Roush Fenway Racing’s Elliott Sadler finished in seventh-place during Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Talladega Superspeedway. Sadler qualified for the 300 mile event on Saturday morning and started the NXS race from the 10th position. As the defending winner in 2014, Sadler quickly worked his to the front and took the lead on the second lap. Not long after grabbing the lead, Sadler was tapped in the right rear and spun down the race track. No damage was done, but after coming down pit road for fresh tires, Sadler restarted 34th. Sadler battled his way back up to the front and secured the lead again by lap 38. In the closing 10 laps, Sadler was passed on the outside lane and dropped back a few positions without a draft. Sadler crossed the finish line in the seventh position.
“Talladega is such a wild place,” Sadler said at the end of the race. “Talladega is exciting, intense, but it can definitely be frustrating. Frustrating for a driver, because you know there will probably be a multicar wreck and you know that if you have the fastest car, that still doesn’t mean you have the best shot to win the race. But that’s what makes Talladega such a highly watched race for the fans. The No. 1 OneMain Financial crew did a great job preparing me with a really fast car this weekend. It showed when I went from 10th to first, and then worked by way back up to the front again after having to restart from back in the thirties. I wish we would have had a little more drafting help at the end, but overall I glad we were able to cross the finish line in one piece and come home with a seventh place finish.”
Sadler had a great practice session on Friday and qualified for the NXS race on Saturday morning. Sadler made it to the final round of qualifying and started the afternoon’s race from the 10th position.
By the second lap, Sadler worked his way to the front and took over the lead. Not long after taking the lead, Sadler’s left rear quarter panel and the No. 6’s front right fender touched, which caused Sadler to spin in turn three. Sadler didn’t collect any damage, but did radio to the team he had slid his tires, which created flat spots. Under caution, Sadler came down pit road and pitted for four fresh tires and fuel.
On lap six, the green flag waved and we went back to racing at Talladega. Sadler restarted 34th and quickly marched his way back to the front. By lap seven, Sadler was up to 22nd and by lap 14, Sadler was back to 10th.
Running ninth on lap 30, Sadler radioed for the team to tighten him up a little on the next pit stop. On lap 35, Sadler came down pit road under green for two outside tires and topped the car off with fuel. When the field cycled through, Sadler moved up to second.
Lap 38, the leader had a right front tire blow and immediately hit the wall. With this tire exploding, Sadler moved back into the lead at Talladega.
For the next 60 laps, Sadler shuffled back and forth in the top-5 positions.
With 25 laps to go, Sadler led a group to the front and regained the leader position. However, in those final 23 laps, two more cautions happened with Sadler in the lead. These cautions did not help the No. 1 OneMain Financial team, because each caution would bunch the field back up.
With eight laps remaining in the race, Sadler restarted second and quickly pulled back into first. Then in the closing few laps, Sadler was passed by the No. 22 car and fell outside the draft lane. Sadler gave it all he had and pushed his Ford across the finish line in the seventh position.
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