Roush Fenway Racing’s Elliott Sadler finished in 10th-place during Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS). Sadler qualified for the Drive to Stop Diabetes 300 on Saturday morning and started the race from the 12th position. Sadler took care of his No. 1 OneMain Financial Ford Mustang for 300 laps of intense madness at the half-mile coliseum in Bristol, TN. Through hard driving and methodical pit stops, Sadler was able to bring home a top-10 finish.
“Bristol is never easy, but that’s why I love this track,” Sadler said at the end of the race. “We didn’t start the day with the best set up, but the team did a great job making the right calls and executing them on pit road. It’s hard to make quality passes at Bristol, but our pit strategies allowed me make up some ground in the closing laps.”
Sadler started the NXS race at BMS from the 12th position. For the first 100 laps, Sadler fought loose conditions and dropped back to the 15th position.
At the halfway point in the race, Sadler worked his way up to the 12th position.
On Lap 181, the caution flag waved and Sadler came down pit road. The crew executed a great stop by adding four fresh tires, fuel and cranking two rounds down in the track bar. Once the field got back to green flag racing, Sadler radioed in to the team, “This is the best my car has felt all day.”
On Lap 206, the yellow flag came out after a wreck occurred in turn three. The wreck caused damage to the outside wall, which resulted in a red flag on Lap 210.
When the caution flag came out again on Lap 279, Sadler came down pit road for his last pit stop of the day. Sadler’s crew added four fresh tires, fuel and made a small wedge adjustment in the left rear.
In the closing laps, Sadler battled three wide in the turns and managed to make one more quality pass before crossing the finish line in the 10th position.
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