Elliott Sadler
Sadler at 2012 Road America Nationwide event
Born	) April 30, 1975 (age 38) Emporia, Virginia, United States
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight	195 lb (88 kg)
Achievements	1983–1984 Virginia State Karting Championship North Carolina Gold Cup 1991–1992 1995 South Boston Speedway Track Champion
Awards	2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series Most Popular Driver
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
431 race(s) run over 15 year(s)
Car no., team	No. 81 (Joe Gibbs Racing)
2012 position	67th
Best finish	9th - 2004
First race	1998 Coca-Cola 600 (Charlotte)
Last race	2013 STP 400 (Kansas)
First win	2001 Food City 500 (Bristol)
Last win	2004 Pop Secret 500 (California)
Wins Top tens Poles 3 69 8
NASCAR Nationwide Series career
206 race(s) run over 16 year(s)
Car no., team	No. 11 (Joe Gibbs Racing)
2012 position	2nd
Best finish	2nd – 2011, 2012
First race	1995 Ford Credit 300 (South Boston)
Last race	2013 VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 (Darlington)
First win	1997 Core States Advantage 200 (Nazareth)
Last win	2012 U.S. Cellular 250 (Iowa)
Wins Top tens Poles 9 91 15
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
20 race(s) run over 5 year(s)
2011 position	87th
Best finish	24th – 2010
First race	2000 Kroger 200 (Richmond)
Last race	2011 Ford 200 (Homestead)
First win	2010 Pocono Mountains 125 (Pocono)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 10 2
Statistics current as of May 10, 2013.

Elliott William Barnes Sadler (born April 30, 1975) is an American stock car racing driver. He currently drives the No. 11 OneMain Financial Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Sadler is one of twenty-three drivers who have at least one win each of NASCAR's top three series. Sadler was born in Emporia, Virginia; he is the younger brother of former NASCAR driver Hermie Sadler.^[1]

Contents 1 1983–1995 2 1999–2003 3 2004–2007 4 2008–2010 5 2011–2012 6 2013 7 Personal life 8 Motorsports career results 8.1 NASCAR 8.1.1 NASCAR Nationwide Series results 9 References 10 External links

1983–1995

Sadler began racing in go-karts at the age of seven, and moved up to the Late Model stock car division at the local race track. His accomplishments include over 200 total wins, the 1983–84 Virginia State Karting Championship, and the North Carolina Gold Cup in 1991–92. He was runner-up in 1989 for the World Karting Association national title.

When he turned 18, he moved to the Winston Racing Series and ran full-time beginning in 1993. That same year, he achieved his first victory. In 1995, he was crowned track champion at South Boston Speedway, winning 13 races including a 6-race winning streak.

Sadler was a six-sport athlete in high school, participating in football, basketball, baseball, cross country, soccer, and golf. He was recruited by over 20 universities to play college basketball and ended up accepting a basketball scholarship from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. However, he injured his knee before his freshman season and needed two surgeries, eventually quitting school to focus on racing.^[2]

1999–2003

Sadler moved up to the Cup Series full-time in 1999, driving the #21 Citgo Ford Taurus for Wood Brothers Racing. His best finish that year was tenth at Texas Motor Speedway, and he finished 24th in points, runner-up to Tony Stewart for Rookie of the Year honors. He also returned to the Nationwide Series on a part-time basis, filling in for the injured Andy Santerre for Innovative Motorsports, his best finish fifth at California Speedway. He also drove a handful of races for Lyndon Amick. Sadler's only top-ten finish in 2000 was tenth at Bristol, after failing to qualify at Talladega Superspeedway, and he dropped to twenty-ninth in points. He also had a wild flip at Michigan Speedway after cutting a tire in practice.

In 2001, Motorcraft became Sadler's new sponsor and he won his first career Cup race at Bristol. He had another top-ten run and finished 20th in points. After seven top-tens and a drop to 23rd in points in 2002, Sadler left for Robert Yates Racing to drive the #38 M&M's Ford. In his first season of competition with Yates, Sadler won the pole at Darlington Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway, and finished 22nd in points. In 2003, Sadler had a vicious crash at Talladega after near-contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and touched the right-front fender of Kurt Busch. Sadler's car flew into the air, flipped twice, landed on his roof, spun towards the banking, and flipped six times. Sadler emerged uninjured.

2004–2007

Sadler started 2004 with a top-10 finish in the Daytona 500, and six races later won at Texas Motor Speedway for his 2nd career win. He stayed in the top-10 in points all season, and won at California Speedway, beating Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin. He made the Chase, and finished a career high ninth in the championship standings. He had another flip at Talladega after he spun out and blew over onto his roof. Sadler was uninjured, and he was even able to drive his car back to the garage.

