NASCAR: Reed Sorenson Surprised, Upset About Sudden Dismissal From Turner Motorsports

Reed Sorenson used words like “bad, “not fun” and “frustrating” to describe this week, in which he suddenly became unemployed following a surprising dismissal from the Turner Motorsports Nationwide Series team.

Sorenson, who is third in the Nationwide point standings, was booted from his ride on Tuesday with what he said was no explanation.

“You know, I haven’t really been given an explanation yet why,” he said Friday at Kansas Speedway. “We’re the best out of our three cars in points. Mathematically, we still have a chance to win the championship and a pretty good chance, if we ran well, to beat the 2 car (Elliott Sadler). To say it was a surprise is the least I can say about it.”

Fortunately for Sorenson, MacDonald Motorsports offered him a seat in its No. 82 car this weekend at Kansas. It’s not a good car, but it’s at least something.

“Some points is better than zero, right?” Sorenson said.

To get the MacDonald Motorsports ride, Sorenson first had to clear it with the team’s usual driver, Scott Wimmer. Sorenson said he spoke to Wimmer and told him the situation, and Wimmer agreed to do Sorenson a “huge favor.”

“I definitely owe him one, for sure,” Sorenson said. “I appreciate what he did for me. He could have easily said no. I’m just glad Wimmer was nice enough to let me do it. Hopefully we get enough points on Saturday to make it all worthwhile for everybody.”

Sorenson also qualified for Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race in Robby Gordon’s No. 7 car, but the bitter feelings from his sudden departure from Turner are still fresh. He said he had grown closer with sponsor Dollar General than any other sponsor in his career, and praised his team for working so hard this season.

“I’m not mad, I’m upset,” Sorenson said, “because of where we’re at in the points and how hard we’ve worked up to this point.”

There’s been plenty of speculation as to the reason Sorenson was given the boot, but team owner Steve Turner was not available to comment late Friday afternoon. Officially, the team said in a statement the move was made to “evaluate” the program.

Brian Vickers is driving the No. 32 car for the next two races.

It’s unclear where Sorenson will find a ride after this weekend to continue his championship battle, because his options in the Nationwide Series are limited.

“If you look at the points and who has cars available, there’s really no cars available,” he said. “I’m going to be trying to get in anything I can and trying to get in the best car, for sure, but it’s tough with money these days. I don’t know who’s going to have a ride available.”