Steve Turner comments on Sorenson firing and teams future

Headed into Kansas Speedway, the headline was solely on one driver, Reed Sorenson but not for the reason he would like. Earlier this week, Sorenson was let go from his ride at Turner Motorsports with just 5 races to go in the season and as he currently sits third in the series standings.

The big question on everyone's mind, along with that of Sorenson, why? As Sorenson explained earlier this week, “I got a phone call this morning, but they didn’t really say much. All they would say is that I’m out of the car. I haven’t gotten a reason—I’m just as confused as you are.” At track this weekend, Sorenson still remained puzzled as to the reason behind his sudden and immediate departure from the No.32 car but stayed classy in the barrage of questions. Not once did Sorenson disparage Turner Motorsports or Steve Turner himself for their decision, instead Sorenson's plan in to move on and try and maintain his points.

Prior to the race on Saturday, Steve Turner spoke to Vince Welch from ESPN about Sorenson's firing and his teams future.

“I never leave my race shop to run third,” Turner said. “If I didn’t think I can win, I shouldn’t be coming here.” Turner stated that he feels the team was not making enough progress during race weekends to gauge the quality of their equipment.

“This was a car that I felt like, I call [the No. 32] our ‘flagship car,’ and monitoring the radio the last few weeks, I was getting zero feedback – we’d make changes and make changes and make changes and the car wasn’t reacting,” explained Turner.

“So I felt like I needed to make sure where my problem was. And that’s what we did. … We were getting feedback [from Sorenson]. It wasn’t positive feedback. The feedback between the crew chief and the driver, we weren’t improving the car. The car was staying the same. You’ve got to start changing somewhere.” The change Turner opted for was to replace Sorenson with veteran drivers at this point.

Filling the No. 32 seat this weekend and next, Brian Vickers. The remainder of the races will also be filled by Cup series veterans.

As for 2012 plans for Turner's teams: Look for the teams to be down sizing a bit. The plan remains with being a four car team, though the lone full-time driver will be Justin Allgaier. The other three cars will rotate between Cup drivers and showcasing younger talents. James Buescher will be running a partial Nationwide schedule again next year.

As for Turner's Truck series program, James Buescher returns to pilot the No. 31 in 2012 and will be one of three Turner Motorsports trucks. Turner's other two trucks will be announced this coming week.

Wrapping up this season and headed into a fresh start, changes are ahead for Turner Motorsports but the team remains strong in their sponsors and commitment to the sport.