NASCAR Cup
Sadler wants to write same storyline as 2004
Elliott Sadler's biggest challenge of this season will be regaining the momentum the No. 38 Yates Ford seemed to lose during the last five races of 2004. Team 38 has worked on improving communication and pumping up their strategy to prepare for ...
Edited: Jan 14, 2005, 5:32 AM
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Elliott Sadler's biggest challenge of this season will be regaining the momentum the No. 38 Yates Ford seemed to lose during the last five races of 2004. Team 38 has worked on improving communication and pumping up their strategy to prepare for another year in the 'chase for the championship'.
Elliott Sadler.
Photo by Bob Harmeyer.
"We ran great the first five races of the chase," said Sadler. "The last five the driver and the team, we made some bad decisions and did some things we shouldn't have done, but it was my first time in that position.
"I had the full-court press going the whole time and put myself in situations and raced against people that I know I shouldn't race with on the track. I didn't do things like I did to get myself into the chase and I learned a lot from that.
"We did get in some accidents there at the end of the year, maybe trying to do things over out head that we were not accustomed to doing and I learned from that.last year we had a great season. We had a strong team, but we knew our weaknesses."
Amongst the changes are additions to the teams pit crew and Sadler signing on for more seat time by running 16 Busch series events in the Yates Citi- Financial Ford. Part of the challenge is identifying what went wrong and how they can stop the bleeding before the new season starts.
"Maybe pit strategy has slipped by here and there," said Sadler. "We've beefed up our pit crew even more. It's hard to say that as good as out pit crew was last year, but we've hired some awesome tire changers and tire carriers.and I can't wait to get started. We really think we've beefed up that area and the communication between Todd (Parrott, crew chief) is just getting better and better, so we should be fine."
Engine change on the M&Ms Ford.
Photo by Motorsport.com.
Sadler started off last season by having huge success at Speedweeks grabbing the team important momentum right off the bat. Sadler won one of the Twin 125 events, sat on the outside pole for the Daytona 500 and finished seventh in that event.
"We are going to come to Daytona and try and have the same storyline we had last year," Sadler said.
On his way to finishing ninth in series standings Sadler earned two wins (California, Texas) and racked up eight top-five's. The team will participate in a tire test in Texas next week, as well as taking to the track in Las Vegas and Fontana for pre-season testing.
"I know I've got a great bunch of guys around me and I know we can win together," Sadler said. "They expect it from me. They know I can win and I know I can win with them. It's just a different feeling to look at each other like that every morning when you get to the race track. It's a good feeling."
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