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"Penske Material" provides an inside look at some of the personalities, stories and moments that make Team Penske so unique. 

Growing up in Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, Greg Sorber never would have envisioned a career at the helm of an iconic Team Penske Freightliner race hauler. However, a family racing venture put Sorber on a path that would lead to memorable race wins and championships at the highest level of American stock car racing.

Having competed in NASCAR-sanctioned late model racing, Sorber’s family team, McGlynn Motorsports, was lured into the relatively new NASCAR Truck Series. The family purchased its first truck in 1996, but didn’t secure funding to compete in the series until 1997 with Sorber’s cousin, Ryan McGlynn. The team raced trucks from 1997 to 2003 before deciding to build a NASCAR Cup Series car after seeing the success of other drivers that made the most of the higher purse money available in the premier series to help fund NASCAR Xfinity Series and Truck Series operations.

“My uncle, Ray McGlynn, had become intrigued with the way Morgan Shepherd had been able to compete and earn a living by start-and-parking in the Cup Series,” said Sorber. “We never really wanted to do start-and-park, but we knew if we could qualify for Cup Series races it would help fund our other efforts. So we built a Cup car from the ground up in our shop in 2003. We were able to line a few sponsors up so we could go to the track but unfortunately, we destroyed the car in a testing crash. So we found ourselves scrambling to get another car and we were able to buy a Morgan McClure car. That’s where I got to know “Big” Mark Nickels (engine tuner on the Team Penske No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang).

“From 2003 to 2006, we qualified for some races and even purchased a few Team Penske cars from the No. 77 Kodak team once the team scaled back to two cars. However, the race team eventually started taking away from our family car dealership and the economics of the sport got to the point where we couldn’t compete.”

Sorber knew that he always had a job at his family dealership, but his passion for motorsports and competition had grown over the last decade so he decided to press on. He hoped that the connections he’d made in racing would help him land a position on a larger team.

Though he didn't have a full-time role, Sorber continued to attend NASCAR race weekends, looking for an opportunity. He found one on the HT Motorsports Truck Series team when one of the team's truck drivers never showed up to the track. He wound up driving the team's truck back to their shop in Virginia and he worked with the team until 2008. Then, he got a phone call that would put him on a new road - literally.

“I got a call from Matt Gimbel (current Production Manager at Team Penske). I had left a resume with Gary Brooks a few years prior and asked him to keep me in mind should another opportunity come up. So I left for Daytona with HT Motorsports in February of 2008 and came back an employee of Team Penske.”

Initially, Sorber was hired to drive the test hauler for the team, logging frequent miles to Kentucky Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, Rockingham and other venues around the country, sometimes testing two times per week. Sorber then moved up to the team's NASCAR Cup Series program, working with drivers Sam Hornish Jr., Kurt Busch, AJ Allmendinger and Joey Logano. In 2020, Sorber was part of the team's crew realignment and now he is the lead hauler driver for the No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang driven by Ryan Blaney.

“The majority of my biggest race wins have come with Joey (Logano),” said Sorber. “If I have to pick a favorite race, it’s the 2018 NASCAR Championship Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. We were close a few times and it always stung when you watched all the other teams out there celebrating and to finally be there in that moment was surreal. But winning the 2015 Daytona 500 was another one, almost as big. I watched that race growing up and seeing the Victory Lane celebrations you always wondered what that would be like. So I count myself as blessed to have achieved that.”

When asked about what it means to be a hauler driver for Team Penske, Sorber didn’t hesitate. “The haulers. Those trucks and trailers are iconic, you can spot them from a mile away with the stainless steel sides and that Penske Perfect clean. We are all proud to go up and down the road with those trucks. We know we’re representing Roger Penske and 65,000 Penske associates around the world. We put in a lot of hours keeping our equipment top-notch and we’re proud to do it, that’s why we’re here. In the toughest of times, we’re all proud to work for Roger because he’s put his people first, continued to take care of us and through his leadership, we know that we’re going to get through this and be able to continue competing for wins and championships.”

During the current COVID-19 shut down and social distancing, Sorber has been able to appreciate the simpler things in life that would otherwise be taken for granted.

“It’s been really nice to be able to plan a week's worth of dinners together as a family,” said Sorber. “Usually I’m lucky to get one dinner a week at home with my wife. I’ve been able to take my youngest daughter up to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and walk the campus where she’s going to start in the fall and that’s been fun. I barely had time to move my oldest in and out of school each year. I’m going stir crazy to get back to racing because it’s just what we do, but I’m enjoying the time with my family, getting to plant flowers and do some painting that would have otherwise waited until the off-season.”

Once the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season resumes, there is a place where Sorber would love to be a part of a Team Penske victory celebration. “Pocono Raceway. We’ve been close a few times, but no victory yet. I’d love to win at my hometrack. Ryan (Blaney) has consistently run well there and it’s a place he got his first Cup win, so hopefully this will be the year.”

Sorber is in his 12th full season with Team Penske and he resides in Mooresville, N.C. with his wife and two children.