READY FOR RETURN TO SITE OF CAREER-FIRST NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES VICTORY
Sadler: “I started bawling crying in the truck … this racing stuff can carry you through so many emotions”
“People had written me off that I don’t have it anymore or maybe don’t want it anymore and all this BS that I don’t believe in”
Elliott Sadler returns to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Wednesday at Bristol Motor Speedway (8 p.m. ET live on SPEED; NCWTS Setup with Krista Voda at 7:30 p.m. ET) with both the emotion and pressure of his Pocono win front and center in his mind.
But he also climbs back behind the wheel of the No. 2 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet Silverado with a renewed sense of confidence - something the veteran driver didn’t necessarily have two weeks ago - after enduring a winless streak that dated back to his Sept. 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Auto Club Speedway.
“That was a huge win for me – a huge boost to my confidence,” Sadler said of his July 31 Truck Series feat. “It gave me a sense of confidence that I still can do this; I still want to do this. I can’t put into words what a difference this has made to me confidence-wise … I feel like the weight of the world has been off my shoulders now since that win at Pocono.”
The gravity of the moment extended beyond the checkered flag and Victory Lane celebration; it carried over to a KHI team luncheon last week.
“I remember crossing the white (flag) when you know there’s no more green-white-checkered, and I started bawling crying in the truck,” Sadler recalled. “Everybody knows I’ve been through a couple of tough years. This racing stuff can carry you through so many emotions and highs and lows. But that win was (two weeks) ago and I gave a speech (last Wednesday) at KHI in front of the guys and got all emotional again.”
Although his Pocono win muted some of the demons in Sadler’s head, he admits the self-imposed pressure to duplicate the effort Wednesday night at Bristol, home of his career-first Cup win in March 2001, still looms large.
“The pressure still is going to be there because I want to win so badly,” said Sadler, driving the No. 2 Grand Touring Vodka Chevrolet this week. “At Pocono, I was so nervous. For the first time in a long time, I felt I just had to do my job as a driver that day, and if I did, we had a good chance to win. If we show up at Bristol and have that same style of truck, that same style of feel, of course, I’m going to be anxious and probably still be nervous and still put the pressure on myself to win because this is what Kevin (Harvick, KHI co-owner) and I envisioned – winning a couple of races, leading laps in every race … They’re giving me the best of what they’ve got, so I have to give them the best of what I’ve got.”
Sadler, who also won the March 1998 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the .533-oval, doesn’t hesitate to admit he had begun to doubt his own ability the past couple of seasons.
“There are always times you look in the mirror and go, ‘What am I doing wrong? What can I do better? Have I lost my competitive edge?’” Sadler stated. “It’s hard to explain the situation I’ve been in the last couple of years. Kevin knew why I wanted to race the truck – he knows why I want to get in there, get in good equipment and show everyone I can still race and win.”
But those moments of self-doubt are understandable. After being hammered by critics over his lackluster Cup performance, Sadler says it’s hard to tune out the disparaging chatter. However, Pocono was the healing salve he so desperately needed on many levels.
“I listen to radio shows and I listen to what media people have to say sometimes,” Sadler related. “People had written me off that I don’t have it anymore or maybe don’t want it anymore and all this BS that I don’t believe in. These people don’t know me, so for me to be able to go in, sit on the pole and win the inaugural race was huge, huge for me.”
Just how big was that win for Sadler? He ranks it second only to his career-first Cup victory at Bristol.
“My biggest win in my career was winning at Bristol with the Wood Brothers,” explained Sadler, who holds three Cup and five Nationwide victories. “One, it was my first win ever in the Cup Series. Two, it was the first win the Wood Brothers had ever gotten at that track. To pull into Victory Lane and see the emotions on their faces and tears coming out of their eyes definitely was the biggest win of my career. This is the second-biggest win. Even though it’s a Truck, it’s still in NASCAR’s top three series and I still was racing against people like Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin and it had been so long since I’d been to Victory Lane.”
Since Sadler has been on the outside of Victory Lane looking in for so long, he appreciates the opportunity to showcase his skills in top-notch equipment and hopes the next win won’t be another 2,154 days away like the last.
“Pulling up in Harvick’s truck, I know we’re going to be competitive,” said Sadler, who also serves as a panelist on Trackside on SPEED. “We just have to play our card correctly and we should be in good shape.”
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