LEBANON, Tenn. (July 23, 2011) — Elliott Sadler returned to the driver’s seat of the No. 2 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) Chevrolet Silverado for his second appearance at Nashville Superspeedway and fifth race in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series this season. The veteran driver qualified the No. 2 Bully Hill Vineyards Chevrolet in the third position for the Lucas Deep Clean 200 and ran near the front of the pack for the majority of the race. As the end of the 150-lap event approached, Sadler’s Silverado became loose, leaving the driver to battle against his truck as well as other competitors as he drove to a ninth-place finish at the 1.33-mile facility.
Sadler took green flag in the third position for the 150-lap event at Nashville Superspeedway. The driver moved into the second position on the first lap, but was quickly shuffled back into fifth as the first caution of the night came out on lap five for a spinning truck in turn two. The team chose to stay on track during the first caution, and the No. 2 restarted in the sixth position.
As the field resumed green-flag racing, Sadler radioed to crew chief Bruce Cook that the truck was bouncing around the track, and the Bully Hill Vineyards team would need to make an adjustment to gain more rear grip when it was time for the first pit stop of the night. The unfavorable handling conditions caused the Emporia, Va., native to slide back to the eighth position by lap 29.
Fifty laps into the race, the field began to make scheduled green-flag pit stops. Cook called the No. 2 Bully Hill Vineyards truck onto pit road on lap 53 for four tires, fuel and air-pressure and chassis adjustments. As Sadler returned to the track, he informed his crew that the Chevrolet was better on the entry and middle of the turns, but still needed more side bite to help with the exit of the turns. Sadler continued to work his way back toward the front of the field, moving into the sixth position by lap 63. Cook relayed to his driver that he was the fastest truck on the track and encouraged him to maintain his line. By lap 81, Sadler cracked the top five.
The field was slowed for a second time on lap 103 for debris on the track. Cook took the opportunity to bring his driver to pit road for their final pit stop of the night which included four tires, fuel, and air-pressure and chassis adjustments to help alleviate the free condition his driver was feeling on the exit of the turns. Sadler restarted the race in the fourth position on lap 106. The third and final caution followed on lap 108 for fluid on the track. The No. 2 KHI team opted to remain on track and restarted the race on lap 113 in the third position.
As the No. 2 Chevrolet returned to full speed, Sadler was shuffled to the fifth position and relayed to his crew that the truck became very loose all of a sudden, and that he was concerned the Chevrolet may have a flat tire. Cook and the team carefully looked at the truck as the driver came down the frontstretch. After several green-flag laps, Sadler and the crew determined the tire was not going down.
Still battling the loose-handling truck, Sadler was able to maintain his fifth-place position on the track and on lap 123 was marked as the fastest truck. As the laps wound down the loose condition began to increase, and Sadler slid to the ninth spot with only six laps remaining in the race. The veteran driver powered through the final laps to a ninth-place finish, earning his fourth top-10 Truck Series finish of the 2011 season.
The Truck Series will head to Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis Friday, July 29 for the AAA Insurance 200 with Elliott Sadler behind the wheel of the No. 2 Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet Silverado. Catch the action live on SPEED at 7:30 p.m. ET and MRN at 7:15 p.m. ET.
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