Sadler failed to win again in 2005, but clinched four poles. He finished 13th in points. He also drove sixteen races for RYR's Busch car, the #90 Citifinancial Taurus, and had three top-five finishes. In 2006, Sadler won the pole at Talladega and finished 22nd in points. He made seven Busch starts, his best finish was second at Richmond. After a lack of results, Sadler left RYR midway through 2006 for Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

Before the start of the 2007 Daytona 500, Sadler was among many other drivers caught in a cheating scandal. Despite being docked 25 points, he still went on to score a season best 6th place finish. Sadler had many ups and downs throughout the season. In 2007, Sadler led 62 laps, posted two top-10 finishes and finished 25th in points. Sadler had the longest streak without a DNF than any other driver before failing to finish a race in 2007.

2008–2010

For the 2008 season, Sadler received new sponsorship; Best Buy for 15 races, Stanley Works for 13 races, McDonald's for 6 races, and Siemens for 2 races. He struggled in 2008, garnering only 2 top fives, 8 top tens, and 16 top twenties. He had 4 DNFs and 12 finishes of 30th or worse. Sadler led 21 laps in 2008, his fewest since the 2000 season. He ended the year 24th in the Sprint Cup Series standings.

On December 27, 2008, it was reported that A.J. Allmendinger would replace Sadler in the #19 Best Buy Dodge for Gillett Evernham Motorsports in 2009. Elliott threatened a lawsuit for breach of contract; however, the lawsuit was dropped after the GEM – Petty Enterprises merger and he returned to the ride for 2009.

After all of the offseason issues Sadler found himself in the #19 Stanley Tools Dodge for Richard Petty Motorsports in the 2009 Sprint Cup Series season. In the 2009 Daytona 500 Sadler took the lead on Lap 123 and stayed in the lead for the final stages in the race. On the last green flag lap Sadler got passed by Matt Kenseth and seconds later the caution came out. Kenseth wound up finishing first while Sadler came up in fifth. He ended the year 26th in the Sprint Cup Series standings.

In 2010 Sadler returned to RPM and run the #19 Ford with Stanley Tools sponsorship. During the year however, Sadler announced that he will be leaving the #19 Ford after the 2010 season. He ran a part-time schedule in the Camping World Truck Series in the #2 Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet Silverado for Kevin Harvick Incorporated.^[3] In this ride, Sadler won his first NASCAR race in 6 years at Pocono in the Pocono Mountains 125 in July.

The next day Sadler was involved in a wreck where he hit the inside fence (a blind spot on the track, not well-recorded by video cameras) after being hit from behind by A.J. Allmendinger. Kurt Busch was hit from behind by Jimmie Johnson causing him to spin into Clint Bowyer who received little damage but still finished 12th. The wreck was so horrific it threw the engine away from the car and caused the race to be red flagged for 25 minutes to clean up the wreck. There were several reports by fans that his car flew through the air. With a grimace on his face, he climbed out of the car and laid down on the track. He was taken to the medical facility where he later emerged and gave an interview to on hand media personnel. He said he was fine & was a little sore, but had the breath knocked out of him and had taken "the hardest hit of his career" at Pocono. He was proud of his team back home that had built a safe car and of the pit crew and of all of the hard work they had put into the race thus far. On August 3, Elliott Sadler announced on NASCAR Now that NASCAR told him it was the hardest head-on crash ever recorded in NASCAR history. On November 5, 2010 Elliott Sadler won the pole for the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway qualifying at 195.397, the fastest qualifying speed since 1999.

2011–2012

On November 5, 2010. Sadler announced a 2-year deal to drive the #2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc. in the Nationwide Series and also will drive a selected amount of races in the Camping World Truck Series. Sadler took the championship points lead in the Nationwide Series after the eleventh race in the 2011 season. He ended up finishing second in points with 24 top-ten finishes in 34 events.^[4]

At the end of the 2011 season, KHI's Nationwide Series operations were absorbed by Richard Childress Racing and Sadler moved to RCR for 2012, remaining in the #2. In addition, Sadler ran in the 2012 Daytona 500 for RCR in the No. 33 Chevrolet,.^[5]

On March 3, 2012, Sadler won the Nationwide Series Bashas' Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix, his first win since October 31, 1998 at North Carolina Motor Speedway, a span of 91 races.^[6][7]

Sadler had been announced on March 3 as the third driver of the Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 55 Toyota,^[8] but Childress wanted Sadler to focus on the Nationwide championship, so the deal was nixed.^[9]

On March 17, Sadler won at Bristol, making it the first year the mid-1990s that the first four NNS races have been won by non-Sprint Cup drivers. It also had Sadler winning two of the first four races of the season.

