TEXAS STATS: Elliott Sadler has competed in all three of NASCAR’s premier series at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS). Sadler has earned top-five finishes in the Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series. In six Nationwide Series starts at TMS, Sadler has earned one pole, two top-five and three top-10 finishes. The driver’s best finish at the 1.5-mile track is second.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN: In October of 2010 at TMS, Sadler, Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) and CitiFinancial (soon to be OneMain Financial) made the announcement that they would join forces in 2011 to make a bid for the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship. Sadler currently sits seventh in the point standings only 32 markers out of the lead position following two top-five finishes at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway.
FREE TIME: This past weekend while the Nationwide Series enjoyed a weekend away from the track, Sadler made his way to Houston, Texas to catch a little basketball. The driver of the No. 2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet Impala traveled to watch and support longtime friend Head Coach Shaka Smart lead the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) men’s basketball team as they continued their climb in the NCAA Division I basketball tournament.
AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH: During the month of April, Sadler and the rest of the NASCAR community will celebrate Autism Awareness month. Sadler, whose niece was diagnosed with Autism a few years ago, started the Hermie and Elliott Sadler foundation which raises funds to help educate those who have children that are affected by the spectrum disease which reportedly affects 1 in every 110 children in the United States.
CHASSIS HISTORY: The No. 2 OneMain Financial team will unload chassis No. 072 this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. This chassis is a new chassis built by the KHI team for competition this season.
PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: Two weeks ago at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway Sadler qualified in the 34th position but climbed his way up into the top 10 in the early stages of the event. At the end of the day Sadler brought the No. 2 car home in the fifth position, moving up one spot in the point standings to seventh only 32 markers out of the lead.
THOUGHTS FROM THE DRIVER: Elliott Sadler
Do you feel well rested after a weekend off?
“I feel great. We have been doing a lot of different things with sponsors and racing, but it was nice to have a weekend off where I could spend some quality time with my family. I was excited to head to Houston, Texas to watch a very good friend of mine, Coach Smart, lead the VCU team. It was a great game.”
It seems like the No. 2 team is starting to get on a roll with two top-five finishes the last two weeks, what are your thoughts?
“I think our team is really coming together. This weekend at Texas will be our second 1.5-mile track. We learned a lot of things from Las Vegas that we will be carrying over to this weekend. I’m pleased with our progress. We have faced a lot of adversity thus far in 2011 with the practice crash in Bristol and the bad qualifying run in Fontana, but we have shown the ability to bounce back and that is the foundation of a championship winning team. Texas is one of my favorite tracks and I can’t wait to see what this weekend holds for us.”
