UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 - Elliott Sadler Notes

SADLER DOUBLES ODDS FOR SUCCESS IN VEGAS

CHARLOTTE, NC (March 7, 2005) – Last season, Elliott Sadler posted his first career top-10 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and his second of the 2004 season. Returning this weekend to the 1.5 mile facility just north of the famous Las Vegas Strip, the Virginia native again looks to kick off his season with two top-10 finishes in the first three events.

To date, Sadler has rallied from the rear of the field at both Daytona and California to finish 11th and eighth respectively. In addition to his duties behind the wheel of the M&M’S Ford, Sadler will compete in Saturday’s Busch Series event after a top-20 finish in the inaugural Mexico City race.

Quoting M&M’S Driver Elliott Sadler:
On driving in both the Busch and Cup races… “We all sat down at the end of last year and said, 'Where are we good at. Where do we need to improve?' We came up with the idea for the Busch team. You all know that DJ (teammate Dale Jarrett) and I are running some Busch Series races this year and all that's for extra testing. I'm running a bunch of short tracks, road courses with the car, so we think that's where I need to be better at - Elliott Sadler.”

“I'm running the Busch car at these places to get me more in tune with it or try some things or what have you. So that's why we came up with the Busch deal to try to help us in that area - to just try to fill in the valleys a little bit to try to go along with my mile-and-a-half program, which we think right now is pretty good but there is always room for improvement so it should be of benefit everywhere we go."

On the January test session in Las Vegas… “For a lot of us, it was the first time on the new Goodyears, and the first time with the new spoiler package. We kind of weeded things out in Vegas by trying different things, seeing what the cars liked, what they didn’t like. The balance is so much different so we spent our two days or so in Vegas trying to get the cars, all the holes worked out, and finding out what these tires want and what our spoilers want.”

On starting strong in 2005… “We're very focused on the first few races here. Currently, we’re sixth in points. We’ve had a little trouble with qualifying the past couple of weeks but this team has rebounded on Sundays, when it counts, and finished in or near the top-10.”

“I've got a good record at Vegas and Texas. I think we've got a good handle on the mile-and-a-halves like Atlanta - Darlington is coming up - like the first eight or nine races that we can really make some good headway in the points. These first few races for me are just good tracks. They fit my driving style. It's just like playing a golf course. Some places you know how to hit the shots and some you don't. They all fit what you're trying to do and these first few tracks that we go to are good Elliott Sadler race tracks."

NOTES OF INTEREST…