CONCORD, NC -- When two days
of testing wrapped up at
Lowe’s Motor Speedway on
Tuesday night, there were
some smiling faces in the
No. 19 Dodge garage.
On Monday night, Elliott
Sadler sat atop the speed
chart with a fast lap of
28.994 sec/186.245 mph;
which was four 10ths faster
than the second place car
that night. For the
afternoon session, Sadler
and team were fifth-fastest
overall.
When testing returned to
action on Tuesday afternoon
at the 1.5-mile oval, Sadler
and the Gillett Evernham
Motorsports team remained
consistent with the
sixth-fastest time. When the
red flag flew on Tuesday
night to end testing they
had the 19th fastest time,
but nobody had equaled the
team’s top time from Monday
night. Actually, nobody
broke the 28-second mark
like Sadler did on Monday
night. The closest anyone
came was Tuesday night with
Jamie McMurray’s 29.076
second lap.
That left Sadler and the
No. 19 Dodge team with the
fastest overall time for the
two-day test session.
“We have been very
pleased with how our No. 19
Dodge has been from the
minute we unloaded,” said
Elliott Sadler, driver for
Gillett Evernham Motorsports.
“This is a brand-new car
that we built for the
1.5-mile tracks and I can’t
even begin to tell you how
much better it feels than
before. At one point Monday
night, I went out and laid
down that fast lap and
Rodney (Childers, Team
Director) asked how I liked
the changes. I just
chuckled, that’s all I said.
He came back saying, ‘you
liked it that much, huh?”
“The racing hasn’t been
too great on the 1.5-mile
tracks and we really needed
some work as a team, too. I
have to applaud NASCAR and
Humpy Wheeler and Lowe’s for
making this test possible. I
just hope this all transfers
into some great racing in
the All-Star and Coca-Cola
600 races this month. This
team of mine is incredible
how they keep building good
cars and making the right
changes.
“I’m happy with my car
and this test. We, our team,
needed this test more than
anything after what we did
in Atlanta and Texas this
year. Now we need to make it
work in the Showdown so we
can get into the All-Star
Race.”