Pepsi 400 - Elliott Sadler Notes

Daytona Is Better In Red, White And Blue For Sadler, M&M's

CHARLOTTE, NC (June 28, 2005) – Chocolate is Better in Color.™ On Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway (DIS), the Pepsi 400 will see its fair share of color as well as several flags will fly over the 2.5 mile Superspeedway for the 17th race of the NEXTEL Cup Season.

On Saturday, Elliott Sadler will watch the green flag drop on his 14th career start at DIS as he looks to better his career best second place finish at the 2.5-mile speedway. It will be the first win for the Blue Oval of Ford on a Superspeedway in 2005 if Sadler can see the black and white checkered flag first. To take home the first victory of the season for RYR, Sadler knows it is important to miss the ‘Big One’ which brings out the yellow flag. The Virginia native hopes that the colors everyone is chasing is the red, white and blue paint scheme his M&M’S Ford Taurus will carry in celebration of the Fourth of July weekend.

Quoting M&M’S® Driver Elliott Sadler:
“This is the second straight “wild card” race. To me Sonoma and Daytona are two races for our team that we’re really happy if we come away with a top-10 or a top-15 finish. Road races have been a challenge for our team so that sixth place finish was a huge accomplishment for us last weekend at Infineon.”

“At Daytona, you can have a great car but still your fate is in the hands of 42 other drivers. I thought in Daytona that we had a great car in qualifying trim but we struggled some during the race, a lot of the Ford cars did. Not one Ford led a lap. We were better in Talladega but this Daytona and it’s a totally different track than Talladega.”

“This race at Daytona is the first time we will impound a Superspeedway. It’s really going to change everyone’s strategy and I think that will be the most interesting part of the weekend for the teams in the garage. We know what the race will look at Saturday. Everyone running in the draft, waiting for the ‘Big One’ but it’s the strategy in the garage that I’m interested in.”

NOTES OF INTEREST…