to. You could get more damage at Charlotte than you could at Atlanta. Yeah, tame. But. But yeah, I mean, myself and my dad pretty much did most of that. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

In 98, you started racing Legends 13 times. 13 times you won that year. And you were the regional. You won the regional championships Thursday Thunders Legend series out of Atlanta. You won the championship in the Young Lions division. The following year in 99, 30 wins. Thursday Thunder Legends series you won the championship in the semi pros division. You would continue with the Legends for two more seasons. 84 wins total over the course of those two years. Won the summer shootout in the Pro division in 2000 and 2002. You also won the championship with the Thursday Thunder Legend series in the pro division. And then finally graduating the late Models.

[Reed Sorenson]

There's two important races there on Legends. So we won. It was in Albany, Georgia. It was ten grand to win and which was a ton of money for a Legends car race. And when I Say that the first one I won. We won two of them out of the. I think they did three. And I was either 12 or 13. And we got a picture of me holding cash, you know, on the front straightaway. But that was in Albany. Pretty unique little racetrack, I think it was. It's probably a quarter mile of a little bit of banking. That was fun because as a kid, you know, $10,000 to me was a million. You know, I didn't know any difference. And I bought a dog with it. That's what I got, a dog with it. So that was my thing. But we won. We won that race twice, which was. Was pretty neat.

[Dale Jr.]

Damn.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

You are in High School, 16 years old. When you get in a late model car, assuming you ran linear predominantly, or. Where'd you race?

[Reed Sorenson]

We ran Sonoia, too, which is a dirt track now. I'm pretty sure Bubba Pollard's family owns it. Gotcha. Bubba himself, I'm not sure. But. So, like, where my parents live is not too far from snowy right there. And like I said, now it's dirt. But, yeah, I ran. It was kind of weird. I had a late model that we bought from Jody Ridley, which I'm sure, you know.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. No, badass.

[Reed Sorenson]

Well, so the car was old and rickety and, I mean, in rough shape, but the motor was awesome. Oh. So my dad pretty much bought the car for the motor, and it was a Ford, so it was a super late model. And, you know, places like Lanier and Sonoa. I mean, hell, you couldn't even get it wide open. Had so much power. And we ran down in Florida some. I know you had BJ in here recently. I raced against him, and, hell, I don't remember what track it was down there in Florida.

[Dale Jr.]

DJ Pretty solid.

[Reed Sorenson]

He was.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

But I remember racing against him, and, you know, I ran. We kind of ran in Florida, Georgia. We didn't run a whole lot before I got into asa, though. I didn't. I don't have a lot of late model starts. Yeah. So. And then we kind of jumped into asa.

[Dale Jr.]

How did that happen? So that's when I first heard about you, was the ASA deal.

[Reed Sorenson]

So we started, you know, trying to figure out what direction to go. And at the time, it was on tv. ASA racing was on tv and competition was good. The cars had those. I believe they're LS1 crate engines.

[Dale Jr.]

Yep.

[Reed Sorenson]

So realistically, they. They were. Financially, not too bad. It's, you know, because there's a family operation still, you know, Y' all run this yourselves? Yes. And you know, we had Joey Clan who was winning in the ASA that time. He actually worked for my dad when I was running quarter midgets. He was going to. I don't know if you know who Joey is. He ran the Bruco car in the Push series there and probably 05, maybe 04. No, probably 04. Anyways, circle back around. He was winning a bunch of races in ASA and we knew him and saw that direction and the competition in ASA at that time was awesome. You know, I was Butch Miller in there, Kevin Sawinski, Gary St. Amat, you know, just a whole list.

[Dale Jr.]

It's crazy.

[Reed Sorenson]

You show up to the racetrack and there's 25, you know, badass winning cars. Yeah, yeah. So I tested a bunch. We bought a car, used car.

[Dale Jr.]

Who'd you buy the car from?

[Reed Sorenson]

You know, it's Joey's team. Oh yeah, yeah. Steve Dale.

[Dale Jr.]

You tested first?

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah, well, we bought it and, and then just kind of made the decision we're going to do it. And, and I ran, I think to keep my rookie status six races or something like that and we did well and you know, we.

[Dale Jr.]

How do you consider, what do you contribute your ability, your success to like that. You ran seven top tens and your best finish of fourth at Irwindale and five flags. Um, the, you weren't full time but you, you're running good right out of the gate. That was the one thing that was interesting to me because you just mentioned, you just talked about how tough the series was. There was full fields every week, every car looked good, every car was well built, well maintained, fast. The competition was tight, close from, from first to last. There wasn't like a big variance of, of speed. You know, Gary St. Amat would run top five one week and 20th the next. You just could, you could. It reminds me a lot of the cars tour today where you show up to the racetrack and there's 28 fast race cars for sure. No one's slow, but you get in there and we're competitive right out of the gate.

[Reed Sorenson]

Well, we tried to make sure we did everything right because if, I mean, you know, even in the car store if you show up wrong, you ain't got to, you know, you won't have a chance. So we got some help from people we knew. My dad is fairly smart on race cars as well. I'll give him a lot of credit too. And we, my dad actually raced Port City race cars back in the day when I was 2 probably. And Harley, who just passed away, started Port City race cars up in Michigan. And he helped us out quite a bit. So we had help from people that my dad knew and things like that. But we tried to make sure we didn't overlook anything and that, you know, all the front end geometry was right. And I mean, we. We didn't show up with a piece of junk and I was just a hero, you know what I mean? We tried to make sure everything was right and done correctly and that I was prepared. And yeah, we just, we. We had a streak of good runs there and kept my rookie status. But Irwindale, did you ever get to run there? No, that's the first place for me that I had to run the top and everybody was running the bottom. It was a new track and, you know, everything I've raced, I'm used to painting the line, you know, and the top two or three were. Had moved up and they're like a car length off the wall. And then I moved up and like I finished fourth, I think. And we lapped almost up to seventh or eighth because there's only like four of us running the top up there. Yeah. So that was like the first place I remember, like actually moving up and changing grooves. So that was really cool.

[Dale Jr.]

Wow. You ran. You ran full season there in. In 2003. Had a best finish of second, fourth in the points and ran again in 04. And you got. That's when you kind of got linked up with Chip.

[Reed Sorenson]

Correct.

[Dale Jr.]

Ganassi. What you had Target as a sponsorship on your late model. You get your first win in the series at Charlotte. Finished fifth in the points. Talk about how you got a. You ended up signing a development deal with Chip. How did that come together?

[Reed Sorenson]

Lauren Rainier.

[Dale Jr.]

Really?

[Reed Sorenson]

Yes.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, Lauren Rainier is, you know, the son of Lanier that. That family that owned the 28, the Gray Ghost. Coolest paint scheme in all of history. And he still today is a facilitator of young talent, working predominantly with Chevrolet. And so that's fascinating. He's been doing that. He's had that role for a very, very long time. Being a bit of a scout.

[Reed Sorenson]

Correct. And he more or less found me, if you will. But I think it helped. Like I said, Asa was on tv. And so that the year before I linked up with Chip, my dad was still paying all the bills. And it was so going back to saying ASA was cheap. It wasn't that cheap. So it was still a struggle for my family to race. Probably spending more money than they should have to have me at the racetrack because Asa was, you know, I forget how many races, 20 maybe, or something like that. It was a professional racing series. It was with guys that would have four or five full time people. We had one and the rest were volunteers. So we were, we were to the point where my parents were going to be done. Yeah, financially, like, they can't do anymore. So when Laura and Rainier found me, that helped us that following year to get some funds to run the next year. And, yeah, he linked the whole deal up with, With Ganassi and, you know, that was. I did. I couldn't tell you the first time I met him. I think it was at a racetrack somewhere.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

Um, but yeah, I mean, I was, you know, that at that point, it's like, I'm actually going to get a shot to do this.

[Dale Jr.]

And you started to feel like, man, I see a. I see a pathway.

[Reed Sorenson]

Correct.

[Dale Jr.]

Dirty Mo Media has a new show coming out this Cowboy Life. It's featuring Tiffany and Jerome Davis. They are the PBR's royal couple and you won't want to miss it. Here's the trailer.

[Jerome Davis]

Bring the energy. Wake up.

[Dale Jr.]

I can tell that through all these stories, through all your, you know, your world championship. I know that in your head you've always said, I'm going to be a podcaster one day.

[Tiffany Davis]

You know, I hope that at the end of the day that it'll bring somebody that hasn't really been around this life that we live, and it brings them to a whole new world and somebody will say, dang, maybe them cowboys ain't so bad after all.

[Jerome Davis]

I think if you can bring some smiles. I love to hear Jerome's stories and just how he carries himself. So I'm all about a few. If people can get a grin out

[Dale Jr.]

of it, if they can smile a

[Reed Sorenson]

little bit, what's it gonna be like, Jerome, to have Tiffany as a co host to a podcast?

[Tiffany Davis]

Whoa, man.

[Jerome Davis]

See this gift of gab I have, maybe it'll come in a little handy on this deal.

[Tiffany Davis]

If I keep Tiffany quiet every now and then so she'll let me talk, we'll be in good shape.

[Jerome Davis]

The only bad thing is I'm gonna have to hear your stories that I've heard 100 million times. I'm gonna have to hear them another time.

