EASTABOGA, Ala. — As the reigning MD3 Rookie of the Year Award winner with the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Models, Dustin Sorensen knew he was capable of contending with the best in 2025.
He just hadn’t shown it through the first nine races. Entering Saturday’s Illini 100 finale at Farmer City Raceway, Sorensen’s eighth-place run at Swainsboro Raceway was his lone top 15 of the year.
The Rochester, Minn., native needed a spark to get his season rolling, and he finally got one on the Central Illinois quarter-mile.
After a second-place finish in his heat, Sorensen made the redraw for the first time this year and drew the fifth-place starting spot. In the 60-lap main event, he held his own against plenty of drivers who know Farmer City like the back of their hand to place fifth in the final rundown – a season high.
“Qualifying better helps, that’s been my biggest struggle all year long,” said Sorensen, who qualified sixth that night. “I suck at qualifying. I don’t know, we’ve tried just about everything, but I guess we’ll keep trying stuff and try to figure that out.”
Finding performance gains between the first race night of the weekend and the second has become a trend for the No. 19 camp. At Swainsboro in March, Sorensen finished 20th on Friday before driving from 24th to eighth in the Saturday portion. Three weeks later, he was able to regroup from a 17th-place run Friday at Farmer City in time for Saturday’s impressive showing.
“I think I’m a little too cautious maybe, especially at new tracks,” Sorensen said. “It kind of shows in longer races, I tend to do better too, so maybe I’m just too cautious there at the beginning of the race. But it definitely helps, anytime you can get laps at a place, I mean, Swainsboro was my first time there and it was only my second time to Farmer City here this past weekend. I think it’s definitely a big part of why I did better the second day, I just got some more laps.”
The remainder of the campaign is filled with facilities where Sorensen has raced before.
“Everywhere that I ran good, I’m looking forward to going back to,” Sorensen said. “Cedar Lake and Deer Creek, two of my home tracks that are real close to me, I’m excited for those two. Boothill [Speedway], ran really good there last year and they upped their purse this year, so I’m excited to go back there. Fairbury’s always a fun weekend. There’s a whole bunch of them.”
But first, Sorensen has his focus locked on next weekend’s Alabama Gang 100 at the Talladega Short Track — the site of the first top 10 of his rookie year. That night last season confirmed that the modified star from the upper Midwest was more than a black dirt aficionado, he could run up front on the southeastern red clay as well.
“I think I’ll just kind of do the same thing I did last year as far as setup goes,” Sorensen said. “I don’t really know what to expect with the new tire that we’re getting, so that might throw a curveball at us. But I’m looking forward to going back there. We ran pretty well there last year, so we’re hoping to go down there and do the same.”
