Top-30 drivers: Elliott Sadler
By SceneDaily Staff Report
Monday, December 10, 2007
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Elliott Sadler had high expectations for 2007, his first full season with the team he joined prior to the August 2006 race at Michigan International Speedway.
Things didn't go that well, however, in the camp of the team that became known as Gillett Evernham Motorsports as all three of the organization's teams struggled to get a handle on a new nose on their Dodge Chargers and the new car of tomorrow at the same time.
Sadler, a 32-year-old native of Virginia, debuted with the Wood Brothers Racing team in 1999 for his rookie campaign. He joined Robert Yates Racing in 2003 and was with that team until his late-season switch in 2006. In 2007, he finished 25th in the series standings driving the No. 19 Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge, earning more than $4 million in purses.
During the offseason, SceneDaily is taking a look at the top 30 in 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup driver points, and here's how Sadler's season unfolded:
By the numbers: Sadler earned two top-10 finishes over the course of the season, including a season-best of sixth in the Daytona 500.
Season highlights: His sixth-place finish in the Daytona 500 allowed Sadler to start the year on a high note. His other top-10 finish of the year came at Kansas, where he finished eighth. Sadler was gaining ground when the year came to a close, posting a pair of top-15 finishes in the final four races.
Key setbacks: First there was the car itself, which the Gillett Evernham teams struggled to make perform. With a new nose on the Charger and a tough time adapting to the Avenger, Dodge's car of tomorrow model, the team's had difficulty getting on track early. Sadler's high moment of running well in the Daytona 500 came as team director Josh Brown began a two-race suspension for an infraction found prior to that race, disrupting the team chemistry as well.
Newsworthy moment: While Sadler kept a rather low profile for much of the season, the organization itself underwent a high-profile transition when founder and owner Ray Evernham sold a majority interest to sports investor George Gillett Jr., owner of the Montreal Canadiens. That move allowed Evernham to focus more on the internal workings of the cars and sparked a late-season improvement in performance. Sadler also gained a new teammate when Patrick Carpentier was named as driver of the organization's N0. 10 team, which competes under the Valvoline Evernham Racing banner. The team has announced that Best Buy will be a primary sponsor for 15 Sprint Cup races next season, the first time the car has competed with primary sponsorship other than that of the Dodge Dealers. Sadler also switched team directors over the course of the season and is paired with Rodney Childers for next year.
In his words: "We've got a lot of testing this winter with the [car of tomorrow] and getting ready for next year. We really want to hit the ground running and make sure we've got all the questions answered before we get to Daytona. That means I'm going to miss a little more hunting this year than I have in a long time.
"It's going to be very tough on all the teams next year. It's going to be very expensive on all the teams because the things that work on our regular car don't work on the COT. It's going to be a different mindset every week. The things that work on one don't work on the other, so it's going to be hard on the team director, hard on the driver. We've all got to learn to adapt."
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Elliott Sadler
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