(Author’s Note: As the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (yes, it still pains me to say that, but I will start saying it) kicks off the 2018 season this weekend, I’ve decided to try something fresh and interesting on my website for the new year. My Flashback Friday articles were fun to do, but they were time-consuming and exceptionally long. Because of that, I sought a compromise to keep writing about NASCAR while also limiting my time spent on the articles. After a couple of weeks of consideration, I finally came up with a new idea I’m calling “A Race Weekend Memory.” The basic premise of this weekly feature published on Saturday is to analyze a forgotten moment in the history of the MENCS at a track where the series is racing for the weekend. During MENCS off weekends, expect to hear about the NASCAR Xfinity Series or the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Over the course of the article, I plan to introduce the memory, summarize the events of the specific memory with post-race quotes and analysis, and conclude with a paragraph that describes what that specific driver(s) is/are doing now. For example, this weekend’s article ahead of the Daytona 500 is about the 2009 edition of the Great American Race where Elliott Sadler nearly won the race as rain was in the area, but a late pass cost him a victory in the historic event. We will analyze Sadler’s race leading up to the finish and discuss the late drama as he missed out on the victory. In the conclusion, we will talk about his career path from that day until now as he currently competes in the NXS. I’m hoping to keep this going weekly, so make sure to come back and enjoy a weekly memory from a race track NASCAR is competing that particular weekend!)
In the 59 previous Daytona 500’s, a variety of drivers have visited victory lane at the historic Daytona International Speedway. NASCAR legends like Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Jimmie Johnson, and David Pearson have captured victories in the sport’s most prestigious race.
Superstars of their time like Davey Allison, Dale Jarrett, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bill Elliott, Ernie Irvan, Junior Johnson, and Fireball Roberts all added their names to the history books by winning the Daytona 500. Racing legends across the world like A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti even claim the title of Daytona 500 champion on their expansive career resumés.
There is another important group of drivers who have grabbed wins in the Great American Race as well: the underdogs. Underdog stories of defying the odds exist throughout many professional sports. NASCAR is no different. From the sport’s inaugural racing season in 1948 until today, unknown and unprecedented drivers have competed against the superstars and succeeded, especially at Daytona. The list of underdog winners in the 500 include Derrike Cope in 1990, Sterling Marlin in 1994, Ward Burton in 2002, and Trevor Bayne in 2011.
Cope, Marlin, and Bayne earned their first career wins in the season’s most important and special races. Bayne’s improbable win came in his second series start driving the famous #21 for the Wood Brothers while Cope and Marlin added their 500 wins after long winless droughts to begin their careers. Burton’s 500 victory was his fourth series win for himself and his Bill Davis Racing team, but his surprising win came during a time where Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chevrolet were dominant on superspeedway tracks. All four of those underdog 500 victories have become legendary when talking about the history surrounding the Great American Race.
In 2009, though, a fifth victory nearly emerged for the little guys of the sport. Elliott Sadler, a Virginia driver with ten full-time years of experience in the Cup Series heading into the season, entered Daytona Beach with some confidence and newness in his third year driving the #19 Dodge. During the offseason, Gillett Evernham Motorsports had merged with Richard Petty Motorsports and now Sadler was competing for an owner with seven Daytona 500 victories and seven Cup championships. Also, he now had three teammates to lean on for data and set-ups.
On lap 145 of the 2009 running of the Great American Race, it appeared the Virginia driver would add his name to the list of 500 winners and add to the Petty legacy as he led with the threat of rain imminent. Since the race was past halfway, substantial rain would end the event and hand the win to the #19 team. However, a lap later, a missed block on Matt Kenseth in turn 1, a spin on the backstretch, and a torrential downpour just a few minutes later ended Sadler’s chance for a Daytona 500 victory and delivered today’s memory of the Great American Race.
Sadler started 30th in the 51st running of the Great American Race. Originally, he qualified in 29th, but a 17th place finish in the second 150-mile qualifying race on Thursday dropped him back one spot for the initial start of the 500-mile main event on Sunday. For the first 100 laps, the Virginia driver battled in the pack and used the draft to move inside the Top 20. When the race crossed the 100-lap mark, drivers started to race more aggressively as rain threatened to end the event before its conclusion.
