NOTES:

Reed Sorenson and No. 41 Target Team (NSCS)

Phoenix Test: Sorenson, along with most of the NSCS driver and teams, participated in a NASCAR mandated test session at Phoenix International Raceway on Monday and Tuesday. Sorenson posted the fourth fastest time of the two-day session with a lap of 27.486 sec/130.976 mph. His CGRFS teammate Juan Pablo Montoya topped the charts with a time of 27.385 sec/131.459 mph.

Career Best Finish: : Sorenson recorded his career-best NSCS finish of third-place in last season’s second race at what is considered his hometown track – Atlanta Motor Speedway (Oct. 28).

Atlanta Results: In five NSCS starts at the 1.54-mile speedway Sorenson has one top five (third) and three top-10 finishes. His average start is 20.8 and average finish is 18.4.

Homecoming: This weekend’s race at AMS will be a homecoming of sorts for Sorenson, who hails from Peachtree City, Ga. AMS is the site of Sorenson’s first NSCS start, which came on Oct. 30, 2005. Sorenson started the event 22nd and finished 41st after an accident took him out of contention on lap 133 of 325. Sorenson grew up racing Legends Cars (5/8 scale replicas of classic coupes and sedans of the '30s) at AMS, capturing three track championships (’98, ’99, ’01) 22 wins, 40 top-five finishes and 42 top-10 finishes in 43 starts.

BFF: Sorenson’s good friend and Target teammate Shane Bourgeois also hails from Peachtree City. The two grew up together and Bourgeois helped Sorenson on his ASA team before moving with him to North Carolina and to CGRFS. Bourgeois was recently promoted to the Engineering Department as Quality Engineer – Inventory Mileage Tracking. Additionally, he provides pit support on race day.

Points Report: Sorenson and the Target team currently sit 18th in the overall NSCS driver point standings. The team is only 27 points out of 12th place – the final cutoff position for the Chase – and 170 points out of first place.

Brian Clauson and No. 41 Polaroid Team (NNS)

Clauson Returns to No. 41: Clauson, 18-year-old driver of the No. 41 Dodge, is returning behind the wheel of the No. 41 Polaroid Dodge this weekend at AMS. His last run was in Fontana last month when he and team encountered a cut tire that derailed their run and ended it way too early in 34th place. Prior to that, he left his mark on Daytona during the NNS season opener, scoring a career-best sixth-place finish in only his sixth career NNS start. Clauson, who just saw DIS for the first time in January during the NNS test session, also scored a career-best start of seventh place and was named the Raybestos Rookie of the Race.

Polaroid Makes NASCAR Debut in Atlanta: Polaroid is making its NNS debut this weekend at Atlanta on the No. 41 Dodge. Last fall, Polaroid signed a multi-year agreement to become a major associate sponsor on the No. 41 Target Dodge, driven by Sorenson, in the NSCS and the No. 9 and No. 10 Target Hondas, driven by Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon, in the IndyCar Series beginning this 2008 season. In addition to NNS competition, Polaroid will have a primary paint scheme during one event in both the NSCS and IndyCar Series.

BT Phone Home: Brian Taylor (a.k.a. “BT”), mechanic on the No. 41 Polaroid team, hails from the Peach State. He grew up in Cuthbert and has been with CGRFS for four years and in NASCAR for 10. He is a 1996 graduate of Randolph Southern High School in Shellman, Ga.

Rookie Standings: Clauson currently stands second in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings. He has a current tally of 25 points, just 12 behind NNS rookie class leader and fellow teammate Dario Franchitti.

Owner Standings Update: The No. 41 team dropped 14 positions in the owner standings after last weekend’s effort at Las Vegas when Kyle Krisiloff made his first start for the team and went high on the race track to make a pass. Unfortunately, he lost control of the No. 41 Dodge, wrecking the car and calling it a day way too early in 43rd place. The team now stands 28th, 227 points away from first place and 107 points outside the top 10.

QUOTES:

Bryan Clauson

How hard is it to stop and go with the races you are running? You raced at Daytona and California, but sat out Las Vegas while Krisiloff drove. Does that make this upcoming weekend’s run even more challenging?

“It does throw an additional element into everything else I am trying to take in. So, it is a little bit different, but we have a really good car we are taking to Atlanta. The biggest hurdle is just learning about the track. I know this same team had a really good setup there last year at this time. I think we should be pretty good off the truck. I also will be leaning on Reed a little bit. He has been helping me over the last few weeks so I will definitely lean on him for some direction and insight.”

What are your thoughts on Brett Favre retiring?

? “I don’t follow football as much as I follow basketball, but it is going to be a different game. It seems as long as I have been alive or almost my entire life, Brett Favre has been football. He has been a big part of it and I am sure will still be part of it some way or another, but the game will be different without him in there. That is for sure.””

CHASSIS INFO:

No. 41 Target Dodge (NSCS): Chassis #633. Two previous starts in 2007, Bristol 1 (43rd) and Darlington (40th).

No. 41 Polaroid Dodge (NNS): Chassis #753. The car helped the program score some strong finishes in 2007, including a 13th-place effort by A.J. Allmendinger at Phoenix last fall. Prior to that, it also carried CGRFS development driver Kevin Hamlin to a second-straight, top-10 finish in late July last year. Hamlin and team came home with a seventh-place finish from Gateway on July 21 and then the following weekend turned a 30th-place starting position into an eighth-place finish at the O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Ind. With the same car.

2008 STATS:

CAREER STATS:

TEAM ROSTER: