The Official Elliott Sadler Website News Page

ELLIOTT SADLER

POCONO RACE PREVIEW

STATESVILLE, N.C. - Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 19 Best Buy Dodge, is optimistic that his season is just a start or two from really hitting its stride - and he's hoping Pocono is the place it all comes together. The 34-year old Emporia, Va. native watched last season as teammate Kasey Kahne dominated the field to win from the pole position and hopes that this is his time to do the same. Sadler currently has the longest streak of starts at Pocono without a DNF and has lead a total of 44 laps in his 20 career starts at the "Tricky Triangle".

Sadler Quotes
ON POCONO: "Pocono is one of the most interesting race tracks that we visit. It's one of those tracks that has its own set of quirks that each driver has to learn in order to have success. It has three corners instead of the four that we are used to, each of the three corners is something completely different and the engine durability is tested because of the high RPMs we can run at a track that size. It takes a lot of skill and a lot of luck to be good at that racetrack. I've been fortunate to lead some laps and right now I stand as the only driver to have zero DNFs after 20 straight starts at Pocono. Finishing every race is something that I take great pride in, so that streak is kind of a neat deal for me."

ON THE PROGRESS OF RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS: "I think we are going to continue to see this team make strides as the season progresses. Last week at Dover all four RPM drivers qualified in the top-10 for the first time this year, and Dover is a tough race track. We're starting to see all of the Petty cars up front a lot more than we did early in the season and we're all hitting on our setups and racing better. We've also had some bad luck that has hurt each and every one of us and cost us some points. Pretty soon everything is going to come together and this team and when it does it should be impressive."

Additional Notes of Interest

Elliott Sadler has officially become a member of the Twitter community. Follow Elliott's updates by visiting www.twitter.com/Elliott_Sadler.
Sadler currently leads all Richard Petty Motorsports drivers with 20 bonus points. Sadler received five bonus points for each of the four races that he has led so far this season. Kasey Kahne is second with 10. Reed Sorenson has five and AJ Allmendinger has zero.
In 20 Pocono starts, Sadler has zero DNFs - the most starts without a DNF at Pocono all-time.
Sadler is currently 27th in the driver point standings, just 14 points ahead of teammate AJ Allmendinger, and 43 points behind Reed Sorenson.
Sadler has led four races this season for a total of 31 laps, including at least one lap led in three of the last five points races. Sadler led more laps in the season-opening Daytona 500 than he did in all of 2008.
Chassis No. 274 will serve as the primary. No. 274 last raced to a 14th-place finish at Darlington, and also finished 20th at Atlanta. No. 259 will serve as the backup for the 10th time this season.

Race Information
Dover International Speedway
Name: Pocono 500
Race Date: June 7, 2009
Track Length: 2.5 miles
Track Shape: Triangle
Laps: 200 laps
Miles: 500 miles
Race No.: 14 of 36

Television Schedule
POCONO SCHEDULE
Date: June 5
P1: 12 p.m. SPEED TV
Qual: 3:30 p.m. SPEED TV

Date: June 6
P2: 10 a.m. SPEED TV
Happy: 11 p.m. SPEED TV

Date: June 7
Race: 12:30 p.m. TNT TV
Radio Broadcast: MRN Radio