Reed Sorenson (41) has three consecutive top-10 finishes in the Busch Series. Credit: Autostock

Sorenson builds respect with strong Daytona run

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Reed Sorenson came into Saturday's Hershey's Take 5 300 overflowing with confidence and left the Busch Series opener with something much more important.

Along with a ninth-place finish, he earned plenty of respect.

"I thought it was great," second-place finisher Kevin Harvick said when asked to assess Sorenson's performance. "I followed him most of the day.

"I mean, I don't know if you guys have watched him drive last year at all, but he's going to win a lot of races. He drove around Atlanta sideways with the right rear tire smoking for most of the day, running second or third [so] he's going to do really good."

Soaring-son Reed Sorenson's career Busch Series stats Race Start Finish Kroger 200 3 13 Sam's Town 250 15 10 Aaron's 312 6 29 Bi-Lo 200 36 9 Ford 300 7 4 Hershey's 300 3 9 Avg. 12 12 Note: First five starts in 2004. BUSCH SERIES •   Results •   Standings Tony Stewart celebrates his Hershey's 300 win. A handful of cars wreck with seven laps to go Tony Stewart takes a ride through the infield at Daytona Kyle Busch gets penalized for passing under the yellow line Defending Busch champ Truex Jr. gets spun on Lap 48 Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Third-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. echoed Harvick's opinion.

"I think the same thing," Earnhardt said. "I drove a car once that his crew chief [Brian Pattie] that he has now set up. I don't know if you can drive it any other way [than loose].

"Reed's either had to get used to it [because] I don't think he prefers to drive that way, but he was sideways [Saturday], too. I think he's got a lot of good car control -- he's got a lot of talent."

Sorenson had a spectacular five-race debut in 2004, when he led 47 laps at Atlanta and posted two top five and three top 10 finishes. He went miles further toward earning respect Saturday.

"He doesn't do anything stupid," Earnhardt said. "That's one of the things that even guys that are real good do, that come in here early. They run over things, run over people, run into stuff. He did a good job [Saturday]."

The amazing thing about it was that Saturday's race was only Sorenson's sixth Busch Series start -- and his first on a superspeedway.

"That's my first time pretty much being in a pack like that," Sorenson said. "I ran the ARCA race at Talladega, but it wasn't anything like that.

"I was pretty exciting to be running up there with Carl [Edwards]. I guess he and I started 15th and 16th and drove up through there, I guess to first and second. It was pretty exciting because I never planned on getting way up there, especially here.

"To get into the top 10 was our goal, but to be up in the front at the end was pretty wild."

Despite achieving his pre-race goal, Sorenson proved the restlessness of his 19 years -- and how close he came to winning -- when he realized he spent quite a bit of the race's late laps in the top five.

"I was kind of upset there that I ended ninth, but I kind of looked up at the scoreboard and realized that all those guys around me are Cup guys," Sorenson said. "I'm pretty happy where we finished [because] it's my first run here [and the] first run for our team.

"I think when we come back here in July, we'll have a pretty good shot to do the same thing [because] the car was pretty good at the end.

"I don't think I really could have had it any better. You just had to be in the right place at the right time and have the right people pushing you and stuff like that. Being a rookie and all, I wasn't really in a position to make a lot of moves"

Sorenson said the only consistent partner he had was fellow Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate Edwards, who finished 10th in his Charter Ford. He said he hoped his heady performance might help that in the future.

"That's what you've got to do [build trust] -- especially since this is my first season," Sorenson said. "I intend to run with these guys for years to come, so I've just got to build that confidence."

Sorenson proved, however, he has enough confidence to call 'em like he saw 'em when asked about the incident in which race winner Tony Stewart took a wild detour through the infield grass in Turn 1 after contact from Edwards, who was being closely followed by Sorenson at the time.

"I was pushing Carl and it looked like [Edwards] got underneath [Stewart] and Tony just came across his nose. I think Carl had the position right there and I was pushing Carl as hard as I could, so I really couldn't see exactly what happened except it looked like Tony came across his nose."

Sorenson was the best finisher of 13 announced candidates for this season's rookie of the year award.

"It was pretty neat to sit there and listen to those two [Earnhardt and Harvick] -- especially here," Sorenson said. "Like I said, you've got to earn these guys respect and I think I did a lot of that [Saturday] with a lot of the guys out there and I'm happy with that."