Elliott Sadler earns first NASCAR victory in nearly six years as he wins inaugural Truck Series race at Pocono
Elliott Sadler celebrates his victory in the Pocono Mountains 125 at Pocono Raceway. // Victor Newman, NASCAR Illustrated
LONG POND, Pa. – Elliott Sadler isn't ready to be written off.
On Saturday at Pocono Raceway, he showed why. Pulling away on the second attempt at a green-white-checkered-flag finish, Sadler won the Pocono Mountains 125 Camping World Truck Series race from the pole, his first victory since 2004 in any of NASCAR's three national stock-car series.
Driving a Kevin Harvick Inc. truck, Sadler, 35, beat Kasey Kahne (Kyle Busch Motorsports) to the finish line by .445 seconds in a race that went five laps past its scheduled distance of 50 laps at the 2.5-mile triangular track. With his first truck victory, Sadler is the 21st driver to win at least one race in each of NASCAR's three national stock-car divisions. Matt Crafton (ThorSport Racing) finished third, followed by Aric Almirola (Billy Ballew Motorsports) and rookie Justin Lofton (Red Horse Racing) in the series' first visit to Pocono.
Sadler's win vindicated the faith of team owner Kevin Harvick and provided a welcome highlight in a two-year stretch that has seen Sadler struggle in a Sprint Cup car at Richard Petty Motorsports. Sadler announced July 9 that he had no discussions to remain as an RPM driver and planned to drive for a different team in 2011.
"It's hard to put in words what this means to me," said Sadler, whose last NASCAR win was Sept. 5, 2004, in a Cup car at Fontana, Calif. "To have a tough couple years like we've had in the Cup series, and things not go like we want to, as far as running up front, and winning races and leading laps and things like that. …
"You sit at home a lot, wondering if you're ever going to make it back to victory lane. Are you ever going to have that situation again? Are you ever going to be in that position again? This, to me – I know it's recent, and it's today – but this is the biggest win in my career."
Sadler is 28th in the current Cup standings.
"There's a lot of naysayers out there, and there's a lot of people that write me off, not giving me a chance to make a comeback and be a strong presence again in this sport," Sadler said. "To be able to come here and sit on the pole and win the race and race against people like Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin [who finished ninth], who I think are two of the best race-car drivers we have in our sport, means a great deal to me."
Germain Racing's Todd Bodine, who tops the drivers' standings, rallied from a spin on lap 41 to finish 12th. Bodine left Pocono 149 points ahead of Almirola in second.
