NASCAR Cup
Sadler in championship form
Fresh off his second career win at Texas Motor Speedway last month, Elliott Sadler and the No. 38 Yates Racing team look poised to be a threat for the Nextel Chase for the Championship. Sadler, who turned 29 this weekend, is looking to recover ...
Edited: May 3, 2004, 12:42 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Fresh off his second career win at Texas Motor Speedway last month, Elliott Sadler and the No. 38 Yates Racing team look poised to be a threat for the Nextel Chase for the Championship. Sadler, who turned 29 this weekend, is looking to recover critical points he lost after crunching the No. 38 Ford's nose after getting caught up in an incident with Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne.
Elliott Sadler.
Photo by Eric Gilbert.
"I think it was a lot different before we got to Talladega," said Sadler. "When we were fifth in points and had some cushion behind us. Now it's kind of changed back a little bit. Eighth is the lowest we've been in points and all year, and we have got to try to just get us a top-10 this weekend, and top-10 these guys to death.
"I think if we can get out of the first 26 races, if we can get half of them top-10's we'll have a shot at being in the top-10 in points, so that's what we're trying to do."
Sadler has been good out of the box this season. The year launched off like gangbusters, when Team 38 earned the win in the Gatorade 125's, and finished 7th in the season opening Daytona 500. Since then, Sadler has racked up 2 top-5's (including one win), four top-10's, and three top-15 results.
The strong start to the inaugural Nextel Cup season marks a real resurgence for the No. 38 Yates Racing team. Last year, Sadler seemed like a man on fire, scoring five top-10 finishes in the first nine events, and climbing to 10th in series rankings. But, suddenly
Sadler was plagued with problems, and always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
After several finishes of 33rd or worse, Sadler freefell through the top 20, and ended 2003 a disappointing 22nd in championship points.
He is hell bent on riding the energy of his win at Texas, to be a threat at the 26th race of the year, and vie to compete for the Nextel Cup series trophy.
"It's all momentum," Sadler commented. "This is a tough sport that will knock you off the bottom rung really quick. One week you're happy, the next wee, you're not. We're coming off a terrible weekend at Talladega.
Pitstop for Elliott Sadler.
Photo by Autostock.
"If you have a bad Sunday, you've got to try to come back that next Friday and give the guys a good day, get them pumped up for the whole weekend."
Sadler may have to dig hard to materialize a top-10 this weekend, fuel line issues have beleaguered the No. 38 team, and they posted only the 17th quickest time in happy hour. But will take the green flag from the 14th spot on Sunday, Sadler has qualified in the top-15 for all but one race this season.
"We had one of the best qualifying averages last year," said Sadler. "It just didn't show on Sundays, and we knew that our qualifying this year was going to be fine. We just need to work on more racing stuff."
Currently, Sadler sits eighth in the Nextel Chase for the Championship, 194 markers shy of leader Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Busch looks to earn back points at Fontana
Next article Kahne earns third pole of the season
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Kasey Kahne
It's Kasey Kahne Friday every other week in the 2027 NASCAR Truck season
NASCAR Truck
NASCAR Truck
Charlotte II
It's Kasey Kahne Friday every other week in the 2027 NASCAR Truck season
Kasey Kahne officially ends NASCAR retirement for full-time Spire Truck ride
NASCAR Truck
NASCAR Truck
Kasey Kahne officially ends NASCAR retirement for full-time Spire Truck ride
Kasey Kahne is as passionate and competitive as ever at Knoxville Nationals
Sprint Car
Sprint Car
Kasey Kahne is as passionate and competitive as ever at Knoxville Nationals
More from
Yates Racing
Bullins back with Wood Brothers
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Bullins back with Wood Brothers
Want to build engines like Roush and Yates? There's a school for that
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Want to build engines like Roush and Yates? There's a school for that
Roush Fenway Racing provides fresh start for Sadler
NASCAR O'Reilly
NASCAR O'Reilly
Roush Fenway Racing provides fresh start for Sadler
Latest news
Tom Cruise interested in racing ARCA car, per NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
5 h
Tom Cruise interested in racing ARCA car, per NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
8 h
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
8 h
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 8 h
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe