Reed Sorenson finished ninth in Saturday's Hershey's Take 5 300 at Daytona. Credit: Autostock

Sorenson leading pack of newest 'young guns'

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- As Reed Sorenson reached for the microphone, Dale Earnhardt Jr. playfully slapped his hand and snatched it away.

Sorenson had to wait his turn.

But he might not be so willing to take a back seat on the racetrack. The 19-year-old Sorenson is one of several young drivers making headway in NASCAR's lower ranks and taking advantage of the sport's ongoing youth movement.

Reed Sorenson

"I hope I'm leading the way," the confident Sorenson said.

So far, so good.

Sorenson finished ninth and was the top rookie in the Busch Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway last Saturday, a race that featured several drivers expected to be part of NASCAR's next group of "Young Guns."

Drivers under 24 include Sorenson, Ryan Hemphill, Shane Hmiel, Blake Feese, Justin Labonte, Paul Menard, Brandon Miller, Boston Reid, Martin Truex Jr. and Jon Wood.

At that age, they make young Nextel Cup stars like Junior, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman seem over the hill.

"There's more available talent than ever before," said Lorin Ranier, who scouts talent for Chip Ganassi Racing. "We'd all like to hire Jeff Gordon and bring him to our team, but what's the chances of that happening? Not very good. So what do you do? You start looking elsewhere. You can't get the guy you want so you have to go out and find the next best thing."

For Ranier, that means spending countless hours researching drivers and poring over results, hoping to find a young Gordon or Tony Stewart. He would settle for Kasey Kahne or Kyle Busch, both of whom had successful Busch careers and are now driving full time in the Nextel Cup series.

"There's a lot of good drivers out there, but I am not looking for good drivers. I am looking for exceptional drivers," Ranier said. "It's like the NBA draft: I'm only looking for lottery picks."

Reed Sorenson runs side-by-side with Paul Menard. Credit: Autostock

Ranier said that because of NASCAR's popularity reaching an all-time high, more children than ever are picking up the sport -- and at a young age, too.

"Instead of playing baseball, a lot of kids are racing go-karts," he said.

That gives NASCAR teams a larger talent pool from which to choose drivers. It wasn't like that a decade ago, when NASCAR was much more of a family business. Fathers and sons, as well as brothers, could be found in almost any field.

But these days, sponsors want more marketable talent. So much so that 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton is out of racing and veteran drivers Jimmy Spencer, Mike Skinner and Bobby Hamilton have been relegated to the truck series.

Other seats are due to open next year after Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace retire from full-time racing. Terry Labonte already is racing a limited schedule.

It's made the race to find fresh talent reach new depths. In fact, Martin's 13-year-old son, Matt, recently became the youngest driver to sign a contract with Ford. He is now racing a full-sized truck in the Fastkids Series at Orlando Speedworld.

Finding talent has become big business, too. And it's growing increasingly competitive and cutthroat.

Ford Motor Co. has sued Kahne, accusing last year's top rookie of breaking a contract requiring him race in its cars. Kahne now drives Dodges for team owner Ray Evernham.

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Rick Hendrick found a loophole in Kyle Busch's contract when he was 16 years old and driving for Roush Racing in 2001, and lured him away with a more lucrative offer.

"Everybody is looking for somebody who is the complete package," Ranier said. "There are a lot of guys who are fast, but don't have the right mentality or they can't talk. You need the ones who are an exceptional driver, but are likable and has all the extra stuff you can sell."

Sorenson, like several others on the Busch circuit, seem to have it all.

He showed it at Daytona, which was just his sixth NASCAR race. He bumped and banged with Earnhardt, Harvick and eventual winner Tony Stewart before fading in the final few wild laps.

"I followed him most of the day," Harvick said. "I don't know if you guys watched him drive last year at all, but he's going to win a lot or races."

Maybe soon, too.

"He's got a lot of talent," Earnhardt said. "He doesn't do anything stupid. Even guys that are real good, they come in here early and they run over things, run over people, run into stuff. He doesn't do that."