Sorenson Moves to GEM; Carpentier Gone?

You can now call Reed Sorenson the former Chip Ganassi Racing driver:

Reed Sorenson isn't waiting for Chip Ganassi Racing to figure out the Car of Tomorrow.

The 22-year-old driver signed a multiyear contract to join Gillett Evernham Motorsports next season, where he'll join Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler.

Sorenson said his decision to leave Ganassi, where he began his NASCAR career as a precocious 18-year-old, was difficult but necessary.

"I'm going over here to try to make myself a better racecar driver," Sorenson said during a conference call Tuesday shortly after the announcement. "I wanted to be more competitive and I wanted to have some more opportunities to win races and things like that."

For Sorenson fans, this is great news, but for Patrick Carpentier fans it's probably not.



Sorenson's move to the GEM racing operation means the team now has four drivers on the plate for 2009, which likely means one more than sponsorship dollars can support. How does GEM relieve that problem?

Bye, Bye Patrick.

It's been no secret that GEM has struggled to find full-time sponsorship for the No. 10 ride for both 2008 and 2009, and bringing in Sorenson into the No. 10 will likely land a sponsor much easier than the older Carpentier can find.

Is that fair to Carpentier? No way. The guy has been fun to watch in 2008 as he gets better and better with each race despite having, at this point, about a year total in a stock car. Carpentier is a former Canadian open-wheel racer who jumped into NASCAR last year during the Nationwide Series race at Montreal.

In his first event, he won the pole for the road course race.

Carpentier even has a pole in 2008, though his finishes haven't exactly been top-notch. His best finishes of 2008 include a 14th at Daytona and 18th at Indianapolis in July.

As for Sorenson, look for his performance to improve I believe. He's finally had enough experience in NASCAR to fully "get it" after jumping into the sport as an 18-year-old. I fully believe Sorenson's career would have taken off much easier had he been able to wait to join the Sprint Cup Series at such a young age, but he's learned from his experience -- and pressure at Ganassi -- and will apply that well to GEM.