[Dale Jr.]

And they just get better every time.

[Jerome Davis]

Yeah, they do get a little more added into them every time.

[Tiffany Davis]

I don't know why she puts up on me and why she helps living this life that we go through, but she does and she's awesome.

[Reed Sorenson]

It's March 14, 1998, from when they

[Dale Jr.]

open the gate to when you get hit. What do you remember from that?

[Tiffany Davis]

The bull I had that night was knock him out, John. And I'd been on him before, and he had hit me in the face in Vegas one time. So I knew that I had to really stay over the front end and try not to let him hit me in the face. As it worked that night, he got me rocked back and hit me in the face and knocked me out. When he did, I dove in the ground, broke my neck. Went from being at the top of my game to the worst part of my life, you know, all happened within a game. Gate opening at a bull riding.

[Jerome Davis]

I was mad at God because I was like, why did you do this to Jerome? He's a good guy. You needed him on your team out here.

[Tiffany Davis]

We were supposed to be getting married in May. Right after I got hurt. I was at the hospital, and I told Tiff. I said, I don't think this is going to work. You need to. We need to regroup. This is not the trail you need to be going down. And if she would have left that day, I wouldn't have blamed her. You know what I mean? And I never would have said a bad word about her.

[Jerome Davis]

I never gave thought about leaving. That wasn't an option because I still had Jerome.

[Tiffany Davis]

I couldn't talk her into it, so I was kind of glad she hung around. I'll be honest. I lived through it, and it just made me take tougher, and I was able to make a pretty good living at the sport. It's been good to me when I look around and see, you know, everything that's here today, it all comes from the love of the sport. I mean, everything I wanted to do had to do with being a cowboy.

[Jerome Davis]

What is going on with the Birds over there?

[Tiffany Davis]

You just messed this whole shot.

[Jerome Davis]

I'm going to redo it, but I could. The Birds messed the whole shot up, not me. I thought we was getting ready to get attacked.

[Tiffany Davis]

You're like that dog.

[Jerome Davis]

I thought the Birds was coming after us. There was so many of them.

[Tiffany Davis]

Just stay focused. It's going to really bring a new light to what this cowboy life's really about.

[Dale Jr.]

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[Dale Jr.]

So everybody's we, you know, we, I watched the ASA series on TV and we're starting to hear your name and we're starting to hear about this Chip Ganassi relationship and we're starting to hear that you're in this sort of pipeline, developmental deal. And so then we're all, I say we like the NASCAR industry or the, the, the folks like myself that are kind of, you know, just, you know, keep an eye on things. Start watching more ASA races to see because there was a big buzz around you. Do you, do you recall that there was a lot of, you know, when Chip sort of tapped you or tagged you as kind of like somebody in his, you know, maybe in his future plans. There was a. It was very similar to Casey Atwood. It was very similar to the hype around him, the excitement around him. This young kid that sort of. In this. You know, he's in this. He's got these connections with Hamilton and. And he's driving the Blue 43 at Nashville. And, you know, there was. There was just some excitement around you that was really, really cool. Do you remember the. The tension, I guess, you know, that. That shifted in like a year's time for you, where nobody really knew who you were except for the people in the ASA series racing with. And now all of a sudden, you know, Chip Ganassi and more people are paying attention.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah, I think I felt it. You know, my first race was at IRP there, and we qualified very well. I think it was third, maybe or fourth. So probably, you know, I ran there Atlanta, and I can't remember if we ran one more that year. But that's kind of when I started to feel, you know, I don't know what you call it. Just feel different. More people knew I was. And what was going on at that point. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

What was it like running in Atlanta, Charlotte, places like that for.

[Reed Sorenson]

In the Bush series? Yeah, well, you know, Atlanta, to get

[Dale Jr.]

out of the ASA car and the short track scene, and it was different.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. But our cars are really good. I remember Atlanta. We ran the ASA race. I think it was the day before I ran the Busch race and the ASA car. Kind of magic, like the truck series, like the center corner, speeds super fast, slow down, straight away, you know, wide open all the way around, you know, and then the bush car the next day, you're hanging on, you know, sideways. But we actually had a car that probably could have won that race. We had a loose wheel, but I think we actually maybe even led some laps in that race. Yeah. I'll never forget Matt. Matt Kins has let me buy in that race. I've never experienced that before. No one's ever let me buy in any race. Right. And I was like, oh, okay. You know, that's how these guys do this. Like, because I was. I was faster than him. And I'll never forget that. He let me by and then, you know, I'm sure he got back by me at some point because he was saving his tires. And I was just, you know, Atlanta, I was just getting after it and sideways through every corner, just burning the right rear off. Didn't know any better, but I Had a blast. And maybe Atlanta was probably one of the more fun mile and a half to get that. When, you know, one of your first Bush starts and it was fun, you ended up.

[Dale Jr.]

You ran some arc races, had some good success, and then you had a finish of fourth at Homestead in O'Reilly Series or the. The Bush Series for Chip Ganassi at the end of 2004. You're going to go full time in 05. So that pathway that you're talking about that you saw for yourself is a real thing. How old are you at the end of 2004?

[Reed Sorenson]

18.

[Dale Jr.]

And knowing what you know now, like, what would you go back and tell that kid that's getting ready to race that knows, hey, all right, next year I'm full time with Chip Ganassi, O'Reilly series or Bush series. What would you tell him?

[Reed Sorenson]

I mean, it's wild to think back because it's. It feels like some of that stuff was yesterday, but it's 20 years ago. And maybe just to slow down and just take it all in, because I feel like everything was moving so fast at that time, you know, it was just happening. And you, you know, you have the off season, next thing you know, it's Daytona, and it's like you're getting ready for the first full year. So my advice would be maybe just to kind of slow everything down a little bit. Yeah, that sounds kind of weird to say, but. Because you can't ever go back and do it. So. Yeah, I just feel like everything happened so fast that, you know, next thing you know, it's. You're halfway through the season.

[Dale Jr.]

Who was in your ear, advising you, supporting you, helping you with, like, you know, emotional challenges, you know, personal challenges. You go into your first year of anything at the NASCAR level, and, man, you run into some, you know, figurative walls. You run into some mental challenges and some emotional challenges. There's tough days that you don't know how to pull yourself up out of.

[Reed Sorenson]

Right.

[Dale Jr.]

Who was helping you with all of that?

[Reed Sorenson]

My parents. I mean, I'm still.

[Dale Jr.]

Even then.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah, even then. They came to a lot of races. You know, they. They'd worked their whole life to get me there.

[Dale Jr.]

So your dad's in your ear helping you?

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. And, you know, Lauren Raniere was my spotter.

[Dale Jr.]

Lauren's still part of that.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yep. And he spotted for me. So he was, you know, on a weekly basis because he's been around the business his whole life, too. And, yeah, I mean, those. He was my spotter. And then during the week, he. I'D lean on him. Brian Patty was my crew chief.

[Dale Jr.]

Yes.

[Reed Sorenson]

And he was another guy that I leaned on because he, you know, he had been around the sport, too, and been around racing his whole life, so I leaned on him quite a bit.

[Dale Jr.]

That first year, you dominated Nashville, winning your first race. You got another win at Gateway, fourth in the points. Carl Edwards got you in the rookie of the year. I know how that feels. Losing to Matt Cupbrook of the year.

[Reed Sorenson]

Who won that year. Was it Truex? Maybe?

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, I think you're right.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. So, I mean, it was a. It was a hefty group.

[Dale Jr.]

It was.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Good crop of young drivers. You know, you win. You win a couple of races. Are you thinking, damn, you know, this is not that hard? I don't know, you know, what's. What's your.

[Reed Sorenson]

I don't know if not that hard is the. It's the right word is, other than I can do this and racing against, like, two of the guys you just named, and it's like, I already know they're badass, you know, and I'm like, hey, I can race with these guys. And I remember that first year. Yeah. We expected every week to be in the top 10.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

Even if it was somewhere that I hadn't been to or whatnot. We expected to be top 10. And if we weren't, we were disappointed. And our cars are really good. They were. Yes. And there was very rarely a time that we showed up and we weren't at least okay. You know, we didn't show up. And we're 25th and left field. We always showed up at least okay. And a lot of times we showed up fast. And I mean, I remember, you know, going to Bristol, um, you know, back when we had practice and stuff like that, like when we would go do a mock run, like, I expected to be P1. Like, that's how, you know, aggressive our mindset was, is like, we expect this out of ourselves to be fast every week. And, you know, the competition was. Was really hard, but we felt like we had the equipment and, you know, and Brian did a great job with the cars, and they were fast. And, yeah, we expected a lot out of ourselves, but we rarely had a weekend to put us at doubt, you know, and it was so going back to what you said, this is easy. We never had a weekend that said, well, we're not as good as them. We never felt that way.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, you know, you would. You would have success in the O'Reilly series and then get called up to the cup side in 0706 06, you ran full time cup in 07062.

[Reed Sorenson]

First full year.

[Dale Jr.]

Really?

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. So it happened quick.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. So you had one year of O'Reilly.

[Reed Sorenson]

Correct.

[Dale Jr.]

