Sorenson follows up pole at Indy with top-five run

INDIANAPOLIS -- Maybe it's time for Reed Sorenson to step out of the shadows of his better-known teammate.

Overshadowed by the great run by Juan Montoya in Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard (read more) was the equally impressive outing by Sorenson, the 21-year-old from the Atlanta suburbs who carried over his momentum from last week's Busch Series win to score a top-five finish after becoming the youngest driver in Indianapolis history to capture a pole position.

Race Video

Reed Sorenson celebrated his first career pole in the Nextel Cup Series at Indianapolis.

• Sorenson fifth at Brickyard
• Sorenson races to Bud Pole

"It's not disappointing at all," Sorenson said. "Any time you can get a top-five or top-10, it's great. We're really happy. We got the pole at the Brickyard and then finished top-five, so we're pretty happy right now."

How difficult was that? Consider that in the 14 races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, only one driver -- Kevin Harvick in 2003 -- has won both the pole and the race in the same season. Jeff Gordon has four wins and three poles at Indianapolis, but never concurrently.

In fact, until Sorenson snapped the hex, the Brickyard pole has been anything but a good omen. With the exception of Harvick, not since 1999 had a pole-sitter finished in the top 10. In 2006, Jeff Burton wound up 15th. The previous season, Elliott Sadler went from first to 32nd. And Casey Mears had similar luck in 2004. After setting a track record, Mears finished a distant 26th.

What's most impressive is that Sorenson accomplished it in front of NASCAR's biggest crowd of the season, at a track where his owner, Chip Ganassi, has celebrated in Victory Circle.

Perhaps you could argue that Sorenson's fourth-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway earlier this season was a matter of playing the fuel-mileage game, but Sunday's run was all about a strong car and a heads-up performance behind the wheel.

"Each race is the same as far as points and all that, but coming here to this place and being able to run good in front of all these people [is great]," Sorenson said. "This place is historic and to run good here is awesome.

"It's definitely one of the highlights of my career. The last two weeks have been good. I won the Busch race last weekend. The guys had a great car for me this weekend to get a pole and get a top-five."

Sorenson said he picked up a few tips from Ganassi during the weekly drivers' meeting, mainly try to stay patient and not make mistakes.

"We talk about every racetrack," Sorenson said. "This track you've got to handle the long runs. You can't beat yourself here. If you get behind, it's really hard to come back. We just had to make sure we didn't make any major mistakes that put us in the back of the field."

That advice paid off when Sorenson was able to avoid the multiple, multi-car wrecks that sidelined several of the top contenders. He fell back to third behind eventual winner Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. after the first 20 laps but stayed in front of most of the carnage during the first half of the race.

But what Sorenson needed most was a long green-flag run. He finally got his wish after the restart on Lap 98, as the track stayed green for 37 laps and allowed him to maneuver his No. 41 Dodge through traffic.

"We were pretty good, but fell back a couple of times," Sorenson said. "We kind of picked our way through under that green-flag run and got back up to fifth."

So what does this mean for Chip Ganassi Racing?

"It's pretty big," Sorenson said. "[It was] a good run for Juan with a second and we come home fifth and we get the pole. Other than a win, that's about all you can ask for."