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Elliott Sadler Finishes Sixth at Kentucky Speedway

07/08/11

SPARTA, Ky. (July 8, 2011) — Elliott Sadler climbed behind the wheel of the No. 2 Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet Silverado for his third appearance during the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series 2011 season. Sadler started the Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) entry in the fourth position and quickly pulled out front leading the field around the 1.5-mile Sparta, Ky. facility. A late-race caution played against Sadler and the No. 2 team, as the driver was shuffled back through the pack after restarting in the third position, leaving him with a sixth-place finish. 

Sadler came to the green flag in the fourth position, starting the race outside of KHI teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. in the second row.  Sadler quickly moved towards the top position taking over the lead on lap four. The first race caution waved on lap seven. Sadler relayed to crew chief Bruce Cook that the truck was a little snug, but very comfortable. Given the feedback, the No. 2 KHI team stayed out on the track.

As the field came back to the green flag, Sadler pulled away from the field leaving trucks to battle three-wide behind him. Caution came for the second time on lap 19. Cook made the call for the No. 2 truck to again remain on track during the caution and as the field returned to green-flag racing, Sadler continued his charge out in front of the field.

On lap 52, Sadler rolled the No. 2 Hunt Brothers Pizza machine to pit road for his first green-flag pit stop of the night. Cook called for four tires, fuel and air-pressure adjustments. With unfortunate timing, the third yellow flag waved shortly after Sadler made his way back to the track on lap 59. The No. 2 truck was in position to take the wave around from NASCAR, leaving Sadler to restart the race at the tail-end of the longest line in the 17th position.

Back under green, Sadler began working his way towards the front of the field moving up to the 14th position by lap 72 when the fourth caution flag fell. Sadler brought the No. 2 machine to pit road after he relayed to Cook that the truck was too free, especially in traffic.  The Hunt Brothers Pizza crew added four fresh tires and fuel, putting Sadler in the 16th position for the lap 75 restart. 

The fifth caution of the night quickly followed on lap 77. Sadler remained on the track during the caution laps, restarting the race in the 13th position.  By lap 90 the Emporia, Va. native had worked his way back into the top ten. As Sadler continued his run to the front, Cooked reminded him that he was running lap times as fast as the leader.

With 40 laps remaining in the event, Sadler told the team he thought there might be trash on the grille of the No. 2 Chevrolet as the water temperature was running too high. Cook called Sadler to pit road for his third and final pit stop on lap 125 under green-flag conditions. The team took right-side tires, fuel, made an air-pressure adjustment and checked the grille for debris. After examining the front grille for debris, Cook determined the gauges were not reading properly, as the truck was not actually overheating. The No. 2 Hunt Brothers Pizza team made a great pit stop allowing Sadler to restart the race in the third position on lap 125.

Sadler slid to the 10th position as the field worked its way around the track following the restart.  The driver fought to maintain his position as the yellow flag waved for the sixth time on lap 143. With the caution, Sadler relayed to the team that the No. 2 Silverado was really loose but Cook made the call to stay on track. Just as the field went back to green-flag racing, the seventh and final caution came out on lap 147, leaving the remaining trucks to compete in an exciting green-white-checkered dash to the end. Sadler took the final restart from the third position and battled to move ahead but found himself shuffled back to the sixth position as he came across the finish line. 

The Truck Series will be back on track next Saturday, July 16 for the Coca-Cola 200 presented by Hy-Vee at Iowa Speedway with David Mayhew in the driver’s seat of the No. 2 MMI Services Chevrolet Silverado. Catch the action live on SPEED at 8 p.m. ET and MRN at 7:45 p.m. ET.


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