Elliott Sadler

Elliott William Barnes Sadler (born April 30, 1975) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing. Sadler is one of 36 drivers who have at least one win in each of NASCAR's top three series. A native of Emporia, Virginia, he is the younger brother of former NASCAR driver Hermie Sadler.^[1]

Racing career

Early racing career

Sadler began racing in go-karts at the age of seven, and moved up to the Late Model

Sadler moved up to the Cup Series full-time in 1999, driving the No. 21

In 2001, Sadler won his first Cup race at Bristol, making this the first win for Wood Brothers in eight years.

In 2003, his first season of competition with Robert Yates, Sadler won the pole at both Darlington Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway and finished 22nd in points. That fall, he had a vicious crash at Talladega after near-contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and touched the right-front fender of Kurt Busch. His car flew into the air, flipped twice, landed on his roof, spun towards the banking, and flipped six times. Sadler emerged uninjured (although he was airlifted to a local hospital for precautionary reasons).

Sadler started the 2004 season with a Top 10 finish in the Daytona 500 and six races later, he won at Texas Motor Speedway for his second career win. He stayed in the Top 10 in points all season and won at California Speedway, beating Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin. He made the Chase and finished a career-high ninth in the championship points standings. He had another flip-crash at Talladega on the final lap after he spun out and blew over onto his roof and landed on all 4 wheels and crossed the finish line in 22nd just in front of his brother, Hermie. Sadler also was uninjured in that crash, and he was even able to drive his car back to the garage.

Sadler failed to win a race again in the 2005 season; however, he did clinch four poles and finished 13th in the points standings. He also made 16 starts for Robert Yates in the Busch Series, driving the No. 90 Taurus, and had three Top 5 finishes. In 2006, Sadler won the pole at Talladega and finished 22nd in points. He made seven starts in the Busch Series and his best finish was second at Richmond. After a lack of results, he left RYR midway through 2006 for

Evernham/Petty Motorsports

Before the start of the 2007 Daytona 500, Sadler's team was among many others who faced disciplinary action for rule-infractions. Despite being docked 25 points, he still went on to score a season best sixth-place finish. Sadler had many ups and downs throughout the season. In 2007, Sadler led 62 laps, posted two Top 10 finishes and finished 25th in points. Sadler had the longest streak without a DNF than any other driver before failing to finish a race in 2007.

Sadler struggled in 2008, garnering only two Top 5's, eight Top 10's, and 16 Top 20's. He had four DNF's and 12 finishes of 30th or worse. Sadler led 21 laps in 2008, his fewest since the 2000 season. He ended the year 24th in the points standings. In December 2008, it was reported that

The next day, Sadler was involved in a wreck where he hit the inside fence (a blind spot on the track, not well-recorded by video cameras) after being hit from behind by A. J. Allmendinger. Kurt Busch was hit from behind by Jimmie Johnson causing him to spin into Clint Bowyer who received little damage but still finished 12th. The wreck was so horrific it threw the engine away from the car and caused the race to be red-flagged for 25 minutes to clean up the wreck. There were several reports by fans that his car flew through the air. With a grimace on his face, he climbed out of the car and laid down on the track. He was taken to the medical facility where he later emerged and gave an interview to on hand media personnel. He said he was fine & was a little sore, but had the breath knocked out of him and had taken "the hardest hit of his career" at Pocono. He was proud of his team back home that had built a safe car and of the pit crew and of all of the hard work they had put into the race thus far. On August 3, Sadler announced on NASCAR Now that NASCAR told him it was the hardest head-on crash ever recorded in NASCAR history. On November 5, 2010, Sadler won the pole for the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway qualifying at 195.397, the fastest qualifying speed since 1999.

KHI and RCR

In late-2010, Sadler was at a crossroads in his career. He admitted in an interview that he wasn't enjoying the sport any longer. He had gone winless for 6 seasons, and was making no progress in his efforts to winning a championship. By the persuasion of former teammate Dale Jarrett, Sadler stepped down from the Cup Series to try to make a living in the lower-divisions.

On November 5, 2010. Sadler announced a two-year deal to drive the No. 2

At the end of the 2011 season, KHI's Nationwide Series operations were absorbed by Richard Childress Racing and Sadler moved to RCR for 2012, remaining in the No. 2. In addition, Sadler ran in the 2012 Daytona 500 for RCR in the No. 33 Chevrolet,.^[8]

On March 3, 2012, Sadler won the Nationwide Series

Sadler had been announced on March 3 as the third driver of the Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 55 Toyota,^[11] but Childress wanted Sadler to focus on the Nationwide championship, so the deal was nixed.^[12]

On March 17, Sadler won at Bristol, making it the first year since the mid-1990s that the first four NNS races have been won by non-Sprint Cup drivers. It also had Sadler winning two of the first four races of the season.

On July 22, Sadler held off hard charging Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at Chicagoland Speedway to collect his third win of the season, and held on to his point lead over Stenhouse and Austin Dillon.

Sadler got black flagged after supposedly jumping the restart at the inaugural

In addition to running the full Nationwide Series schedule for Joe Gibbs Racing, Sadler announced in March that he would be competing in three Sprint Cup Series events for the team, driving the No. 81 Toyota.^[14] Sadler ran one race with Alert Energy before it and other Caffeine gums were pulled from the market. He attempted Talladega with Doublemint but failed to qualify due to rain and not entered in fall race with no reasons.

