By STAN CREEKMORE
When one loses a parent, sibling or dear friend the feeling is devastating.
Elliott Sadler felt that feeling Sunday night when NASCAR officials were forced to bring an early halt to the 51st running of the Daytona 500. Less than a half an hour earlier Sadler was doing his best to hold off a pack of hungry drivers as he led the the “Great American Race”. Sadler came up a half lap short of claiming victory in his No. 19 Stanley Tools/Best Buy Dodge Charger.
"It's funny,” Sadler said, choking back emotion. “My crew chief told me for the last 45 minutes of the race that it's raining on the radar. You know, this is his first race with me as a crew chief. I said, 'Welcome to Elliott Sadler's world. It's probably raining all around the racetrack.' When I need it, in the lap where I get passed, it starts raining in turn three. It's the way it is.
“If I would have made a better and smarter move, I'd be in Victory Lane right now. (I) really wanted it. I put my heart and soul to come in here to Daytona, Speedweeks, try to compete at the top of my game, 'cause I knew I had a lot of eyes on me to run good. It was cool running up front. It was great having Reed and AJ behind me pushing. It would have been cool to finish like that, but just wasn't meant to be.”
Sadler started the week proving himself as a true team player, pushing A J Almendinger, driving the #44 Valvoline Dodge during the second Gatorade Duels, twin 150 laps events used to set the starting field, into position to secure a spot in the Daytona 500.
“We were struggling,” admitted Almendinger after his qualifying race. “I honestly have to thank my teammates Elliott and Reed and Stanley and McDonalds for halfway ruining their race to come back and save me.”
Sadler ended the weekend proving himself once again. He admitted visions of a fantastic celebration entered his thoughts over the final laps.
“I'm going to be honest with you. I'm not going to lie to you. I was getting pretty emotional under the caution when it was raining a little bit in turn one and two. I thought it was going to be called a little bit earlier than it was. I was getting emotional in the car thinking, 'Wouldn't this be the coolest story?' I came down here as a fan the first time in 1979 and finished second to Ward Burton (in 2002), and now to have a chance to win the race.
“I had a lot of that cool stuff going through my head. But, you know, (it) just wasn't meant to be.
“You know, it's tough. It's hard to swallow. But I'm proud of my guys. New team. New pit stops. They all worked out great tonight. To look in their faces when the rain was coming down when I got out of the car, man, that was hard, because I felt like I let them down."
The rain came a little too soon and Sadler, sitting in the lead moments before the skies opened up, just didn't have enough to hold off the three car charge which eventually shuffled him to fifth at the finish. Still he held his head high saying, “We'll try to get 'em next week."
Sadler talked about next week, saying, "We’re kind of flying blind heading out to California because we’ve had no testing. We won’t really know where everyone is with their cars until we get on the track. We’re going to try and apply some of the things that we learned from Rockingham (testing) and go off of last year’s notes. Hopefully we’ve learned enough during this off season that we get out there and unload with a decent car.”
Just remember, a win at the Auto Club Speedway in California is nothing like a win at Daytona and we all know the next Daytona 500 is not next week or even next month; the next Daytona 500 is 12 months away.