And then you're in the cup car full time. You replaced Mears. Before Mears, Spencer was in the car. Chip's team was still trying to. Chip didn't at that point have like a. An A plus team yet. Spencer had some runs. There was some moments, and none of us. I don't think I'll say none of us. I won't put you in that bucket. But none of the people around that time really knew whether the car was better than it was. Jimmy was gonna. Jimmy Spencer, you know, and he would have a badass run at Bristol.

[Reed Sorenson]

And then I've seen some clips of that I kind of forgot. Like, Dan, he was run pretty good.

[Dale Jr.]

He would have a good run here and there. You know, when you're like, okay, how much is. How. How good is Jimmy? And how do you handicap the car? How do you know how good the equipment is? I'm always thinking about those things. I kind of think I know how good this driver is. So then that lets me know maybe the car is this good, the car's better or not as good. He's carrying the car, whatever.

[Tiffany Davis]

Right.

[Dale Jr.]

And we couldn't never really get a good bead on what Chip Ganassi's program was like, how competitive the cars were, how focused was he on the cars, comparable to what his indie program was. Because that was kind of his. His baby. Right. The indie stuff. And he was very successful with that

[Reed Sorenson]

and still is. Yes.

[Dale Jr.]

What he put in, what was necessary to get his cup stuff to where it needed to go, that was always kind of the things I thought about with his program back when Jimmy was driving. And then when Mears gets in there. Mears has some good runs. Jimmy Elledge was the crew chief on that car. So I paid a little bit close attention to it because jimm he was the father of my nieces and so forth. And so we had good relationships and always pulled for him. And he would. You and him would work together right

[Reed Sorenson]

out of the gate.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, a couple years together. So when you get into the cup car, you know, the statistics are there not. You know, it was a struggle for sure to make speed and figure it out. What was the. What was the biggest. Damn, this is different moment, you know?

[Reed Sorenson]

Well, just as I told you, the first year in the Bush Series, we were fast every week, and it came natural. And you Know, you never had doubt in yourself as a driver or the team, didn't have doubt. And you get in the Cup Series. And while I was there, Chip's cup program was never great. And it wasn't because of lack of effort. We had great people there. And, you know, Chip never cut any corners or anything. It's just the Cup Series is hard, you know, that being around it and, you know, because everybody else is working just as hard and not cutting any corners either. And we just kind of had a roller coaster of trying to get better. And, you know, we would show spurts of being fast and then might go a month with not being fast.

[Dale Jr.]

Right.

[Reed Sorenson]

And, you know, we just never could get a consistent, I think, base. And that wasn't just me. That was all the drivers. And, you know, David Straim moved up at the same time as I did. And we, you know, faced the similar issues just with not being as competitive as we wanted to be. And it was tough. I mean, the first year we. We didn't expect to go set the world on fire. Me being a rookie, the team not being where it should be. And we had. We did have some. Some good runs. And there was a few times where I thought we had a car that could win, Loudon being one of them. Dover. We ran. We always ran good at Dover. And so like I said, there was, you know, times where we were like, all right, our stuff's good here, but why aren't we good at these other. The next month of races? So it was. It was a lot of hard work. And like I said, we had great people there, and it wasn't from lack of effort or there. There was nothing we. Anybody did wrong. We just were struggling. Yeah. You know, so. Yeah, I.

[Dale Jr.]

It made me think of a moment. I've. I've got an apology for you for Fontana. I was trying to side draft you and knocked the less retire off your car, like the sidewall out of. Out of the left rear.

[Reed Sorenson]

When did you need a caution or something?

[Dale Jr.]

No, we were racing for position.

[Reed Sorenson]

Oh.

[Dale Jr.]

And I was trying to pass you, and I remember talking. I remember talking.

[Reed Sorenson]

How do you remember that?

[Dale Jr.]

I just came. It just came to me. I don't know. I don't. I don't. I'm. My memory ain't the best, but we were racing down the front straightaway and I tried to side draft you and touched your left retire and it knocked the sidewall out of it. And you. And you ended up going in the corner and getting out of shape. But I guess there Were those when you said, man, we had some good runs? I'm like, you did. You would have days where you'd be like, you know, you're running 8th, 10th, top 5, whatever, and something would happen or some, you know, some bad luck, maybe something on pit road or what have you. Jimmy two. And he'll appreciate this. Jimmy Elledge was a bit of a gunslinger.

[Reed Sorenson]

He was at times. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And even with the, you know, he was always chasing the trick that no one had figured out yet with front end setups. Yes.

[Reed Sorenson]

He found it a few times.

[Dale Jr.]

He did.

[Reed Sorenson]

Going back to New Hampshire.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. He. He had a different coal binding and all types of things that was. It was the wild, wild west back then.

[Reed Sorenson]

It was. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And Jimmy was pretty creative.

[Reed Sorenson]

He was. And he was good at it. You know, back then, two of the bodies were so big. And I do remember a time where there was some conflict of interest from engineering, from IndyCar side and our people in the NASCAR building, like what they were going to do to the bodies and difference of opinions, which is out of my control. I'm sure the driver standing back here. But I do remember that and I do remember Jimmy being involved in. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

In the debate.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yes.

[Dale Jr.]

How would your time at chips come to an end?

[Reed Sorenson]

So we ran three years and kind of more or less ran the same all three years. Like I said, there was glimmers of good running and Chip always treated me great throughout the whole time and never, never a bad time between myself and him other than we both wanted to run better.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

But I think, you know, any team that's not running well has that. So, you know, we did get the poll at Indy, which was, I think we could have had two years in a row with the same car, but I wrecked. And I guess it was 06. I wrecked. Speaking of Jimmy, this in memory. I'll never forget this. So you remember how I used to have the shift lights.

[Dale Jr.]

Yes.

[Reed Sorenson]

So at Indy, we're doing our mock runs and we were already top five on the board. I was a little tight. Just a little. So I come to 3 and 4 haul and ask. My shift light comes on like 15 carlinks earlier than the lap I'd already posted. I'm like, all right, it's gonna be badass.

[Commercial Narrator]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

Well, I went off in the one and just came out, backed it in, destroyed the car. Well, he had let, if I remember correct, like two and a half pounds out of both left sides. And I remember afterwards, I'm like, damn it, Jimmy. I was like, I just needed a Little bit.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. That's a bunch.

[Reed Sorenson]

So we, the next year, that was a place that we had to rebound and we, that's the year we got the pull.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

It's actually, I'm pretty sure it was the same car.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

We wrecked that car a few times and it was so fast every time. I don't understand that. Still never will.

[Dale Jr.]

I know you always have those cars. No matter how bad you treat them, they're always good.

[Reed Sorenson]

It was, it was good for Casey too. It gotten beat up all, all through the years. But going back to my time with Chip, we, you know, at the end of it, a lot of people don't know I had an option to stay there for three more years.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

And probably should have, but I thought the decision I made to go to Gillette's was the right one. That was supposed to be a three year deal as well and ended up being one. But a lot of people don't know I had a chance to stay with Chip for three years and like I said, Chip, Chip always treated me extremely fair with everything.

[Dale Jr.]

You had options on the table and you, you decided to go a different route, Correct?

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. And

[Dale Jr.]

let's remember the Gillette Evernham deal was promoted as this, like, man, this, this Gillette piece of the puzzle. They've got success in all these other things. Right. This is really going to take Gray's deal to the next level.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

I mean it's probably look great.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. And it was strictly from a performance side in my head because we had struggled for three years at Chips and like I said, it wasn't. I didn't think we had bad people or Chip didn't want to win. Like it was nothing like that. I was just like, this team seems to have maybe better potential to run.

[Dale Jr.]

Right.

[Reed Sorenson]

So it was strictly a competitive mindset to make that choice, which, you know, ultimately was maybe not the right one.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. That team merges with Yates in 2010 and you were released. How'd you hear, how'd you hear about the news when. How'd that go down?

[Reed Sorenson]

Well, I knew it was happening the year before.

[Tiffany Davis]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

I mean, it was just the end of the year was a disaster. I mean, they switched teams and they were going to shut down the team actually. And I would have not finished that year off. But they, you know, basically didn't pay me for portion of the year, but it kept all the guys employed. So that was the main focus for me is, is to keep, keep everybody their job at least to the, to the end of the year. So we finished out, but yeah, it was kind of the last third of the year. Kind of a disaster. Really?

[Dale Jr.]

Really?

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Are you scrambling to try to figure out what to do next?

[Reed Sorenson]

Yes. Yeah. I mean, at this point, you know, you're, you're lost because it's like I was just here, now we're here. It's like, what do we do next? And you know, I didn't have really an idea what was going to happen next, you know, and then as far as like, good rides open and things like that, it's. There wasn't a lot of options.

[Dale Jr.]

No. So you end up sharing a rally ride with, with Vickers at braun.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yes.

[Dale Jr.]

In 2010, um, you get. You'd eventually take over the entire season in that car, having runner up finishes at Nashville Gateway, and there's an opportunity for you to get to Red Bull.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. With Jimmy as a crew chief nonetheless. Did you know that?

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. No.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. So going back to the Braun thing, I was very appreciative Todd Braun, and I'd known him for a while and that, the opportunity he gave me like that year in 2010 kind of brought us, brought me back to, like I told you, we expected to be top 10 every week. It brought that mentality back. Yeah, I know it's a series down, but it still got your confidence back. And I was, you know, I was racing against Carl Edwards and Keselowski. I'm like, I'm right there with those guys. So I'm like, hey, you know, I can still race with these guys and these guys are winning on Sundays. So that kind of for me was a booster in confidence where it was almost down in the dumps. Yeah. And, you know, I'm sure you've been there before too. And it's, it's like you really start doubting everything about yourself. But that, that 2010 at Braun, you know, it's like we finished. I don't know how many top tens we had. It was almost every week. And that kind of helped reverse some of that. And. Yeah. And then getting the opportunity to run the Red Bull car with Jimmy was a lot of fun. And they, you know, they were kind of up and down too, as far as, you know, being competitive and whatnot. But we had some, we had some good runs. I remember Charlotte, there was one of our, one of our really good ones and we qualified sixth or seventh, but I remember I nailed 1 and 2 and screwed up 3 and 4, otherwise we probably could have the pole. But I messed up three and four. But yeah, Jimmy was fun to work With. He actually helped get me into that car, and that was fun. It kind of like rejuvenated me on, you know, I was running good in the. In the brawn car and then got to run that one as well.

[Dale Jr.]

You continued to. To race in the O'Reilly series. Turner Motorsports would acquire brawn racing. They'd switch to chevrolets. You ran full time with them in 2011. The $32 general car that we all remember really well. One at Road America. Back to victory lane. Several top five finishes leading the points. With five races to go in the season, your third in points, Turner's going to announce you no longer are driving the car.

[Reed Sorenson]

That wasn't good.

[Dale Jr.]

How'd that happen?

[Reed Sorenson]

You know, from what I was told, he. And he passed away. So I can't speak of what he has said or didn't. He didn't like something I said about the car at some point, it not being good.

[Dale Jr.]

But if you could go back to talk to yourself during that year in 2011, what would you tell yourself?

[Reed Sorenson]

Well, I don't know, because.

[Dale Jr.]

Do you think there's things that you did that you shouldn't have done or said?

[Reed Sorenson]

I want to start back at the beginning of that year. So I had Trent Owens as a crew chief. That's right. He's a rock star. Yep. And he's still crew chief. Yes. He's on the 16th.

[Dale Jr.]

That's right.

[Reed Sorenson]

I talked to him this week. But I put so much effort into that season because I was like, this is my chance to win a championship. And I was. You know, the shop was just right over here. Yeah. And I was there every day. And, you know, Trent was excellent, and him and I got along.

[Dale Jr.]

We tried to hire him here.

[Reed Sorenson]

Did you? Yeah. And around the same time, for whatever reason, he's a super calm guy, and he understood for me, like, he understood what I wanted out of the car. And we ran so good the year before. Like, we were prepared for 2011 to. To have a shot at the championship, which we did. So I had the same guys as I had had the year before. Great group of guys. And, you know, even all of them when that happened were like, what the hell? Like all my. All my guys I was with every week. It was very peculiar. I still to this day don't fully understand it. So to answer your question, I don't know what I would have done different to make that not happen, But I do remember, you know, talking to him like, hey, what? You know, let me finish this. You're trying to put so much Work into this.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

And it just didn't happen. Um, I'm saying that I didn't.

[Dale Jr.]

Was there. Was the conversations tense? Were they. Was he. That. I mean, how did his voice.

[Reed Sorenson]

I mean, how does it was that.

[Dale Jr.]

It was casually did this. Made this decision.

[Reed Sorenson]

It was the oddest thing I've ever experienced. But in saying that, I.

[Dale Jr.]

You had to been devastated.

[Reed Sorenson]

Oh, I was. I was in tears, to be honest, because, like I said, we had worked so hard that year to put ourselves in that position. And those are the guys I've had for two years. Like, those are my guys. Like, what do you mean you're gonna. They put Vickers in there, which was. He was fine, too. They all knew him. And I remember the next week, Vickers, like, came up to me and he's like, man, he goes, I'm so sorry. He's like, it's not me. I'm like, I know it's not you. And I know Dollar General left the end of that year, too, and I think they knew that. I don't know. I don't think that had anything to do with it because I had a great. You know, I had a fantastic relationship with. With Dollar General, but they weren't staying the next year.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

But I. Like I said, I worked hard for. For Dollar General, where the team atmosphere was awesome, but I didn't know Steve that well. He lived in Texas and wasn't around much. I just didn't really know him that well. But. So when it happened, it was very strange, but, you know, I just had to finish off the year and did what I could.

[Dale Jr.]

That was the, you know, that was the beginning of what would almost be a decade long. You bouncing around, patching things together, trying.

[Reed Sorenson]

I want to go back to Road America, though. Do you remember that race? No. You don't?

[Dale Jr.]

No.

[Reed Sorenson]

So Ron Fellowes was in your car? Yeah. You don't remember any of that?

[Dale Jr.]

No.

[Reed Sorenson]

So I'm about to one, so I have something else funny to say too. So know Justin was my teammate and, you know. Yep, yep. And Justin and I have been friends since quarter Midget days, so he wrecked me at Atlanta when we were teammates, and that was pissed off at him for a while. But we're. We're friends now, but, you know, him and I ran the same. When I say that, like, we were right there in points together whatnot and everything. But Road America, he was leading and ran out of gas under caution. And so him and I were both up there, Pappas, and few of them had gotten in wrecks and it just worked out that way. But when the caution came out, Fellows passed me under caution, said he thought he had won the race. Well, we were all saving fuel, so as soon as I saw the caution lights of caution, I shut the engine off. I'm coasting still 100 and something miles an hour. And they tried to say I didn't keep pace car speed, which we did. So we ended up winning the race. But he was mad as hell. Oh, Fellows was, because he's like. Because he never lifted the yellow came out, and he drove all the way to the pace car, full speed. Nah, you can't do that. But, yeah. And it's funny, when Justin won the championship and I talked to him, I said, you know, because him and I are the same age, too, I was like, I think I could still do it if I was in the right place. He's like, I know you could. And it just reminds me, like, back in 2011, him and I were teammates and we, you know, ran the same. Ran good. And yeah, it's like if in the back of my head as a race car driver, which I'm sure you think about, too, it's like when you were in Bristol and run good, you're like, damn, I could still.

[Dale Jr.]

Damn.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. So when Justin won the championship and. And I was funny, I was like. I told a couple of the guys, I was like, I could still do it if I was out there, you know?

[Dale Jr.]

Hey, Everybody, it's Dale Jr. Guess what? We are coming to San Diego. We got two live shows for you. Friday the 19th, there's Dirty Mo Live, presented by the U.S. navy. We will be on the NASCAR experience stage at 10:45 local time. Ryan Blaney will be the headliner, so that should be a lot of fun. Then on Saturday the 20th, we're doing a live broadcast of the Dale JR. Download, presented by Arby's and the US Navy right there in Victory Lane at 5:30pm local. Come hang out. Hope to see you there. We'll be having a blast. If you aren't going to San Diego, you can check all of this out on our dirty mo media YouTube channel or wherever you get your podcast. We also have some new merch for you at shop.dirtymomedia.com Here's a new T shirt. This is for the San Diego Weekend, the Dale Jr. Download. Got you a little airplane right there. It's time for a pit stop. Naval base Coronado. And then for all you Arby's fans, beef. I just think that's fun. Beef and then this one's pretty cool. The Dale junior download shirt. The official Dale junior down download RV shirt. We have the meets. You've got the airplane, the navy represented naval base Coronado, San Diego. Just a neat shirt. Check them out on shop.dirtymomedia.com Lets talk

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[Dale Jr.]

You ran a couple races for Jimmy Means and different different teams to to in 2012. Jimmy's a hero of mine. You ran. You were slated to run full time O' rally in 2013 for Curtis Key. In the 40 you'd fill in for Michael Annette at Richard Petty Motorsports a few races running 10th in his car, you replaced Scott speed at Levine family racing, finishing 37th at Phoenix. You ran for Tommy Baldwin in 2014.

[Reed Sorenson]

So. Yeah. So some of those were not Tommy's but the other ones were starting parts.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Right.

[Reed Sorenson]

I'm sure you remember those. Yeah. The starting park thing was not something I was proud of doing but it's kind of one of those things like if you stay home, people are oh my God, you're not there.

[Dale Jr.]

Out of sight, out of mind.

[Reed Sorenson]

So. And then it paid. Okay. So it's like, well, I go make a living. I'm still out there, still driving. Yeah. You know. And then 2014 for Tommy was back to normal. We're racing every week a little bit. Yeah. And I mean I raced against you when I ran that whole year we were, you know, underdogs on a big level. But that was actually had a lot of fun that year. Todd Parrott was my crew chief.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

Which I didn't Know Todd that well. Yeah. And he was kind of in a spot where he was, you know, needed something like that to get him back on track of what he needed. And we had a lot of fun that year because we had our own race within a race. So I can't remember how NASCAR did it, but there was different groups. I think we were in group C, so we were against, like, bk, front row, us. And I don't remember exactly how it worked out, but if you outran them, you got paid more or the team did. So I know Tommy had me set up on an incentive scale, like, if we outrun them, then you get paid more. So we had a. We might finish 27th. But if I outran all those guys. Yeah. And it's. It sounds silly, but that's. No, I mean, it gave us a goal every week. It's like, these guys are on our playing field.

