Sorenson heading to Vegas with confidence

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Juan Montoya casts a mighty large shadow, which is OK with teammate Reed Sorenson.

Sorenson knows when the inevitable success comes his way, the lights will shine just as brightly.

"We're not getting as much media attention as Juan is, obviously, just because of who he is and the stats he has," Sorenson said of the former Formula One star and Indy 500 winner. "We feel like if we run good this year and do our job -- run up front and win a race -- the rest of that stuff will take care of itself."

Sorenson showed potential during his rookie season in 2006, scoring top-10s in both Michigan races and running seventh at Chicagoland. But after an 11th at Dover, Sorenson's season hit the wall, literally.

He finished last after crashing at Kansas when a tire went down, suffered an engine problem at Talladega and then wrecked twice at Lowe's. He rallied in the season finale at Homestead, finishing 16th -- and expects better things in 2007.

"As a driver, I feel like I'm prepared," Sorenson said. "Mentally and physically, I feel like I'm ready to go and feel like the team is behind me 100 percent and we believe in each other so we feel pretty comfortable that we're going to win this year."

Sorenson, who turned 21 in February, got off to a good start at Daytona. In four restrictor-plate races last season, he failed to crack the top 25, with his best finish a 26th at Talladega. This year he finished 13th.

Unfortunately, Sorenson crashed after completing just seven laps at California and ranks 31st in points heading to Las Vegas.

Sorenson was best on the intermediate tracks last season, but struggled with an older chassis during testing at Las Vegas. Knowing he's getting newer equipment that includes the revamped Dodge nose, is adding to his confidence.

"We went down there knowing our cars weren't as good as they could be but we didn't know we were going to be as far off as we were," Sorenson said. "The No. 40 and No. 42 had pretty decent cars and ran pretty lap times, so we have possibly a brand-new car we'll take to Vegas.

"We built new cars over the winter and we didn't have one yet. It was still in the fab shop while we were testing in Vegas. We just didn't have enough time to get it done. It's just aerodynamic gains that they've made and chassis gains that they've made."