On July 22, Elliott held off hard charging Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at Chicagoland Speedway to collect his third win of the season. Holding on to his point lead over Stenhouse and Austin Dillon.

Elliott got black flagged after supposedly jumping the restart at the inaugural Indiana 250. Elliott's point lead vanished nearly after the black flag. The week after he dominated the U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa en route to his 4th win of the year. Heading into Phoenix, Sadler was once again caught up in a late crash, which ended his championship hopes. He would finish 2nd in points again to Stenhouse. He would later announce his move to Joe Gibbs Racing for 2013, taking OneMain Financial with him.^[10]

2013

In addition to running the full Nationwide Series schedule for Joe Gibbs Racing, Sadler announced in March that he would be competing in three Sprint Cup Series events for the team, driving the No. 81 Wrigley Alert Energy Gum Toyota.^[11]

Personal life

Sadler is heavily involved in the Autism Speaks charity because his niece Halie has the disorder. In 2008, Best Buy (his sponsor) sponsored the Best Buy 400 Benefiting Student Clubs of Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. His car had a custom paint scheme specifically for that race. His hood and helmet were signed and auctioned off following the race, with the proceeds going to Autism Speaks.

He was the cover athlete on EA Sports NASCAR 07 and was also on the special edition NASCAR 09.

Elliott Sadler's wife, Amanda, gave birth to their first child, Wyatt Herman Frittz Sadler on February 15, 2010. They welcomed their second child, daughter Austyn Rose Sadler on November 7, 2011.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

() (Bold - Pole position awarded by time. Italics - Pole position earned by points standings. * – Most laps led.)

