Reed Sorenson: Fired from Turner Motorsports

Reed Sorenson, who piloted the Turner Motorsports No. 32 and was third in the Nationwide Series point standings [forty-nine points behind leader, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.] was let go yesterday (October 4th).  In this season's twenty-nine races, Reed has had one win (at Road America), seven top-fives, eighteen top-tens, has led eighty-five laps, and has had an average finish of 10.6 - pretty good stats, right? 

Photo Credit to racing-pistons.blogspot.com

Tuesday, it was announced that Sorenson was let go for undisclosed reasons.  With stats like the ones previously mentioned, why would they let him go now?  Was it because of the possible loss of Dollar General, the No. 32's main sponsor after the end of this season.  If it was, why would they let Reed go now with only five races to go and more importantly, with the Championship on the line? 

When asked about what was going on, Reed stated, "I'm really not sure what's going on.  It's not good, though." 

Brian Vickers will be filling in for Sorenson for the next two races at Kansas and Charlotte in the No. 32.  The drivers of the final three races will be announced as they are decided.  Vickers, who wanted to run at least one Nationwide Series race this year, had contacted many teams about possibly driving for one race in the Nationwide Series for them.  Vickers has raced for Turner Motorsports in the past, but was quite surprised when he got the call from Turner Motorsports general manager T.J. Puchyr, "I was thinking like maybe they'd add a fourth car for the last race, and then Turner Motorsports general manager T.J. Puchyr called me Monday afternoon and said, 'Would you consider running sooner than Homestead?' I said, 'Yeah, of course.' And they let me know Tuesday morning. They asked me if I'd run the next couple of races, and I said 'Sure.' So it was kind of a last-minute deal."  

Photo Credit to TurnerMotorsportsllc.com

Finally, Turner Motorsports has notified their employees about the impending downsizing after the 2011 season due to the loss of their main sponsor, Dollar General. 

We're left with quite a few questions: Will Reed have a ride with another team for the final five races? Will Brian Vickers, who currently doesn’t have a ride in 2012 in the Cup Series, race full-time in the Nationwide Series next year? What will happen to Reed's 2011 points in the Nationwide Series?  

So many questions, no answers.  I guess we'll have to wait and see what the rest of the 2011 season has in store for Reed.