At Loudon in 2013, Sadler was running in the top ten with 10 laps left in the race. With 6 laps to go, Sadler pulled a block on Regan Smith. The two drivers got contact that sent Sadler around into the grasses. After the race ended, Sadler and Smith argued on pit road with Sadler vowing to Smith that "you will not win this championship mark my words.". Although Smith apologized, their rivalry was renewed during the inaugural race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course a few weeks later, when Smith passed Sadler for a spot through contact. When Sadler was running behind Smith a few laps later, Sadler retaliated, sending Smith into a crash collecting Ron Fellows.^[15] After medical issues forced Brian Vickers to sit out the end of the 2013 racing season, Sadler was named to drive the No. 55 MWR for the final four Sprint Cup races of 2013.^[16]

After going winless, he won the 2014

On October 30, 2014,

On October 2, 2015, Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced that Sadler would drive for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series in 2016. This marked the fifth team Sadler has joined since the 2011 season when he competed for Kevin Harvick Inc. His journey has taken him from KHI to Richard Childress Racing (2012), Joe Gibbs Racing (2013–2014), Roush Fenway and now JRM.[20] On January 6, 2016, Sadler's car number was officially revealed as No. 1.^[21]

Sadler started out his season with a few top tens. Sadler ultimately broke through at the Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega. On the final lap, it looked like Sadler was set to being the runner-up. Sadler battled Joey Logano on the final lap. When Logano blocked, he spun out from contact from Elliott. Elliott dipped below the yellow line to avoid a spinning Joey. Brennan Poole passed Sadler for the lead just as a caution came out. After a 5-minute delay, with both drivers, Poole and Sadler, waiting on the front-stretch for NASCAR's word, NASCAR ultimately determined that Sadler had been ahead at the moment of caution, dropping Poole to third, and elevating Sadler to first place. The finish was a 1–2 finish for JR Motorsports with Sadler winning and teammate Justin Allgaier finishing second.

Sadler would return to Victory lane at Darlington in the VFW Sport Clips Help A Hero 200, beating out Denny Hamlin. The two wins would automatically lock Sadler in the inaugural Xfinity Chase. Sadler was one of three drivers starting the chase with wins. In round one, Sadler won the race at Kentucky. Sadler, with a few more top tens, moved on to the championship four at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Sadler went on to score a runner-up finish in the championship for the third time in his career.

In 2017, Sadler returned to the Cup Series part-time with Tommy Baldwin Racing, driving the No. 7 in the Daytona 500.^[22] His last start in the Cup series was late in 2013. As one of the two fastest non-chartered cars in qualifying, he was able to lock himself into the race before the Can-Am Duels. He ended up qualifying for the next 2 plate races at Talladega in May and then Daytona in July and was going to drive in the Coca-Cola 600, but gave the ride to J. J. Yeley for an unknown reason.^[23]

In his 800th NASCAR start at Iowa's

Sadler clinched the first NASCAR Xfinity Series Regular Season Championship with a fifth-place finish in the Go Bowling 250 at Richmond Raceway.^[24]

Sadler entered the night with a 91-point edge over JR Motorsports teammate William Byron and needed to come out of the race ahead by at least 61 points in the standings. Sadler finished the race 95 points ahead of Byron. Sadler was officially awarded the championship trophy and the 15 bonus points towards the

Sadler won the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series Most Popular Driver, making him the driver to win the most Most Popular Driver awards in Xfinity Series history, with four Most Popular Driver wins, winning it in 2011, 2016, 2017, and 2018.^[citation needed]

Kaulig Racing

On August 15, 2018, Sadler announced that he would retire from full-time competition at the end of the 2018 Xfinity Series season.^[26] He transitioned to a part-time schedule in NASCAR in 2019, joining Kaulig Racing for a two-race Xfinity slate in 2019 at Richmond and Las Vegas.^[27]

The 2019 Rhino Pro Truck Outfitters 300 at Las Vegas was his final start in the NASCAR national series.^[28] Driving a No. 10 designed after his 1993 late model, Sadler finished tenth.^[29]

Personal life

Sadler was a six-sport athlete in high school at Brunswick Academy, participating in football, basketball, baseball, cross country, soccer, and golf. He was recruited by over 20 universities to play college basketball, and ended up accepting a basketball scholarship from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. However, he injured his knee before his freshman season and needed two surgeries, eventually quitting college to focus on racing.^[30] Sadler is heavily involved in the Autism Speaks charity.

He was the cover athlete on EA Sports NASCAR 07 and was also on the special edition NASCAR 09.

Sadler is married to Amanda and they have two children.^[31]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Monster Energy Cup Series

Daytona 500

Xfinity Series

Camping World Truck Series

^* Season still in progress.
¹ Ineligible for series championship points.

References

• Elliott Sadler Bio
• Elliot Sadler going to Evernham Motorsports
• Evernham Motorsports confirms Elliot Sadler as driver at Michigan
• Silly Saga: Elliot Sadler going to Evernham

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elliott Sadler.

• Official website
• Elliott Sadler driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Hermie & Elliott Sadler Foundation for Autism

Awards
Preceded by Brad Keselowski Danica Patrick Chase Elliott	NASCAR Xfinity Series Most Popular Driver 2011 2016 2017	Succeeded by Danica Patrick Incumbent
Preceded by Jeff Gordon/Jimmie Johnson	NASCAR EA cover athlete 2007	Succeeded by Tony Stewart