NASCAR Nationwide Series results

NASCAR Nationwide Series results
Season	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NNSC	Points
1995	Sadler Racing	46	Chevy	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	NSV	DAR	BRI	HCY	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	MYB	GLN	MLW	TAL	SBO 8	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH 24	DOV	CLT	CAR	HOM										67th	233
1996				DAY 40	CAR	RCH 13	ATL	NSV	DAR	BRI	HCY 30	NZH 40	CLT	DOV	SBO 32	MYB	GLN	MLW	NHA 18	TAL	IRP 19																		35th	1301
	Diamond Ridge Motorsports	29	Chevy																			MCH 9	BRI 13	DAR 32	RCH 23	DOV 7	CLT DNQ	CAR 36	HOM 5
1997		66		DAY 15	CAR 5	RCH 26	ATL 9	LVS 30	DAR 29	HCY 8	TEX 20	BRI 14	NSV 30	TAL 16	NHA 34	NZH 1*	CLT 21	DOV 12	SBO 22	GLN 11	MLW 2	MYB 1*	GTY 1	IRP 2	MCH 18	BRI 41	DAR 9	RCH 21	DOV 6	CLT 14	CAL 26	CAR 28	HOM 15						5th	3534
1998				DAY 36	CAR 6	LVS 14	NSV 11	DAR 5	BRI 1	TEX 2	HCY 14	TAL 41	NHA 31	NZH 8	CLT 41	DOV 21	RCH 26	PPR 19	GLN 26	MLW 19	MYB 10	CAL 7	SBO 7	IRP 2	MCH 29	BRI 32	DAR 13	RCH 13	DOV 22	CLT 23	GTY 13	CAR 1	ATL 37	HOM 36					8th	3470
1999	Innovative Motorsports	47	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS 7	ATL 42	DAR 35	TEX 42	NSV 16	BRI DNQ	TAL	CAL 5	NHA 15	RCH 35	NZH 12	CLT 28	DOV	SBO	GLN	MLW	MYB	PPR	GTY	IRP														36th	1454
	Team Amick Motorsports	35	Chevy																							MCH 25	BRI 24	DAR 24	RCH 6	DOV	CLT DNQ	CAR 23	MEM	PHO	HOM
2000	Andy Petree Racing	15	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	NSV	TAL	CAL	RCH	NHA	CLT	DOV	SBO	MYB	GLN	MLW	NZH	PPR	GTY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH 32	DOV	CLT	CAR 35	MEM						80th	228
		51																																PHO 20	HOM
2003	Team Rensi Motorsports	35	Ford	DAY	CAR	LVS	DAR	BRI	TEX	TAL	NSH	CAL	RCH	GTY	NZH	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI	NHA	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	ATL	PHO	CAR	HOM 36		144th	55
2005	Yates Racing	90	Ford	DAY	CAL	MXC 18	LVS 14	ATL 8	NSH	BRI	TEX 5	PHO 2	TAL	DAR	RCH 2	CLT 36	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI 33	NHA 4	PPR	GTY	IRP		MCH 9	BRI	CAL 13	RCH 6	DOV	KAN 42	CLT 2	MEM	TEX 9	PHO	HOM 18	28th	2007
		08																									GLN DNQ
2006		90		DAY 28	CAL 32	MXC	LVS	ATL 30	BRI	TEX	NSH	PHO 32	TAL	RCH 18	DAR	CLT 19	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI 38	NHA	MAR	GTY	IRP	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	TEX	PHO	HOM	63rd	550
2007	Evernham Motorsports	9	Dodge	DAY	CAL	MXC	LVS	ATL	BRI	NSH	TEX	PHO 14	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	CGV	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	TEX 24	PHO	HOM	101st	212
2008	Gillett Evernham Motorsports	9	Dodge	DAY	CAL 27	LVS	ATL	BRI	NSH	TEX	PHO	MXC	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	NHA	DAY	CHI 21	GTY	IRP	CGV	GLN	MCH	BRI 21	CAL	RCH 19	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	TEX	PHO	HOM	71st	388
2008	Braun Racing	10	Toyota	DAY	CAL	LVS	BRI	TEX	NSH	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	NHA 18	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	IOW	GLN	MCH	BRI	CGV	ATL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CAL	CLT	MEM	TEX	PHO	HOM	126th	109
2010	JR Motorsports	88	Chevy	DAY	CAL	LVS	BRI	NSH	PHO	TEX	TAL	RCH	DAR	DOV	CLT	NSH	KEN	EKL	NHA 13	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	IOW	GLN	MCH 7		CGV	ATL	RCH 13	DOV 31	KAN	CAL	CLT	GTY	TEX	PHO	HOM	62nd	649
	Kevin Harvick Inc	33	Chevy																								BRI 3
2011		2		DAY 38	PHO 12	LVS 12	BRI 4	CAL 5	TEX 5	TAL 5	NSH 13	RCH 4	DAR 3	DOV 6	IOW 5	CLT 10	CHI 11	MCH 8	EKL 4	DAY 8	KEN 5	NHA 12	NSH 30	IRP 16	IOW 3	GLN 10	CGV 10	BRI 8	ATL 10	RCH 6	CHI 6	DOV 14	KAN 3	CLT 4	TEX 9	PHO 27	HOM 6		2nd	1177
2012	Richard Childress Racing			DAY 3	PHO 1	LVS 3	BRI 1	CAL 9	TEX 12	RCH 6	TAL 10	DAR 24	IOW 2	CLT 5	DOV 7	MCH 11	EKL 15	KEN 9	DAY 6	NHA 7	CHI 1	IND 15	IOW 1	CGV 12	MON 4	BRI 5	ATL 4	RCH 12	CHI 8	KEN 5	DOV 4	CLT 4	KAN 4	TEX 11	PHO 22	HOM 9			2nd	1228
2013	Joe Gibbs Racing	11	Toyota	DAY 15	PHO 5	LVS 5	BRI 36	CAL 7	TEX 13	RIC 6	TAL 11	DAR	CHA	DOV	IOW	MIC	ROA	KEN	DAY	NHA	CHI	IND	IOW	GLN	LEX	BRI	ATL	RIC	CHI	KEN	DOV	KAN	CHA	TEX	PHO	HOM			4th*	258*

* Season in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

References

• Elliott Sadler Bio
• Elliot Sadler going to Evernham Motorsports
• Evernham Motorsports confirms Elliot Sadler as driver at Michigan
• Doug Yates confirms Elliott Sadler is leaving
• Silly Saga: Elliot Sadler going to Evernham
• Allmendinger to replace Sadler in GEM's NO. 19

External links

• Official website
• Elliott Sadler driver statistics at Racing Reference
• Elliott Sadler at The Coca-Cola Racing Family
• Hermie & Elliott Sadler Foundation for Autism

Awards
Preceded by Brad Keselowski	NASCAR Nationwide Series Most Popular Driver 2011	Succeeded by Danica Patrick
Preceded by Jeff Gordon/Jimmie Johnson	NASCAR EA cover athlete 2007	Succeeded by Tony Stewart