NASCAR FanHouse Top 25 Year-in-Review
Reed Sorenson, No. 41 Chip Ganassi Dodge

Welcome to the 2007 NASCAR FanHouse Year in Review. Follow along each day until the end of 2007 as we look back on the top 25 drivers of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for the 2007 season. Heck, bookmark us if you have to! Today, we review the season of 22rd-place Reed Sorenson.

Driver: Reed Sorenson -- Peachtree City, Georgia
Team: No. 41 Target Dodge
Points: 22rd (-3448)
2006: Finished 24th in Season Standings
Key Stats: 1 pole, 3 Top-5s, 6 Top-10s
Back in 2008?: Yes, same team

As good or bad as Reed Sorenson's 2007 season in your eyes, you've got to remember one thing. Sorenson turned 21 years of age back in February.

And yes, he's now completed two full NASCAR Nextel Cup Series seasons with a total of 74 starts. Not bad for a guy who just earned his way into a bar.

Sorenson's 2007 season was marked with typical Chip Ganassi Racing style -- flashes of brilliance, but no lasting light. Without a doubt, Sorenson's pole-winning run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Allstate 400 was a nice accomplishment for such a young driver. Indeed, that's a trophy that'll make its way to a prominent mantle. The 5th-place finish at Indy was a nice cap to the weekend.

Aside from Indy, two Top-5's -- one at Charlotte in May (4th) and one at Phoenix in April (3rd) -- were two other flashes from the No. 41 team, but again, sustainability wasn't there. As has been the story with Ganassi since Sterling Marlin's near miss at the championship in 2001, there just hasn't been consistency at the front for the team.
Unfortunately for Reed, as well as teammates David Stremme and Juan Pablo Montoya from 2007, it's tough to tell what kind of talent they really do have. Obviously, there was plenty of effort on behalf of Sorenson with seven DNF's over the season, but averaging a 24th-place finish to wind up the season shouldn't happen.

A lack of consistency, whether it be Ganassi's fault or Reed's, truly showed in 2007 for Sorenson, as he only one in the 36-race season compiled three straight finishes in the Top-25 or higher. Even then, that streak only saw finishes of 15th, 25th, and 21st.

For 2008, both Sorenson and Ganassi are going to have to find a way to get much, much more consistent in putting their Dodges in the Top-20 at the very least. Ganassi isn't a guy that loses much in other racing series', so it makes you wonder why that doesn't translate to Cup competition.

That has to change for Sorenson in '08 either by car performance or increased driver performance for 2009 to be a true reality for the partnership to continue, I'd say.