[Dale Jr.]

Yep.

[Reed Sorenson]

Let's go beat them. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

I had never heard about that until we started. We helped Spire once at Darlington with a little bit of money with Dirty Mo Media, like 12 grand.

[Reed Sorenson]

I was there. Yeah. With Ross. Yeah. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And so we paid really close attention to that weekend and what they were trying to do. And very similar. Like, I learned through Dickerson, he's like, all right, man, we're budgeted to run 27th. We're budgeted to run 30th today. We need to run 30th or we've extended ourselves a little bit, and we need to run 25th, you know, and you, Ross, and you yourself in these cars throughout these years, at times, maybe had. Maybe could have pushed and tried just a little more to see if you could try to get a little. You couldn't.

[Reed Sorenson]

That was not the name.

[Dale Jr.]

I wasn't naming the game.

[Reed Sorenson]

No.

[Dale Jr.]

Hey, man, we got 25th. That's what we supposed to do. Let's get that right.

[Reed Sorenson]

That's not.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, we can get 22nd maybe.

[Reed Sorenson]

Maybe so.

[Dale Jr.]

But you weren't allowed to, really. You had to go by the book. And the book and the script was written before the race was run.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. And, you know, like, Ross and I both ran a premium at that point. And Jay Robinson on it. And Jay's another person that, you know, treated me very well. And I tell people this. Him and I had a handshake deal the whole time I drove for him, and he did me right. But he would put me in the car because at that part of the field, really, you don't have it anymore in the cup series. But people would show up with money. You know, hey, this guy's got 25 grand to come drive the car. Well, there was several times he would keep me in the car because he knew I wouldn't wreck it.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, that's better than getting that 25 grand and spending 75 fixing it.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. Or what? And finishing worse or whatnot. But there was several times where he's like, no, I'm, I'm gonna keep reading the car. And yeah, I mean, he, he, even when Ross got in the car,

[Dale Jr.]

you

[Reed Sorenson]

know, he, he wanted us to push it and we wanted to finish the best we could, especially if we had partners on the car. And. But it was definitely. There was a pen and paper with how much we're spending and what we're allowed to do. And, you know, I remember even racing against, you know, the other guys that I raced against my whole life in the Cup Series. And like, listen, I was like, some of these times I'm racing against you guys. I'm on your used tires from practice racing. And, you know, a lot of people have never been in a slow car. Don't understand how hard it is. Like, we're already a second off with new tires. Yeah. And then we're putting your old tires on that you don't want anymore that were free. And I'm still trying to keep up and stay out of your way. Yeah, it was more difficult to do that. And you can probably even ask someone like Ross. It was more difficult doing that than running top 10 with a good car. Yeah, it's hard.

[Dale Jr.]

Yes.

[Reed Sorenson]

And then you're trying not to, you know, piss everybody off while you're doing it and not hit anything at the same time. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

You know, like, so you and I both been in races where we damaged a car and we're out there just limping around. You go to a place like Darlington where there's nowhere to get out of the way and you're, you know, get. You, you gotta run 350 miles in, in the freaking way, you know, and you're doing, yeah, you're doing your best.

[Reed Sorenson]

And that's, It's a funny story. When my daughter was born, she's 10 now, it was Darlington weekend. It's. Remind me, because you mentioned Darlington and I think she was, she was an emergency C section. And my wife had lost a lot of blood. And it was a Tuesday, Wednesday, maybe Tuesday. Wednesday is our first child. And I called Jay on like Thursday morning. I'm like, hey, I said, I'm not going to, I'm not going to race this weekend, like, I'm going to. I want to take my daughter home and be there, because neither one of us knew what the hell we were doing. Yeah. So I didn't want to leave my wife behind for two days. I was like, I'm going to. I'm going to stay home with her. And he was like, no problem. He's like, I understand completely well. And T.J. bell got in the car, and he's a great friend of mine, and we talk about it once every three or four months. Got him in the car, and he hit the wall, and he had hit somebody in the wall, maybe. And Jay was. I mean, it wasn't maybe that Monday morning. He's like, if you were in the car, that would have never happened. You know, he's like, soon as you got out, someone damaged the car, and, you know, teacher, like hell someone ran into me. You know, But I'll just never forget that because, you know, then I got right back in and, you know, he was all about. Like I said, he had that. That pen and paper out, and we had to. But the good thing is it kept everybody employed. I mean, if you go out and tear stuff up and do things like that, then you can't operate. So that was a stressful way of racing on a different level, and a lot of. A lot of guys don't ever have to experience that.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't know if you'll remember this, but one of the more. One of the bigger moments of that stress of trying to take something and make, you know, take nothing and make something out of it happened during the 2015 Daytona 500. I guess there was an accident in the qualifying race.

[Reed Sorenson]

Oh, yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. With Clint. Clint got out and told you you were to be in Desperate.

[Reed Sorenson]

I was, yeah. Yeah. So. So I spot the 44 now, which is John Cohen, the same owner we ran this weekend and with Yaley driving. Yeah. That's when we had that. In my opinion, that dumbass group qualifying.

[Dale Jr.]

Yes.

[Reed Sorenson]

You know, and when we. When you leave pit road. So we did. We had a PME engine in it. Okay. So we're already down however many horsepower a lot. So when you. When we were leaving pit road, like, I can't be the last car.

[Dale Jr.]

I won't be able to lose the draft.

[Reed Sorenson]

I'll lose it. So we're all leaving and jockeying around, and I forget who was in front of me. It may have been Justin in the. I think he was in the. Maybe in the 51 car. I can't remember. But they all stacked up at the brakes and someone ran into me and it may have been Clint. So my whole left rear was all bowed out, you know, catching air. Yeah. So when we get out there and I was actually in the prime spot to probably run a really fast laps because we had a group ahead of us and then I was the leader of our group, which I technically needed to be like second or third. I didn't need to be the lead car with damage and no motor. So Clint got impatient and I don't know if you remember it or not, we went off into one and he like tried to make a move and I'm trying to block, so I'm barely looking out the windshield. I'm blocking the whole time. And then he just caught me just enough. And then we wrecked and that car exploded in the wall and he came over raising hell and. Right. I mean, but I was battling for myself and my team. It's like, yeah, it looks pretty stupid now that we all wrecked, but it's not all my fault, you know. And then to continue on with that story, you know, I ran for Tommy the year before, so we had to buy a car that I had raced here before from Tommy and we made the race that, that following Thursday. Finished seventh in the duels.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, damn.

[Reed Sorenson]

So we kind of rejuvenated ourselves.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, you know, I, we don't. I'm not going to go through it. You, you bounced around different teams all the way until, you know, you made your final start in 2020 at Michigan. Did you know that that was it?

[Reed Sorenson]

I didn't.

[Dale Jr.]

You're going to go, you're going to become a spotter in the O'Reilly series in 2021. Was that the first time you'd ever spotted a race or thought about spotting?

[Reed Sorenson]

I had spotted sporadically. Um, so the main guy I've spotted for is Josh Williams. Yeah. Um, so I had spotted for him sporadically, but nothing full time. Yeah. So that's what. I'm still doing that now. But no, I didn't really have like a set out plan and I didn't ever know.

[Dale Jr.]

How old were you in 2020?

[Reed Sorenson]

I'm 40 now, so. 30, 35, I guess. 34. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And so honestly, man, looking at this on paper, you're a winning driver battling for a championship in 2011 in the O' Rally Series and you get yanked out of that car for, for no obvious reason before five races before the end of the season. You, you don't. You, you never get another real decent opportunity, as in a competitive ride for the remainder, I guess, for the next nine years, Correct?

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah,

[Dale Jr.]

I imagine, you know, it was a long nine years, but you. You kept going, trying to, you know, you're trying to be out there. You just, like you said, you trying, you know, out of sight, out of mind. If you go home and you don't show up, people just assume that you've. You decided to quit, you know.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. Not. Yeah, yeah, I think.

[Dale Jr.]

Right. And so you have. You have to keep coming back. And this is making a living. You're making a living. How do you make that decision to. This is my. One of my favorite questions that I like to talk about because I deal with some of this myself, but how do you make the decision that I'm no longer a race car driver and then I'm going to go this other route? I've got. I know that your family and providing for your family is a massive part of that, but you. The selfish part of you that wants to race cars, how do you like. What was that conversation like with yourself about? All right, man, think this is the end of that. And I'm gonna go now try this other thing. And.

[Reed Sorenson]

Well, I didn't pick it, so that makes it even more difficult. It's not. Like I said, there's a lot of

[Dale Jr.]

people that are sitting in that chair that didn't get to pick it too, you know?

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

And, you know, the last. Like you said, it was kind of a rough nine years of just. I'll tell you the biggest thing is, and I think when BJ was here, he could kind of portray a little bit of this to you as well. It's like the. The competitiveness of you kind of gets lost. So you go to the racetrack every weekend. You're just there making a living. You don't, you know, your job is to do this, this and this, but it's not to go win.

[Dale Jr.]

You can't allow yourself to get competitive.

[Reed Sorenson]

No.

[Dale Jr.]

Because you're going to get disappointed more often than not.

