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Elliott Sadler Battles From Back of the Field to Contend for the Win Before Late-Race Incident Releg

07/31/11

CLERMONT, Ind. (Aug. 1, 2011) - Elliott Sadler and the No. 2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet team battled their way to the front of the field after starting from the back due to an incident during qualifying at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis Saturday night. After powering his way to the third position, Sadler fell victim to a lap-199 incident which relegated the Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) No. 2 team to a 16th-place finish.

The No. 2 OneMain Financial team showed speed in both practice sessions on Saturday at the Indiana short track. With a fast race car, Sadler took to qualifying in the afternoon hoping to collect his third pole of the season. As the No. 2 came on the track to start his qualifying run, the driver got loose and hit the wall, sustaining damage to the car.

The No. 2 team went to work right away to try to repair the Chevrolet Impala with Sadler alongside grabbing tools and getting under the car to assess the damage. Crew members from the No. 33 KHI team pitched in to prepare the OneMain Financial car for the race which was scheduled to begin less than two hours after the incident. Under a tight deadline, the Chevrolet was rolled to the starting grid in the last position.

Sadler took the green flag for the Kroger 200 with a determination to get to the front of the field. Not wasting any time, the veteran driver battled from 42nd to the 31st position before the first lap was completed.

The driver continued to show tenacity, entering the top 20 by lap 19. Sadler relayed that the car was a little tight getting to the center of the turns, and he felt that he was using the right-rear tire too much.

The first caution of the night fell on lap 48 for debris, providing an opportunity for the No. 2 team to make adjustments to the Chevrolet. Sitting in the 13th position, crew chief Ernie Cope called the No. 2 to pit road on lap 50 for four tires, fuel and chassis and air-pressure adjustments. The quick stop helped the No. 2 pick up one position, placing Sadler 12th for the lap 54 restart.

Sadler continued to focus on the task of picking off cars, working his way into the top 10 by lap 68. His consistent lap times made him the fastest car on the track by lap 97 as he continued to push forward in the eighth position.

The second caution of the night fell on lap 114 for debris on the track. Sadler came down pit road in the sixth position, and the No. 2 KHI crew put on four tires, made an air-pressure adjustment and added fuel to the OneMain Financial Chevrolet. The green flag dropped on lap 120 with Sadler in the sixth position. Back under green, the driver quickly gained two spots, moving into the fourth position.

Another caution flag waved on lap 176 for a three-car accident in turn three. NASCAR brought out the red flag for more than 12 minutes for track officials to clean up the incident. As the cars sat stopped for the red flag, Sadler and the team discussed strategy. When the field went back under yellow-flag conditions, the No. 2 came down pit road on lap 180, and the KHI team went to work giving the Chevrolet right-side tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment.

The No. 2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet restarted in the fourth position on lap 184. The field slowed again for the fourth caution three laps later for oil on the track, with Sadler running in the third position. As the field moved into double-file formation for the restart, the car in the second position, starting on the outside of the front row, had fire coming from the underneath. Officals waved off the restart for the car on fire to come off the track. The field adjusted their positions per NASCAR’s double-file restart rules, leaving Sadler to line up on the inside of the second row for the restart.

Back to green, Sadler quickly powered his way to the third spot. With two laps to go, the No. 6 car of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., sitting in the second position, hit the wall high, came down the track and made slight contact with the No. 2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet. Stenhouse Jr. and Sadler battled door-to-door as they raced into turn three. The No. 2 Chevrolet got loose and spun in the middle of turns three and four. As Sadler came down the track, KHI teammate Austin Dillon in the No. 33 Rheem/Menards Chevrolet tried to avoid making contact with the No. 2 car, but hit him, sending the No. 2 spinning across the grass.

Sadler was able to fire the Chevrolet, bringing the vehicle to pit road for his KHI crew to quickly assess and fix the damage sustained in the accident. The team put on right-side tires and tried to fix the rear of the OneMain Financial Chevrolet before sending the No. 2 back on track. Sadler brought his Chevrolet back down pit road for an additional stop before the field returned to green in overtime.

The race concluded with green-white-checkered finish and Sadler scored in the 16th position. The finish places Sadler third in the Nationwide Series Driver’s Point Standings, 24 points behind leader Stenhouse Jr.

Sadler and the No. 2 OneMain Financial team will head back to Iowa Speedway for the second time this season next Saturday night. ESPN2 will broadcast the U.S. Cellular 250 live at 7:30 p.m. ET with MRN beginning coverage at 7 p.m. ET.

Comments from driver Elliott Sadler:

“It was a tough weekend for the No. 2 OneMain Financial team. On that restart, I got loose under the No. 6 car and lost it. My guys worked their butts off this weekend. We came from the back of the pack after qualifying to run in the front of the field. It just wasn’t meant to be this weekend. I can’t say enough about the guys and everything we went through this weekend. We are going to go home and regroup. It’s onto Iowa next week.”


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