BY TEAM FORD RACING CORRESPONDENT

Richmond, Va. — Do not be surprised if Reed Sorenson leaves Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates before the year ends. Sources close to the situation say the relationship between the driver and the team owner are, to put it mildly, strained. Ganassi’s team, which already has shuttered one of its three NASCAR Sprint Cup cars, has struggled mightily this season, once again failing to win a single race or place a driver in the Chase.

• Gillett Evernham Motorsports has sued Robby Gordon, alleging that the owner/driver backed out of a deal to sell Robby Gordon Motorsports to Gillett Evernham for $23.5 million and a guaranteed deal for Gordon to drive for the team that would have been worth as much as $5 million per year.

Although both sides are officially mum on the deal—a GEM spokesman declined comment to racing media members and Gordon’s team issued a brief denial of the accusations in the suit accompanied by a no-further-comment—the real beef, sources said, is over real estate. Specifically, GEM wants to relocate from Statesville, N.C., some 60 miles north of Charlotte, closer to the city and where most other NASCAR teams are based. And Gordon’s new shop in Charlotte was coveted by GEM as its new headquarters.

• Tony Stewart’s new team, Stewart Haas Motorsports, has acquired a new nickname: Hendrick Lite. That’s because the team has signed former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief and engineer Darian Grubb to be Tony Stewart’s crew chief next year and is trying to hire long-time Hendrick confidante Jay Frye as the team’s boss. Frye is credited with righting Red Bull Racing this year and before that building MB2 Motorsports into a quality mid-pack team.

And with Hendrick engines and chassis—and perhaps a pipeline to some talented Hendrick personnel—Hendrick Lite may emerge as a competitive team in 2009.