[Reed Sorenson]

Well, and I finally was able to kind of flip it into a positive. So I try to make each and every weekend enjoyable, whether it be just with the guys and keeping them positive. And, you know, still, you're still driving a race car, making a living. It's not like I'm, you know, doing the worst job in the world. It's still pretty badass that you're able to do that and make a living. So mentally, I turned it into a positive and I tried to enjoy myself. And, you know, like I said, having working for Jay he treated me very good, enjoyed working for him. So there was a lot of positives that were kind of hidden in there. You just had to bring them out.

[Dale Jr.]

That's right.

[Reed Sorenson]

And that helped a lot. And then I never really knew when the last race was or was gonna be because it was so sporadic of. Of when I was racing, when I wasn't. And I just never really knew. And I think if the new car hadn't came, and this is my true belief, if that new car hadn't came, I feel like premium. Premium motorsports would still be in business. You'd still have some and probably still ran some more.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

But when that new car came, you know, they pulled out and sold to brick ware, if I'm correct on that. Everything. So when the new car came, it was kind of like, well, my. What am I doing? And the opportunities were a little bit different with this new car and the charter system. And you just don't have that back. And, you know, this. The back six, seven teams that, you know, had driver rotation and different things going on. Now it's just like you have your set, guys, and not. That's a bad thing. Yeah. Is. It's different than it was. So there's not like a cup car that I could run half the season for that doesn't have a driver. I mean, this doesn't exist. Yeah. And now as far as, like, would I go get in a car to run around the back in the cup car right now, probably not. But if, you know, hey, like, when you run Bristol, like, can I get in a badass o' rally car? Hell, yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Sure.

[Reed Sorenson]

You know what I mean? Yeah. You know, and like, BJ ran dgm car at Dover. Not spotted for him. And we had a power steering line leak, but he was running pretty good. And, you know, it's like me and bj same. Like, he just went out there and did it. Like, I know I could do it.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

And like, he was having fun. He qualified 18th or 19th or something. And I think we could have finished pretty well. So times like that, I'm like, man, I. It would be fun to get a

[Dale Jr.]

little left in the tank.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah, for sure.

[Dale Jr.]

Hey, this is Dale Hart Jr. And for all the latest Dale Jr. Download gear, including the I'm old, drink some beer T shirt we've been talking about here around the office. Head over to shop dirtymomedia.com for all the latest merch.

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[Dale Jr.]

Have you been to an Arby's recently? Well for the past few weeks I've been talking non stop about how their delicious slow smoked barbecue is back. Their barbecue sandwiches are better than ever. But if you haven't tried a barbecue Mac bowl you are missing out. You'll get the same tender deliciousness from the pulled pork that smoked for four hours or the smoky flavorful chopped brisket that smoked for a solid 13 hours. All on top of a creamy white cheddar Mac and cheese. And this isn't your typical Mac and cheese. This stuff is the best Mac and cheese I've ever had. Add in the sweet and spice spicy barbecue sauces and you have a one of a kind barbecue Mac bowl that's just the way you like it. Arby's is doing real authentic barbecue that's so good you won't believe that you got it at a drive thru. Everybody knows that Arby's has the meat so if you can count on anyone to do barbecue, right. It has to be Arby's. It's selling out fast. So go to an Arby's and try a barbecue Mac bowl before it runs out. Available for a limited time at participating locations. While supplies last. Prices may vary. Get your barbecue sandwich at any Arby's near you today. Do you ever think about short track racing? Not like, hey man, I'm going to pick this up and put a lot of effort into this. But like, you know, there's probably a route to a race or two or just to go scratch an itch. Like I run two or three races a year in my little late model and I get in that car and I'll run. I'll be part way through the race and go, yeah, I remember all the things that I love about it and I remember all the reasons why I don't do it every week.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And. And it's just like a. Checks a box, you know, to where I don't drive myself crazy thinking, man, I really, really miss it because I do. I'm watching it just like you. Right on. You're up there spotting. I'm in the booth watching it. Going. Part of. There's a. There's a little 25% of me that is aching that I'm not out there anymore.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

You know, for sure.

[Reed Sorenson]

And it's that probably maybe that never goes away. I don't know. Yeah. But Josh Williams has tried to get me to run like the snowflake a couple years.

[Dale Jr.]

Why don't you?

[Reed Sorenson]

Well, I don't know. It's like, well, what kind of. Why do we showed up with?

[Dale Jr.]

Well, yeah, well, I mean, maybe don't go run the snowflake. Maybe run something else. It's a. If it's a pro late model, you know, go show up at a cars tour race on. In the middle, you know, on a Friday night or Saturday night somewhere where

[Reed Sorenson]

it could happen someday.

[Dale Jr.]

You know, it's the thing that I did. So I wanted to drive my late model stock cars so badly over the last decade and I didn't because I was afraid of getting beat. And I was, I was like, man, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

[Reed Sorenson]

Go there and run 12th or something. They may look at you and they're

[Dale Jr.]

going to be like junior. He. You know, I beat junior. I can. I'm a cup. I could be cup guy. Look, I just beat junior. And so. But then I saw Chase Elliott go try to run this The. Either the Tulsa Shootout or. Or the Chili bowl. And he got his ass kicked, and he was like, I'm gonna get my ass kicked, and it's fine. I'm glad I tried this.

[Reed Sorenson]

Guys do it every week.

[Dale Jr.]

I was like, damn, I need that attitude. I need to, like, get rid of my pride and my ego. Just shed it. I need to go out. I should have did this 10 years ago. I didn't. I should have. I should have ran a thousand late model races between now and the last 10 years. But I waited and waited and waited till, like, 20, 23 to finally do it. And. Holy, it's fun. And yes, I get my teeth kicked in, but I get to. It gets me enough laps and enough to enjoy it, but also remember why I don't really want to do it every week.

[Reed Sorenson]

Week. Right.

[Dale Jr.]

And you got a little left in the tank. And, man, if he's got a. If Josh has got a pro late model somewhere. I mean, he sent that. The. They sent that Camden. What's his name?

[Reed Sorenson]

Boland. Yeah, the.

[Dale Jr.]

The kid with the red car. They went and qualified right next to me at the car show race at Wilkesboro in 23. Yeah, he's fast. And that was what happens with Josh. So, I mean, Josh has got some decent stuff or show up and go run a legends race somewhere. Josh has got plenty of damn legends cars laying around everywhere. I just hate for you to. You're still young enough to go, like, get. Get the competitive juices flowing a little bit.

[Reed Sorenson]

Right.

[Dale Jr.]

And nobody even needs to know you're doing it. Look at Paul Menard racing Trans Am.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And nobody even knows it's happening.

[Reed Sorenson]

I've paid attention.

[Dale Jr.]

I know. But no, you know what I'm saying? Like, the. He ain't. He ain't. You know, he's just having fun,

[Reed Sorenson]

and

[Dale Jr.]

if he wasn't winning, it wouldn't be no big deal. He's still having fun.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah, he's. He actually has a. I don't know if he's moved. He has a storage unit over, like, two down for mine. Yeah. And you know him pretty well.

[Dale Jr.]

Not. Not well enough.

[Reed Sorenson]

Well, I just. I would be over there tinkering around on something. He'd be over there. He makes, like, furniture and stuff and art. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

I've tried to.

[Reed Sorenson]

So super nice guy.

[Dale Jr.]

Dude. He's awesome. So I saw him. I was at a friend's place hanging out, and I saw him, and I was like, damn, dude, you're. You're out there winning Trans Am races. I didn't even know you were still racing. He's like, yeah, yeah, I'm still racing. I was like, would you come on my download man? Let's talk about it. People want to hear from you. He's like, yeah, let's do it. And then like a couple days later, he gets cold feet. I don't want to do it. I ain't going to do it.

[Reed Sorenson]

I don't really.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, like, he don't want to be. He don't care to be, like, telling people what he's up to. He just doesn't want to. But to hear he's making furniture in a storage unit. Yeah, it's hilarious.

[Reed Sorenson]

It's funny.

[Dale Jr.]

It's perfect.

[Reed Sorenson]

Paul Bernard, I don't know how much money he's worth, which doesn't matter, but I remember being over there with a friend of mine and he didn't know who it was, and maybe he did, but we, like, left. I was like, you never know that guy's damn menards billionaire.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

Never know royalty. Yep. And just make it furniture.

[Dale Jr.]

Racing is Trans am car.

[Reed Sorenson]

That sounds. I mean, everybody's got their own deal. But going back to the racing thing, like, you have two kids now, right?

[Dale Jr.]

Yes.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah, so I do as well.

[Dale Jr.]

How old are they?

[Reed Sorenson]

7 and 10.

[Dale Jr.]

Same. So I'm 5 and 8, so. Right. Kind of close.

[Reed Sorenson]

You know that.

[Dale Jr.]

What are they doing?

[Reed Sorenson]

Baseball and dance. Got a lot going on, so that helps. So go back where you said, like that. That itch. You know, I get a little bit of it spotting, which may be different from you doing tv, like, spotting. I get to, you know, get into it, and I'm trying to help achieve someone finishing better. Yeah. So I get a little bit of it there.

[Dale Jr.]

Are you spotting every single week?

[Reed Sorenson]

Yes. The 92 car and the 76.

[Dale Jr.]

You don't have weeks off?

