NASCAR Cup

Ford Media Day - Sadler

All eight Ford NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series drivers participated in media day at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday. ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 38 M&M's Taurus WILL THE NEW RULES HAVE A BIG EFFECT ON THIS RACE? "I don't think so. I think it's ...

Published: Feb 7, 2004, 11:16 PM

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All eight Ford NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series drivers participated in media day at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday.

ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 38 M&M's Taurus

WILL THE NEW RULES HAVE A BIG EFFECT ON THIS RACE? "I don't think so. I think it's still gonna be the great race that we put on each and every season. Everytime NASCAR comes up with a rule, we figure out a way to get around it and make our cars perform the best they can. I don't think rules are gonna have an effect on the race this year. I think the tires are gonna be the big unknown right now. Goodyear has changed the tires a bunch. We learned a lot from testing, but until you get in racing conditions that's really the big unknown going on right now."

Elliott Sadler.

Photo by Eric Gilbert.

WHAT'S THE BALANCE BETWEEN DRIVER AND AERO IN THIS RACE? "I think all the engineering and everything comes out in testing - getting the car handling as best you can and finding out all the aerodynamic stuff you need. It's not hard going around here by yourself wide open. I think you all could do it just as good as I can, but when it comes to putting those other 42 cars out there, then the game changes a bunch and the driver has to step up. It's like a chess game. You really have to see the move happening before you make it. You've got to be a very patient race car driver. I've had a lot of success here at Daytona. I really love the race track and I love the game of drafting because it's just a big chess game. You've got to know when to play it and know when to make your move. I've been lucky with it so far, and I just want to make that one last move to try to get in Victory Lane. We got so close here two years ago and I was running third last year when our battery box went out, so we've got great equipment. We've got some good motors and good cars. We've taken care of the aerodynamic part and the engineering part and now it's up to Elliott Sadler to try to put it in motion here."

ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO RACING UNDER THE NEW SYSTEM? "I am. I think it's great. I think once the fans and everybody understands what's going on, I think everybody is gonna like it. It gives 10 drivers now a chance to run for the championship, instead of two or maybe just one. It keeps you from going into a fourth quarter prevent defense. It makes you have to blitz every now and then. That's just the kind of parallel and similarities we're having now. I think the fans will love it because there's a better chance that one of their favorite drivers will be running for the championship. I like it. It keeps everything close and keeps everything where you've got to race hard and you've got to take chances to try to win this NASCAR NEXTEL championship, and I think it's a great decision."

HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS ONE-TEAM FORD CONCEPT? "Everybody knows Robert Yates and Jack Roush have joined forces on the engine program and the reason we did that is because of Dodge's concept and we know Toyota is coming in in a couple of years and is gonna try to blow people away with money and a one-team concept, so I think it's very smart for Ford and Jack and Robert to get together and put all of our entities together and start doing that now because we don't want to be overwhelmed by any other manufacturer coming into this sport and just steamrolling us with that type of idea. I think it's smart for those guys to look ahead and it's been working well. It's pretty neat now to come into the garage and have Jack and Robert both working on your engine and trying to learn stuff to try and help all of our teams. I think Ford has done a great job with trying to get everybody to work together now. I think after they've seen how successful Dodge has been with it, I think Ford has definitely stepped to the plate getting everybody under one umbrella."

-ford racing-

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