Elliott Sadler is working to remind himself and his fans who he really is.
At 35, and with more than a decade of competition under his belt, he is stepping back from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series he’s called home since 1999 and moving into one of the top rides in the Nationwide Series. This season the Emporia, Va., native will shift to the Kevin Harvick Inc. organization and challenge for the Nationwide title.
And while that move certainly brings with it a fresh slate of pressures and expectations, Sadler seems rejuvenated by the idea of being competitive in those ranks. He talked to his long-time mentor and former Yates Racing teammate Dale Jarrett about making the move — one that Jarrett himself made in his championship career — and decided that the chance to race regularly for wins was too attractive to pass up.
So he’s leaving the Cup ranks, where he competed for the team that is now Richard Petty Motorsports since late in the 2006 season, to join Kevin and DeLana Harvick’s top-tier Nationwide program.
Now, he says, he’s working to get back to the way things used to be.
“I feel like I’m rebranding myself because I feel like I’ve lost a little bit in the last couple of years of who Elliott Sadler really is," he said. "The race car driver that he really is, the love of the sport that he really has — getting back to Nationwide racing, getting back to the team that’s going to give me the best equipment week in and week out. And it’s about racing, it’s not about anything else; we talk racing.
“(It) reminds me of what I grew up racing in South Boston and places like that, so I feel like a kid again. I feel five years younger.”
Team co-owner Kevin Harvick clearly sees Sadler's ability. After all, Sadler has a trio of wins in the Cup ranks and five wins in Nationwide, and as drivers often say, it’s not like he forgot how to race and win in recent years. Yet Sadler has struggled in the past few seasons. His last win came in 2004 when he won at Auto Club Speedway driving for Yates Racing.
Sadler finished ninth in the series in 2004 and 13th the next year before the slide began; he hasn't finished higher than 22nd in recent seasons.
Sadler says that he’s learned a lot from his struggles. Now, his role is so reversed that he finds himself as a championship favorite. Sadler says he’s more excited to start the year than he has been since his days with Yates.
“This is fun,” Sadler said. “Yes, the bull’s-eye is falling on our back because of who I drive for and the team we have and the funding that we have … This is what I did as a kid. We raced. If they all want to beat you, that’s fun. If you’re the guy they want to beat, you kind of thrive off of that.”
But what if he doesn’t win?
“If I feel like we don’t win the championship, will that be a failure? Yeah, I think so. I think that will be a failure,” he said. “But to show up with everybody pulling in the same direction, on the same page, makes it fun for me and takes the pressure way off.”
Both he and Harvick know this is about more than just the championship. This is about helping Sadler get back on the track he wants. While he is free to run some Cup races this season if the opportunity arises, he’s clearly committed to his Nationwide effort. And on being the driver Harvick sees in him.
“He needs to forget everything he’s done over the last several years and go back to those Yates days because those are inside," Harvick said. "Those are in him and he knows that and he’s just got to forget about what he’s been doing.”