[Reed Sorenson]

No, not on the weekends. But during the week I kind of do whatever I want, which allows me to do stuff with my kids, but the kids keeping me busy kind of helps me get that out of my head a little bit. Yeah. Because I get the racing. Like, I don't have to go race. But what I then, like I said, every once in a while, like at Dover, like, I'm like, damn. I was like, bj just had a hell of a time out there. And, you know, I was like that. And Dover's one of my favorite places. I'm like, that got me thinking, you know, damn, that'd be fun to go do it again.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, I agree. Well, I got a couple cars. Hell, I might figure out how to get you in a. In a late model race or something.

[Reed Sorenson]

I got to lose about £20 and I'll be ready. So you got to give me a heads up.

[Dale Jr.]

There's plenty of guys just like you out there.

[Reed Sorenson]

Like Bubba.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

You'll be fine, man. So you've been spotting over the last several years and you're 40 years old and you know what's. What is. What's on the list of things that you haven't done you want to do. Could be completely off the racing path. What is. I know you're, you know, you're taking care of your kids. They've got to grow up, you know, you want to make sure they're in a good spot and when they head off to school or whatever they're going to end up doing with their lives, you want to put them in a good place. But what are some of the things that you personally would like to go see, do experience

[Reed Sorenson]

other than certain vacations that me and my wife have talked about. Like where.

[Dale Jr.]

Where?

[Reed Sorenson]

Alaska. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

I've never been either.

[Reed Sorenson]

No. Neither is my wife. But I've heard good things about it. My in laws went to South Africa. That didn't. Doesn't sound like something I would want to do. They had a good time, but other than like just places that we want to go see and things like that, I mean, just the next 10, 12 years. Kind of like you. With you, like you gotta. Everything is surrounding the children, so everything you do is around them. I still would like to. I haven't really got a good cup spotting gig yet, so I'd like to do that before I get out of the sport.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

I'll wait on TJ to retire.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. So that's totally in the parking lot.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

That's something you have on your radar is like, man, trying to, on the

[Reed Sorenson]

racing side level up. Yeah. And just to. I haven't had an opportunity to be with, you know, a good cup team. Yeah. Like I spotted for Spire for a couple years. But yeah, that would be a goal on the, on the racing side of it. But as far as like stuff outside of racing, you know, we. We enjoy ourselves now when we can. We, you know, take. Take the kids down to Florida during the summer for a couple weeks down in Ponce Inlet. I don't know if you know where that is.

[Dale Jr.]

Yes, I do.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. Where the lighthouse is down there. I swear I saw you on a bike down there. I was. I think I did see. Yeah. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

We used to ride. We'd leave the track and Ride that ride to the lighthouse. Turn around, go back.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yep. It's. That's a good little ride right there. It's flat.

[Dale Jr.]

Kick your ass. The only problem was, is getting back across the bridge because you're done. You're kind of wore out and tired.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And then you forget, I've got to go back over the bridge. Bridge. And that was always one. That was where my ass would get kicked.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. That's the last. Last little push. But, yeah, I mean, other than that, you know, My wife's a school teacher, so she'll be teaching for a while, you know, so. But yeah, once we get she.

[Dale Jr.]

What grade she teach first. Damn.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

I bet she has some stories. Well, man, I've appreciated this conversation. I've always been fascinated by your ability, your talent, and, you know, kind of always kind of curious of, you know, how things. Why things worked out, why some things didn't work out. A lot of people, I think, are still fans of yours, obviously, by the requests that we get. We have a pretty good finger or thumb on the requests and who people want us to bring in here. And your name comes up quite often.

[Reed Sorenson]

Oh, it's fun to come on. It's. It's funny like how since I've been spotting, you know, you have to walk back and forth from the garage to the tunnel or whatever, and every week there'll be somebody stopping, like, Reed, what have you been doing? Like, they don't even know. Still around. I know. I'm still here. Yeah, Just up on the roof now, you know, so that happens at least a couple times a week where, you know, someone will stop me and chat and, you know, shoot a little bit and tell them what I'm doing. Now, a lot of them have no idea.

[Dale Jr.]

They don't. And so this will be good. They're going to enjoy this. Good luck, man, on the spot and gig going forward. If I call you about running a race one day, we'll. We'll. We'll see if we can't put something together and have some fun. I've got race cars. Go run or just go play? Just go jump in a car. Go play somewhere. But you need to talk. Josh Williams, too, man. That'd be fun to go run like they run Legends cars. Middle of the week, it's Charlotte. Just go over, have a little fun. One. Come on now.

[Reed Sorenson]

Late model sounds more fun.

[Dale Jr.]

Late models, Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

I feel like the. From what he's told me this, you know, the legends car guys, they. They wreck quite a bit.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

So I ran legends I say wreck. I think they run each other over.

[Dale Jr.]

I raced the third Legends car ever built.

[Reed Sorenson]

Really?

[Dale Jr.]

I raced Legends. They're very inaugural year.

[Reed Sorenson]

What year was that?

[Dale Jr.]

It had to have been. Let me think here, 1990.

[Reed Sorenson]

I didn't realize.

[Dale Jr.]

So my car was the third one built, and it had an 850cc in it. They had 1100s or 1200s in other cars. They're like the 10th. And, you know, they changed the engine package to a little bit bigger engine after about five cars. And then they. You know that when I ran. When we ran our first race, it was the very first legends race ever. And it was on the Charlotte oval in front of the flag stand, in front of the grandstand on, like, Saturday before the o' rally race or the Busch race in 1990. And they only had about eight or 12 Legends cars built. Period.

[Reed Sorenson]

Total? Yeah, total.

[Dale Jr.]

And the Allison brothers were the ones that were building them. They didn't have 600 racing back then. So, like Kenny Allison, Donnie's sons, Kenny, Ronald and Donald, two twins, they built Legends cars, and they were the supplier. And I worked there. I got a speeding ticket, and my daddy told me I had to pay for my lawyer. So I went and got a job and building them building Legends cars. I was basically. I would get the struts off of the Japanese cars and cut the spindles, and then they would take it from there. But I did a lot of parts washing like that.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

You know, I was the first person to ever clip a Legends car. Guy got a. Guy dropped the yoke out of the rear end on the back straightaway. Remember the dirt track off turn off a turn three at Charlotte?

[Reed Sorenson]

Yep.

[Dale Jr.]

So Guy dropped a yoke on the rear end on the back straightaway, and I went straight off the track into the guardrail and bent the first front clip ever on Legends car didn't get hurt? No, I mean, I just. It just bent the front clip. And I went to Kenny and I said, hey, I think I need a front clip. And he goes, we've never put a front clip on one yet. This will be a first. So we had, you know, we go throw it on the jig and put a new front clip on it.

[Reed Sorenson]

That's interesting.

[Dale Jr.]

You know that I found my car.

[Reed Sorenson]

Oh, did you?

[Dale Jr.]

Yes.

[Reed Sorenson]

Where is it?

[Dale Jr.]

So my car. My dad ended up selling my car. I ran it that first year. I won one race on the flat Charlotte oval at the front straightaway. And. And I. I ran a. I won a couple races on the dirt track behind turn three, and then after the end of that year, I went late model racing. So dad sold my car to, you know, the guy that owned that truck that does the pace lap at Talladega.

[Reed Sorenson]

I never met him, but yeah. Yeah. I mean, I own the truck.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, He. Dad's dad and him were friends.

[Reed Sorenson]

He passed away, right?

[Dale Jr.]

He did, yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

His son raced, and dad sold the car to them. Well, they raced it and then kept it. Threw it in a shed somewhere, so

[Reed Sorenson]

it was sitting there.

[Dale Jr.]

And Kenny Allison, who built it originally found it, called me because they still live over here, where the original shop was, right near Salisbury. And he's like, hey, I got your car. And I'm like, how do you know it's mine?

[Reed Sorenson]

I mean, it probably didn't have serial number 90.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't know. It's got. And it ain't the same color or nothing. And he's like, oh, I got it. I know I got it. And so I go over there, and it's a bare chassis. It's got the body still on. Had an aluminum body. We had aluminum bodies back then. The whole side, top, roof, everything aluminum. And I knew it was mine because in. In a race at Charlotte, on the front straightaway, I wheel hopped a guy, and it went on nose like this. And when it slammed down, it bit the shock mount on the right rear,

[Reed Sorenson]

kept it that way.

[Dale Jr.]

I beat it straight and put a strut in there.

[Reed Sorenson]

Oh, it's still there.

[Dale Jr.]

And that strut's still there because it was on the old original Legends cars. The shock. The top shock mount for the rears was in a bung that was in the center of this post, and it was a parallel post, and there was no gusset or nothing. So it bent that post up like this. And I beat her straight and welded a little gusset in there that was in there. My car.

[Reed Sorenson]

Did you keep it?

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, I still got it. It's just like, I found it. I think I want to restore it, but, like, that's a lot of work to do, and I'm not going to do it. I don't got time to do it.

[Reed Sorenson]

Somebody would.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, but. Yeah, man, I had some Legends car racing. It was fun.

[Reed Sorenson]

We. I told somebody this story the other day, like, what you do with all your legend stuff. Mark Martin bought everything we owned. He showed up in a Renegade for his son. Yeah. And when I say he took everything. Everything.

