10/19/2015
Sadler Finishes 12th at Kansas Speedway
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Oct. 18, 2015) – Roush Fenway Racing’s Elliott Sadler finished 12th in his No. 1 OneMain Financial Ford Mustang on Saturday afternoon in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Kansas Speedway. Sadler qualified for the 200 lap event on Friday morning and started the race from the 18th position. Sadler battled inside the top-15 for the majority of the race, but quickly gained ground on pit road during his final pit stop. With less than 50 laps to go in the race, Sadler pitted for fuel and two tires, when most the field pitted for four tires. When the race went back to green, Sadler restarted ninth and moved up to the fifth position within a few laps. In the final laps, a caution came out, setting the race up to have a GWC finish. Under caution, Sadler’s tire pressures dropped and his splitter was too close to the ground. On the final restart, Sadler started in seventh, but with the splitter dragging, Sadler wasn’t able to hold the turns at full speed and drifted back through the field. Sadler crossed the finish line in the 12th position.
“We couldn’t seem to keep the car off the splitter for the majority of the race,” Sadler said after he exited the car. “We had a really hard time on restarts today and when you’re killing the splitter, you just can’t go anywhere. It’s a shame. I did not want to see that final caution come out and I knew we were gonna be in big, big trouble with a restart. It’s just not the finish we wanted today.”
Sadler started out his Saturday morning by qualifying for the 300 mile race at Kansas Speedway. The No. 1 OneMain Financial Ford Mustang was a little loose in the second round of NXS qualifying and Sadler did not post a fast enough time to make it to the third round. Sadler qualified and started the race from the 18th position.
For the first one hundred laps, Sadler battled an extremely loose race car. Drifting back and forth in the top-15 positions, Sadler tried many different lines to see where his car would drive the best.
A turning point in the race was on Lap 146, when the caution flag waved. At the time of the caution, Sadler was sitting in the 15th position with a loose handling car. When pit road opened, Sadler’s team decided to go with only a two tire pit stop instead of a four tire stop to gain track positions. The crew also made air pressure adjustments in the two new tires to help with handling. Sadler gained six spots on pit road and restarted ninth.
Sadler was running seventh with six laps remaining in the race when another caution happened on the front stretch. When the debris was cleared off the track, there were only enough laps for a green, white, checkered finish. Sadler’s tire pressures dropped under caution and on the restart his splitter was dragging in the turns. Sadler couldn’t hold full speed and drifted back through the field. Sadler crossed the finish line in 12th position.
The NASCAR XFINITY Series and Sadler’s No. 1 OneMain Financial Ford Mustang have the next two weekends off, but racing will resume at Texas Motor Speedway on November 7th, 2015.
NEXT UP:
NASCAR XFINITY Series Race
O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge 300
Texas Motor Speedway
Saturday, Nov. 7th, 2015
3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN
RACE SUMMARY
Elliott Sadler
Started: 18th
Finished: 12th