At lap 110, Sadler had moved into 12th spot with green flag pit stops near after tire problems plagued several drivers early in the event. Jeff Gordon kicked off green flag pit stops on lap 114 as he reported to his team that one of his tires was tearing apart. Over the next four laps, Brian Vickers, Juan Pablo Montoya, Sam Hornish Jr., Scott Speed, and Jimmie Johnson pitted for fresh tires as their teams feared a potential tire issue. All six drivers went a lap down as the field remained on track, waiting for their own pit stops.
On lap 119, Sadler and his teammate, Reed Sorenson, hit pit road for their stops as a fortunate break benefitted them. Exiting turn 4 as the two RPM drivers pitted, David Stremme blew a right rear tire and littered debris all over the speedway. He maintained control of his Dodge as the #19 team and #43 team thrashed to change four tires. Stremme maneuvered onto pit road as the fifth caution of the race waved and the two drivers on pit road concluded their stops. Because they were on pit lane prior to the caution flag waving, Sadler and Sorenson could complete their stops and they returned to the track on the lead lap.
As the rest of the field pitted, the Virginia driver inherited the lead and lined up on the restart with a few lapped cars on his inside. Plus, Vickers and Montoya restarted in front of him since they had pitted prior to the caution and were on the tail end of the lead lap. The lap 124 restart was intense for Sadler as he raced with lapped cars, drivers fighting to stay on the lead lap, and fast cars fighting to return to the front.
The mix of competitors led to a crash on the backstretch as Dale Earnhardt Jr. turned Brian Vickers up the track right in front of the field. As Vickers spun up the track towards the outside wall, Sadler sat right in his path. Fortunately, the #19 snuck by as the #83 of Vickers clipped Robby Gordon and caused more drivers to pile in. When the dust from the backstretch grass settled, a total of 10 cars were involved with varying levels of damage.
Thanks to his near miss, Sadler emerged the leader with Sorenson in second and Matt Kenseth in third. When the race restarted on lap 133 after the big crash, the #19 maintained the lead as the pack of drivers powered around the 2.5-mile speedway, looking for a hole to make a move. After four laps out front with no challengers, Sadler faced some pressure from Kenseth in turn 3 on lap 137 and the two began to race side by side. Their door to door battle ended on the backstretch a lap later when the seventh caution waved for a stack-up incident between Paul Menard and Jeff Burton.
For what would be the final time, the field lined up for the restart and Sadler took his spot at the front of the line. During the yellow flag laps, Sadler and his crew chief, Kevin Buskirk, discussed the weather and how radars reported rain right above the speedway. The Virginia driver was frustrated it wasn’t raining yet, but Buskirk reassured him that he could handle the restart.
When the green flag waved, Sadler jumped out to the lead with Kenseth riding in the draft behind him. For three laps, he blocked all of the #17’s advances as the potential for rain continued to increase. On lap 146, though, he made an incorrect blocking move. Sadler assumed the field would follow him in the outside line and he moved towards the wall as he powered towards turn 1.
Kenseth, with help from Kevin Harvick, shot down into the inside line and passed the #19 in turn 1 for the lead. The loss of momentum for Sadler caused him to drop on the backstretch as the field passed him. The shuffle of positions and momentum caused Aric Almirola to shoot across Kasey Kahne’s nose and into the infield grass. The eighth caution waved with the #17 leading and Sadler still in fifth after his miscue.
Fortunately, with the rain still holding out, the #19 still had 50 laps to try and take the win. Yet, the precipitation finally came during the yellow flag. As the field circulated around the 2.5-mile track, rain began to pelt Daytona Beach and delay the restart. Finally, after completing 152 laps, NASCAR brought the field down pit road to see if the rain would subside and the event could continue. After about 20 minutes of rain, NASCAR officials decided to end the race prematurely instead of waiting out the weather. The call after 380 miles of racing handed the victory to Matt Kenseth while Sadler finished in fifth spot.
As the #17 team celebrated in victory lane, the driver he passed on the final green flag lap was devastated in the media center talking to reporters. “We had a chance to win it—just made one mistake off of Turn 4,” Sadler said. “If I would have made a better and smarter move, I’d be in Victory Lane right now—I really wanted it.”
