MIAMI, Fla. – Elliott Sadler has been in this position before.
A NASCAR XFINITY Series championship is dangling before his eyes.
Saturday’s Ford EcoBoost 300 will either bring Sadler his first NASCAR championship or leave him wondering what could have been – but when he takes off his OneMain uniform at the end of the day, Sadler knows it’s been a memorable year.
The Emporia, Virginia native joined JR Motorsports at the beginning of the season after recent pairings with Joe Gibbs Racing and Roush Fenway Racing were bagged with mixed results.
United with his close friend and JR Motorsports team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., the partnership seemed like a perfect fit.
Almost immediately, the results spoke for themselves.
Opening the season with a top-five finish and three wins later, Sadler will have an opportunity to bring home his biggest trophy.
“Yeah, the title will mean a lot,” said Sadler who joins JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez for the XFINITY Series Championship 4 in Saturday’s Ford EcoBoost 400.
“I have been through a lot of ups and downs. Lucky to be here. Went through a time in my career I could have easily got pushed to the side and never been able to race again. To kind of battle back, put ourselves in this position again means a lot to me and my family. We want to go make the most of it.”
Sadler will have to make the most of it Saturday without crew chief Kevin Meendering.
Meendering, the former Hendrick Motorsports engineer was suspended this week by NASCAR after two lug nuts were missing following last weekend penultimate race at Phoenix International Raceway. Mike Bumgarner, the JR Motorsports shop foreman will serve as interim crew chief Saturday.
“I have not worked with Mike at the racetrack,” offered Sadler. “But Mike, being a shop foreman, has his hands on our car every day. He’s the guy that helps get these things prepared.
“He and Kevin (Meendering) are good friends. They have the same personality. Communication wise, they both got the same type of speech pattern and things like that.
“Anyway, as far as working with him, it’s going to be different, but feel like a lot of the same. He has the most experience of anybody we could pull from in the shop to come down here and give us the best opportunity to win.
He’s ready for the challenge and he’s looking forward to this weekend.”
Challenge or not, Sadler knows Saturday’s race won’t be a walk in the park. But, the 41-year-old veteran is approaching the race with a relaxed approach. An approach he hopes will pay off.
“I’m pretty relaxed, man,” said Sadler. “We got to go out and do our job. I don’t know why I’m so calm and relaxed about it this week. We’re looking forward to it. We’re going to put our best foot forward and see where the race takes us.
“I think sometimes you can paint yourself in a corner if you try to overanalyze everything. We want to show up and do what we’ve been doing to get us in this position, see if we can make it happen.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
