Stenhouse and Sadler make it a two man race: The Kansas Lottery 300 Review

Brad Keselowski won.  I long for the day I get to praise another Nationwide-only Winner.  Reed Sorenson is now 70 points back of Ricky Stenhouse and 50 points back from second place Elliott Sadler.

Let’s take a different look at the Turner Motorsports situation shall we?  Turner Motorsports purchased Braun Racing late last year.  When they did, they inherited Reed Sorenson and Jason Leffler.  Turner’s first order of business was to find a replacement for Brian Scott, who had been released much in the same way that Reed Sorenson was realeased this year.  Turner managed to get Justin Allgaier, who Penske had released due to sponsorship troubles and kept both Sorenson, who was part time until Brian Vickers developed blood clots, and Jason Leffler.  Now think of this as a football team.  Think of Reed Sorenson as the quarterback that was drafted by the previous GM.  What we normally see in the NFL is a new coach or GM comes in and he has his own ideas on who should be the face of the franchise.  So often a guy gets cut or traded so the new regime can install their own guy and that is what is happening here.  Now remember what Turner Motorsports was before they bought Braun Racing, they were a truck team with two drivers hand picked by Harry Turner, Ricky Carmichael and James Buescher.  So don’t be surprised if the #32 Chevy gets a new driver for 2012 in James Buescher.  Buescher is close to winning Turner it’s first Nascar Championship and is poised to make the jump to Nationwide Racing.

Turner has no loyalty to Reed Sorenson because Turner simply inherited him with the #32 team.  Yes, Sorenson had a good year, but he was 49 points back when Turner pulled the plug on him.  Sorenson needed a lot of help to win the championship.  He would have needed both Elliott Sadler and Ricky Stenhouse to both have bad weeks in order to get back on top of the standings.  It wasn’t out of reach, but for a team like Turner Motorsports that is losing it’s long time sponsor in Dollar General to Joe Gibbs next year, it was important for the team to get wins, not top tens.  Reed Sorenson is a consistant driver, but he hasn’t been able to find victory lane on a consistant basis.  Why else would Turner put Mark Martin into the car earlier in the year.  I still feel it’s wrong to end the dream of a driver when he is clearly still in the hunt, but I also understand that Turner has big plans for his team, and with Justin Allgaier and Reed Sorenson only having a win a peice means he has a long way to go.  I would expect to see Jason Leffler lose his ride as well, but Great Clips may want him to remain in the car.  If Great Clips would rather see Ricky Carmichael or James Buescher in the car, Leffler will be released.

Results and Points after the JUMP!  As well as an updated Nationwide Chase!

Only Six drivers are still mathmatically eligible for the Championship at this point.  With four races to go, it’s Ricky Stenhouse’s to lose.  Reed Sorenson will continue to run with MacDonald Motorsports and his chances are heavily cut due to lack of equipment.  Here’s how the points look heading into the home streatch:

And of course, here’s Troy J’s Nationwide Chase:

Next week we head to Charlotte before the Nationwide Drivers take a week off.  Enjoy!