10/19/2024
Dustin Sorensen
ALL DIRT ROADS: Dustin Sorensen on Track to Lock Rookie of the Year Honors at World Finals; 2025 Visions Prospering
CONCORD, NC (October 18, 2024) – The pressure of winning the MD3 Rookie of the Year honors has eased off Dustin Sorensen’s back as he’s on track to lock up the award at the World of Outlaws World Finals.
Sitting 222 points ahead in the rookie standings, Sorensen will need to show up for all three Feature events at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, Nov. 6-9, to officially clinch the coveted title.
While the Rochester, MN native didn’t keep the title on his mind much during the 2024 World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model season, it was always a goal for he and his team.
“I haven’t thought too much about (winning Rookie of the Year),” Sorensen said. “I guess we have a pretty good lead that helps with why I haven’t took a second thought about what to do each night. I want to run good night in and night out. That’s my biggest goal. But yes, that’ll be awesome to win.
“It puts an exclamation point on what we did this year, and it shows the consistency of our team. Especially Cory Richman, I haven’t had a DNF for anything stupid yet this year, so that shows how well my crew chief takes care of everything. Hats off to him, I can’t thank him enough for all the hard work, and it’s a thanks to him when we lock up the award.”
The 2022 USMTS champion had a good start to his season, winning his first gator trophy at Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals aboard his No. 19 DIRTcar UMP Modified. However, it was a different story with his No. 19 Late Model, finishing outside the top 20 in his first three races with the World of Outlaws.
But in May, he began to pick up his pace. Sorensen earned a top 10 at Mississippi Thunder Speedway and then a top-five finish the following race at Raceway 7.
After two consecutive finishes of 12th, he found himself leading laps during the Hoosier Dirt Classic at Brownstown Speedway and ended up finishing second to Nick Hoffman.
In total this year, he’s currently garnered five top five finishes and 16 top 10s, including two more podiums at the USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway and the Bayou Classic at Boothill Speedway. He enters the World of Outlaws World Finals with a streak of four straight top 10 finishes and two consecutive top fives.
“Yeah, we definitely put it into high gear,” Sorensen said. “These guys are the best, and we knew that coming into the year that it would be tough. But I’m really proud of how far we’ve come. It’s been a lot of learning about me being consistent and driving consistently on different kinds of racetracks. Setup-wise, the more tracks we go to, the more we build up the notebook. It’ll be more to go off of in the future.”
The Dirt Track at Charlotte is the final facility that Sorensen has yet to experience with his Late Model, as he enters a new challenge of sharing the track with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars and Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds. Through his time building his notebook and watching videos of the tracks, he said it helps him prepare for when he gets into the car to drive.
“The seat time has been the big thing,” Sorensen said. “By building the notebook, we learn to have a more balanced car each night. It’s been a struggle, but we’ve figured a lot of things out lately that we know what to do by looking at the track, watching videos off of it. “Like Charlotte coming up is huge because I haven’t been to most of these tracks. But when you go to places familiar to you, it helps you know what to expect but isn’t too reliant if it’s been a while.”
Winning a Feature is the final goal Sorensen wants to complete before the season officially wraps up. His recent performances of four straight top-10 finishes, including his podium drive at Boothill, has him eager for a win before the year ends.
“That fuel to win definitely keeps you going,” Sorensen said. “It’s been a long season and running good later in the year like we have been makes me want to race more, and more, and more. It’s definitely winding down, it’s crazy how fast it went by. It felt grueling in the summer, but it went by quickly.
“It shows that we’ve been jiving. We all know what we need to do to get everything ready and I am still the one to make the most mistakes on the team because I’m the one driving. I’m looking forward to next year, the plan is to try and do this again, and I’m looking forward to that. I think next year should be a lot better because we have the notebook built up. And if we don’t run good at a track, we know what not to do for the future.”
If you can’t make it to the track, watch every lap of the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models season on DIRTVision – through your computer or mobile device.
Article Credit: Matt Skipper | World of Outlaws