There’s nothing worse for a NASCAR driver than losing his seat mid-championship. Yet, Reed Sorenson would end up losing his ride in 2011 with Turner Motorsports right at the peak of the championship season. There was seemingly no reason behind it, and even a decade later, Sorenson can’t help but just feel devastated about it all.

“He [Steve Turner] didn’t like something I said about the car at some point, about it not being good,” Sorenson explained to Dale Jr. on Dirty Mo Media. “So, I had the same guys as I had the year before. Great group of guys, and even all of them, when that happened, were like, ‘What the hell?’

“Like all my guys, I was with every week. It was very peculiar. It was the oddest thing that I have ever experienced. But in saying that, I was in tears, to be honest.”

Sorenson theorizes that he lost his ride because his ego clashed with the team owner at that time. He thinks that his critique of the car did not sit well with the team, and they chose not to continue with him mid-championship. But it was rather bizarre on the team’s end. For Sorenson, the 2011 season was turning out to be one of his best in NASCAR.

He had secured one victory and ended several of his races in the O’Reilly Series in the top 5. No wonder he felt it was rather unfair for him to lose a ride when he was performing far better than expected. His replacement in the team was Brian Vickers.

But things didn’t end here. There is more to the story.

Dollar General was Sorenson’s main sponsor and was about to leave after the season. However, he didn’t think they left because of what he said about the car.

“I don’t think that had anything to do with it because I had a fantastic relationship with Dollar General, but they weren’t staying the next year,” Sorenson said.

Regardless, the team’s press release following Sorenson’s firing only made the entire situation more ambiguous. Turner Motorsports attributed his exit to internal downsizing, and many theorized that it was a result of their major partner, Dollar General, leaving them at the end of the season. The entire story remains one big mystery to this date, and even Reed Sorenson doesn’t have answers.

Nevertheless, what happened to his career after he was fired from Turner Motorsports?

Where is Reed Sorenson now?

The entire Turner Motorsports fiasco would completely derail his plans for the 2011 season. At one point, he was looking forward to the championship fight, but as soon as he lost his ride, he dropped out of contention. Sorenson went from being in the top 5s every week to barely scraping in enough points.

At the end of the season, he would finish in P5 in the driver standings, which was certainly a result of the sabotage that he faced at Turner Motorsports.

Sorenson continued racing in the Cup Series and O’Reilly Series in some capacity until the 2020 NASCAR season. But unfortunately, he was unable to demonstrate any standout finishes. After he retired from his position behind the wheel, however, Sorenson decided to stay within the sport but with a different role.

He is currently spotting for Josh Williams and works in the O’Reilly Series as the driver’s eyes in the sky. Moreover, he has also visited other disciplines like the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona event as a spotter in order to understand and adapt better to his role.