[Dale Jr.]

Damn.

[Reed Sorenson]

So I was like, well, that's one way to get rid of all your stuff. Yeah. Yeah. They. I don't know how much they race with or whatnot. But they're like, don't touch it. Leave it as you had it. And they came and loaded all the up and took off with it.

[Dale Jr.]

So do you have anything in your possession of your past that something very personal to you besides trophies or anything like that? We.

[Reed Sorenson]

So we had an ASA car that my dad kept for. Because ASA actually went out of business. Yes. Which is sad. We had one of those cars which was. He ended up selling it and, you know, had that crate motor in it, which I think that's what the person wanted anyways. But I think some of those chassis they turned over for SCCA racing, I believe you could use them for, but they're more or less kind of useless. But he kept that for a couple years, and he's like, you. Do you want to sell it or keep it? I'm like, I just get rid of it, you know.

[Dale Jr.]

But you wish you had it.

[Reed Sorenson]

I mean, I don't know what I'd do with it. It's kind of like some of the stuff you have. Like, I don't know what I would do with it.

[Dale Jr.]

I'm glad I got the Legends car. It's sitting there just collecting dust, but I'm glad I got it. I don't know, somebody. Someday somebody might want to with it.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah, that. I mean that. And I think we have. I don't have in my possession, but I think one of my. One of my earlier quarter midgets. We know where it is.

[Tiffany Davis]

Damn.

[Reed Sorenson]

And it's in Georgia. I don't think anybody's doing anything with it, so. Dude, I think it's still there. That's pretty cool. Yeah, so. But we, you know, Helmets suits. Yep. Yeah. Helmets. Yeah. I have some of the, you know, I have a few prize helmets, but my.

[Dale Jr.]

How old's your son?

[Reed Sorenson]

Seven.

[Dale Jr.]

Seven. He'll not give about that stuff for a while, I'm sure. But at some point, like, I'm sure he's, like, curious. Maybe he's curious now, but, man, there will be a day and it may be way off into the future. Like, he is going to obsess over your career and all those little things. So, like, hang on to that stuff. Like, don't think that. Oh, he don't give about it because he might not, like, give that vibe because I'm that way with my girls.

[Reed Sorenson]

They kind of do kind of, don't they?

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, my girls don't. They're not into it.

[Reed Sorenson]

No.

[Dale Jr.]

You know, and I know this is going to sound. I'm almost sound like an idiot. I did not think about the next generation. And they might have kids, they might have sons. They might have a son that really freaking digs it.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Right. And so, because I was thinking to myself, and maybe this isn't something you're worried about at all, but I got all this sheet metal. I got suits, helmets, sheet metal, all kinds. And I hoard it. And I still bring it in. Like if I can find a door or something, I'm after it, I'm trying to get it.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

And then it dawned on me one day. I'm like, only person that really gives a about any of this is me. The kids don't really. They're girls. They're not too into it. They might want to possess it, they might care about it, but they're not going to know the value in it. They're not going to know the stories really behind it. Not the way I do. But then somebody said, well, they might have sons.

[Reed Sorenson]

That's true.

[Dale Jr.]

I thought they might. I never thought of it. Right.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Like they might have sons. So I started collecting baseball cards and stuff. I got back into cards.

[Reed Sorenson]

We got plenty of those, man.

[Dale Jr.]

I love it.

[Reed Sorenson]

So I was going to say one of the coolest helmets to have is. So Dan Weldon was a teammate. Target teammate. And him and I became good friends. And I have one of his helmets. That's right. And he wrote a little message on there. And that's my coolest helmet. He actually talked to my in laws. So a lot of people know this either. My father in law. This kind of wraps back around the. Chip grew up with Chip. Yeah, that's so.

[Dale Jr.]

Damn.

[Reed Sorenson]

So Chip and my father in law were like best friends. So anyways, my in laws were in sonoma for the IndyCar race. I've known Dan for about a year at this point. And he was talker. Biggest talker you could ever imagine.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

So he, you know, talked to my in laws because I was, we were dating at the time. You know, we weren't married yet. And he talked so much. I'm like goofing around. Obviously at the end was a good thing. But he, he called me, he's like, yeah, just talk to your future in laws and told him all this stuff about you. So good luck with that. And let's never forget, like, I'm like, man, he was. That's just the way he was. And I lost him too soon. But he, he was a unique individual and that was cool to the working for Chip to meet people like from the other side of the world. Literally that, you know, racing wise.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

Between him and Dixon and. But yeah, we would go do, you know these target photo shoots and stuff and he was just. He was crazy. Yeah. Something else.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah. I got to hang out with him a little bit when. Yeah, we did some National Guard stuff at Indy together. Yeah, he was super nice.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

You never know. I mean, you meet these. You cross paths with the IndyCar guys and they're from all over the world, right. And you don't know what type of person, personality or type of person you're going to end up working with that day. He was super cool.

[Reed Sorenson]

So the first year, you know, I was. Those guys have been making pretty good money for a while. And I'll never forget this either. We were doing a photo shoot and maybe Texas or somewhere like that. I don't remember where we were. Something happened where the planes were. Weren't be able to take off that night until the next day or something like, damn. It was like middle of the day. Like, let's just rent a plane and go home. We'll just split it and we'll drop. We'll get dropped off and then take you to Charlotte. Like, I mean, I never rented a plane before. I'm like, I don't know about that. Yeah. And like, come on, man. Like, you're a cup driver. You can do it. And I'm. The husband's like, I had a son there and Dan kept giving me finals. Like, all right, fine, I'll split it with you. The whole time I thought they were bull me like, they're not really going to rent a plane and because I, you know, I'd never done anything like that before in my life.

[Dale Jr.]

Expensive.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah, real expensive. And I was like, yeah, they're just bullshit me. And I was 20 years old and they got one and I had to split it with them. I was like, all right. You guys aren't kidding. I'll never forget because Dan was like, all right, man, you're a cup driver. You got big money. You make way more than we do. I'm like, I don't think so. But yeah, that was one of my. One of the funniest times because this went over on for like two or three hours. Yeah. Because they always pick on me and I'm like, they're just. We're not going to rent a plane. Well, we did. Damn. And it was a nice one. Then we made it home and everything was.

[Dale Jr.]

And you got to bill.

[Reed Sorenson]

I think they charged my credit card. Somehow or another. I don't Remember? Exactly. But we split it, so. But, yeah. Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, man, I appreciate the stories.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah.

[Dale Jr.]

People are going to be glad to hear you're out there kicking ass.

[Tiffany Davis]

And.

[Dale Jr.]

And now hopefully they'll give you a hard time about trying to get back in a race car. So we can see you race one or two more times. Man, I love seeing guys like you get out there and do it another time or two. I know. I'm. I'm kicking, and I'm kicking that horse as hard as I can.

[Reed Sorenson]

Are you going to run another?

[Dale Jr.]

I don't know, man. I don't know. Somebody came up to me the other day and asked me if they run one at Wilkesboro, if I'm in.

[Reed Sorenson]

Well, you know, where else they should run one. And I'm pretty sure you like this place there. I know you do. Yeah. And they don't run there anymore. Yeah. Richmond.

[Dale Jr.]

Oh, yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

I don't understand.

[Dale Jr.]

I loved Richmond.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. And I. Richmond is.

[Dale Jr.]

I don't want to say easy, but it's perfect for old guys like us.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah. And it's. Yeah, it slows down. Slows down, seconds, overrunning. We were talking about the other day, I was like, I cannot believe they don't race there anymore because it's a great race.

[Dale Jr.]

I know. That's perfect for the O'Reilly series.

[Reed Sorenson]

It is. And that's. That's another. I told you, there's places I miss. That's one of them.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah.

[Reed Sorenson]

Just being there and, like, you know, I knew how to get around that place pretty good. Yeah. And. Yeah, that's. That's definitely what.

[Dale Jr.]

Yeah, I agree.

[Reed Sorenson]

For sure.

[Dale Jr.]

Well, man, appreciate you coming through.

[Reed Sorenson]

Yeah, I was glad to come on and maybe answer a few questions that somebody didn't know the answers.

[Dale Jr.]

That's right. Reed Sorenson on the Dell Jr. Download. All right, so that was Reed Sorenson on the Dell junior Download. And it's awesome to talk to him. Thanks for the suggestion. On social media and Instagram Follow or somebody that was commenting on the Dirty Mo Media post suggested that. We've heard it from other folks as well. We listen, we read the comments. Sometimes we get in the comments, and this was a lot of fun. I've known Reed a long time. I've always thought a lot about him. I always wondered, you know, man, under the right circumstances, could he have made it? Could he have been a Cup winner? Could he have been a Cup champion? He certainly had a lot of talent. And hopefully, you know, hopefully he gets to run another race or two. I bet he'd be surprised at how much he enjoyed that and he wants to get no rally car but and maybe he could but anyways, thank you Reed for for coming through and appreciate everybody for joining us today here in the Arby studio. Don't forget about Arby's new meet and three boxes. You get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats. We have another show for you tomorrow with Amy with bless your heart and we'll be heading to the racetrack in Pocono this weekend. Y' all enjoy. Check out DirtyMomedia on Instagram, Facebook X and TikTok.

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