No. 43 Pilot Ford Team Focused on Owners Championship
CONCORD, N.C. (March 19, 2013) - In his third race with the No. 43 Pilot Ford team, Reed Sorenson hopes to hit the ground running this weekend at the two-mile Auto Club Speedway located in Fontana, California. More comfortable with the Richard Petty Motorsports team, the Peachtree City, Ga., native will rely on his ample experience at the track to hopefully post his first top-10 with the team. Sorenson will make his 18th Auto Club Speedway NASCAR start in Saturday’s Royal Purple 300. In the Nationwide Series, he tallied a best finish of fifth (2005) and has an average finish of 14.8 at the track.
Comments from Pilot Ford Mustang Driver Reed Sorenson:
“California is a good track. I’ve had some success there in the Nationwide Series. Philippe and the No. 43 team ran well there last year. I feel like we had a good car at Bristol, and we are working better with each other. We were racing close to the top-10 and getting better when we had our accident. That ruined our chances of a good finish.
“Going into this weekend, I’m confident that we will come off the truck fast. The team has a good approach to practice, and that’s important. We only have one practice this weekend. We will take advantage of it and then have a good race this Saturday with the Pilot Ford.
Comments from Crew Chief Philippe Lopez on California:
“Our team tends to run well at the big tracks, mile-and-a-half or bigger. Even though Michael isn’t in the car, we are looking to carry that on with Reed this weekend. The biggest challenge at California, it’s so bumpy on the back straightaway. You spend a lot of time getting the car to handle well there and not as much on the turns. The key is to find a good combination of handling in the straightaways and the turns. Whoever can find that will find victory lane.”
Chassis History
The No. 43 team has prepared chassis No. 729 for California. This is a new chassis the team built in the offseason.
About Richard Petty Motorsports
A performance and marketing driven company, Richard Petty Motorsports, co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty and successful business entrepreneurs Andrew Murstein and Douglas Bergeron, is one of the most recognized brands in all of motorsports. With a history of over 200 wins and business partnerships with national and global leaders, today the race operation fields two teams in competition in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Aric Almirola pilots the famous No. 43 Ford Fusion with primary partners Smithfield Foods, U.S. Air Force and STP and Marcos Ambrose drives the No. 9 machine with primary partners Stanley and DEWALT. In addition, Michael Annett wheels the No. 43 Pilot Flying J Ford Mustang full-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The team is headquartered in Concord, N.C.
NEXT RACE:
Royal Purple 300
Auto Club Speedway
Saturday, March 23, 5 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN
Radio: MRN/SiriusXM 90
Qualifying:
Saturday, March 23, 1:35 p.m. ET
TV: SPEED
QUICK LINKS
RichardPettyMotorsports.com
PilotFlyingJ.com
LOOKING FOR A PILOT FLYING J STORE?
There are eight locations within 100 miles of Auto Club Speedway.
The nearest location is 30.7 miles from the track. (Pilot Travel Center (I-15 and US 395) 8701 Highway 395, Hesperia, CA 92345). Visit PilotFlyingJ.com/locations to find the nearest locations to you.
