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Sadler Toughs It Out for Top-15 at Martinsville in No. 19 McDonald’s Dodge
And, between medical attention, perseverance and good ol’ country boy determination, Sadler stayed in the No. 19 McDonald’s Dodge earning a hard-fought 15th place finish. After starting 25th, the combination of hard driving, timely caution-pit stops and proper adjustments kept Sadler on the lead lap as one of 17 cars to complete all 500 circuits.
Good calls for adjustments by Rodney Childers, team director, and great stops by the No. 19 Dodge crew kept Sadler in the top-20 for almost the entire race. To his credit, Sadler avoided spinning cars in front of him and maintained patience in the seat en route to his admirable finish.
Dennis Setzer, who filled in for practice on Friday and the first session on Saturday, was on stand-by just in case the lower-back pain became too much for Sadler. But, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver - who won his third Truck Series race at Martinsville on Saturday - wasn’t called into action as Sadler just kept on driving.
About the only issues Sadler voiced any concern over during the race were his brakes and lack of grip into and coming out of the tricky Martinsville turns. Not once did the driver, team director or spotter, Brett Griffin, mentioned Sadler’s back and how it was feeling or holding up.
A two-tire, right-side only stop on lap 363 gained six positions in the running order. However, other cars with four fresh Goodyear tires soon got by Sadler after the lap 367 re-start. A caution on lap 386 allowed Childers to put four new tires on and be even with rest of the field. In turn, that allowed Sadler to move back forward through the field.
From there, Sadler gutted it the rest of the way for his 15th place finish. Sadler remains 20th in points, two back from 19th and 114 from 12th place.
How are you feeling: “I feel pretty good; I appreciate Dennis Setzer working with us the last few days. I also appreciate the guys working with me giving me a break on Friday and Saturday. That made a big difference for today’s race. My doctor came up from home (Dr. Mike Anderson, Emporia, Va.) this weekend and that’s pretty special for him to do that. He got me all straight this morning and loosed up like I needed.
“I took a few Tylenol and felt great during the race. Just a little sore now; but I’ll definitely being feeling this in the morning. My back did not get any worse during the race; it stayed at the same level of soreness the whole time.
How was the race itself: “The car was pretty good; just a little tight on some runs. We couldn’t get the tightness out of the car. But, we’ll take a 15th place here at Martinsville where bad things can happen. We had a couple of close calls today, and making contact with anything out there today wasn’t something I wanted, at all.”
RODNEY CHILDERS QUOTES
How did the race itself go: “The race went pretty well, but the weather was kind of messed up. It didn’t really rain, but just a light drizzle that made you wonder when it was going to rain. The pit crew and crew did great during the race and we never lost any spots on pit road. We had some problems with the brakes going away too soon. If we didn’t have that problem, we could have had a better finish out of the deal. We’ll just work on it and be better next time. We just need to keep knocking out top-15 finishes every week.”
What about Elliott toughing it out: “He hung in there for us all day. He said he was about 50-50 about going the distance yesterday, but when he came in today he said he felt a lot better. He never said anything about his back during the race; and I didn’t ask and didn’t want to, either. If he wanted to bring it up, I figured he would.”
How about Dennis Setzer helping:
“Dennis is just a very cool guy. I have known him for years; matter of
fact I bought my first Late Model engine off of him a long time ago.
He’s always been a big help to me, and he really helped our whole
McDonald’s team out this weekend.” © Copyright 2008 by ElliottSadler.com, All Rights Reserved
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