The Virginia native’s disappointment was obvious in his post-race quotes. Losing the Daytona 500 like that was devastating, but he had 35 races left in the season to compete for victories and try to win in hopes of avenging his failure in the Great American Race.
Following the Daytona 500, Sadler spent the rest of the 2009 season competing with his #19 RPM team where he finished 26th in the points after earning five Top 10’s. In 2010, he returned to the same organization and a dismal year, which included a massive crash at Pocono, resulted in a 27th place points finish. He was released from the #19 team following the conclusion of the season and he needed a new ride. Cup Series offers didn’t arise for the Virginia driver, but a new opportunity emerged for the three-time series winner for the 2011 season.
Kevin Harvick Incorporated, a team owned by Harvick and his wife, signed him to compete full-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, which is now the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Over the past seven seasons since his return to the NXS, Sadler has competed for organizations like KHI in 2011, Richard Childress Racing in 2012, Joe Gibbs Racing in 2013 and 2014, Roush Fenway Racing in 2015, and JR Motorsports since the 2016 season.
In those seven years of competition, the Virginia native captured eight wins, 73 Top 5’s, 164 Top 10’s, 11 poles, and four second place finishes in the series points standings. 2018 marks his eighth consecutive season in the NXS and his third with JR Motorsports driving the #1 Chevrolet Camaro with OneMain Financial as the primary sponsor.
The entire #1 team hopes to deliver Sadler’s first NXS championship this season after a frustrating conclusion to his 2017 title chase at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Their 2018 championship pursuit begins today in the season opening event for the series at Daytona and Sadler will need to outlast the chaos to secure a promising beginning to the campaign.
In addition to his recent tenure in the NXS, Sadler has made two starts in the Daytona 500 since he left full-time Cup competition. In 2012, he competed in the #33 for Richard Childress Racing and finished 27th. Last year, driving for Tommy Baldwin Racing, he led five laps and came home in 20th. Still, neither one of those performances matched the history he nearly achieved in the 2009 running of the Great American Race. And his failure on February 15, 2009, still remains a regretful moment in his career.
Prior to the 2012 Daytona 500 on the NASCAR Media Tour, Sadler told reporters that he “relive[s] the 2009 Daytona 500 almost every day.” The Daytona 500 is more than just a race. A 500 victory is a historic achievement that turns average and unknown drivers into historic and legendary figures in the sport. But losing the Great American Race, just as Elliott Sadler did in 2009 when he lost the lead and it began to rain a few minutes later, haunts a driver’s memory and becomes a historic moment for all the wrong reasons.
(More Stats Down Below!)
Cautions: 8 for 35 Laps
Lead Changes: 9
Margin of Victory: Under Caution
Top 5 Finishers:
1st: Matt Kenseth
2nd: Kevin Harvick
3rd: A.J. Allmendinger
4th: Clint Bowyer
5th: Elliott Sadler
Notables Not in Top 5:
7th: Michael Waltrip
8th: Tony Stewart
10th: Kurt Busch
11th: Martin Truex Jr.
13th: Jeff Gordon
16th: Mark Martin
18th: Carl Edwards
20th: Greg Biffle
21st: Regan Smith
23rd: Bill Elliott
24th: Terry Labonte
26th: Denny Hamlin
27th: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
28th: Jeff Burton
29th: Kasey Kahne
31st: Jimmie Johnson
36th: Ryan Newman
41st: Kyle Busch
43rd: Joey Logano
Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
racing-reference.info/race/2009_Daytona_500/W
-First Quote:
www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/Articles/2009/02/Kenseth-Wins-Daytona-500.aspx
-Second Quote:
www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2012/01/28/esadler-daytona-500-rcr-no-33.html?eref=/drivers/dps/esadler&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
-Image:
www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/photo/main-gallery/matt-kenseth-roush-fenway-racing-ford-and-elliott-sadler-richard-petty-motorsports-dodge/
-Video of Finish:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ba6wsL5HCg
-Full Race:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVWnlPUKvmM&t=11699s
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