Elliott Sadler and Best Buy Dodge Team Endure

Trying Race to Finish 26th at Texas

FT. WORTH, Tex. - Elliott Sadler and the No. 19 Best Buy Dodge Charger team endured a frustrating path en route to their 26th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday.

After two top-20 practice times on Saturday, Sadler and Rodney Childers, Team Director, went into the 334-lap race on Sunday with high hopes. Once the green flag waved under sunny skies, they had good reason for optimism as Sadler quickly moved from his 26th place starting position to 23rd in just three laps; then into the top-20 by lap 10.

By lap 21, Sadler radioed something he would say several more times during the race - "Guys, we have no front grip in the center of the turns." The farthest he would fall back was 31st before the second-caution pit stop allowed Childress and the Best Buy Bunch to make some needed adjustments.

From there, Sadler fell down a lap during green-flag pit stops by the 77th circuit. Another cycle of green-flag stops allowed for more adjustments on lap .

The fate of the race appeared to change for Sadler on lap 96 when he slowed and dropped to the speedway's apron. He quickly realized an electrical - and not mechanical - problem was taking place so he switched ignition boxes. The car responded and returned to full power, while Sadler only lost four positions in the process.

From there, Sadler tried to hang on for the Lucky Dog as the first car one-lap down. However, when the caution finally did wave he missed it by one position. The rest of the race was spent in positions 24th to 28th as long, green-flag runs clicked off the scoring tower allowing the leaders to put more cars laps down.

When the checkered flag waved on lap 338 - four longer than scheduled because of a late-race caution - Sadler crossed under it in 26th place; the second car three laps down. A total of 10 cars finished on the lead lap with Carl Edwards taking the victory, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch to round out the top-three.

As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Phoenix International Raceway next weekend, Sadler and the No. 19 Dodge Charger team remain 20th in points. They trail the leader by 354 and 12th place by 163 points.

Elliott Sadler Quotes

Talk about your car during the race: "This was just a frustrating race for the Best Buy Dodge team. We had problems with the front end sticking to the track as it went through the turns. Rodney (Childers, Team Director) and the guys had great pit stops, but we just had trouble finding the right air pressure and chassis adjustments. If the car would have responded better, we would have finished better because we were flying there for quite awhile.

"At around the halfway point, they told me we were running top-15 lap times but were stuck one lap down in 25th. I don't if things would have been different if we got the Lucky Dog, but it would have been nice to find out.

"We just have a lot of work to do on this new car; our team seems to struggle on some of these 1.5-mile tracks. We just have to keep working on it and do the best we can. We have Charlotte coming up, so that's where we'll give it another try."

You had to switch ignition boxes: "Yeah, the car just slowed down and I went to the apron to get out of the way. I first thought it was the motor, but then realized it was electrical and quickly switched ignition boxes. Once I did that, the car went back to full power and we had no problems the rest of the race in that department."
 

Rodney Childers Quotes

"Once again, we struggled some at a 1.5-mile track. We keep trying everything we can to figure these news cars at these tracks, but we haven't come up with the proper answer. I've talked to some other crew chiefs and they say it's beyond them, too.

"As far as the race; I have to thank Elliott for hanging in there and giving us information so we could try different things. We kept having a big problem with the front end not sticking to the track enough where he could race hard enough through the turns. We just have to get these front ends better.

"And, again, the guys were great on pit road and kept us in the hunt. I have to thank them for hanging in there and not giving up. They have proved to me again and again that I can rely on them to stay consistent and improve each week, too."
 

© Copyright 2008 by ElliottSadler.com, All Rights Reserved

Copyright Notice:
Please note that all photos and images posted on ElliottSadler.com are copyrighted by ElliottSadler.com, and/or their respective source (including, but not limited to, CIA Stock Photo, Dodge and Gillett Evernham Motorsports) and all rights are reserved. There can be no reposting of such images without the written permission of ElliottSadler.com.