DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 21, 2015) – Roush Fenway Racing’s Elliott Sadler earned a 19th-place finish in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Sadler had a fast No. 1 OneMain Financial Ford and was running inside the top 10 when the field went green after caution with just over 20 laps remaining. However, his Mustang was clipped in the left rear in a multi-car pile up going into turn one with only eight laps remaining and forced into the garage for repairs. No. 1 OneMain Financial crew worked furiously to fix the car, and Sadler was able to get the No. 1 back out on the track to run the final two laps. The efforts of the crew paid off, with Sadler gaining six positions in the final two laps.
“You can plan all off season for Daytona, but no matter what, Daytona will always want to write its own story,” said Sadler, who made Roush Fenway debut in the race. “The No. 1 OneMain Financial Ford Mustang was definitely a contender to win today, but big wrecks seem to always happen here. Despite finishing 19th, I was very happy to see two of my teammates finish one, two. Having a Roush Fenway Racing driver in Victory Lane is a great start to the season.”
Sadler started the 120-lap race from the 11th position and in the first few laps was caught in the middle draft lane and fell back as far to the 24th position.
On lap 39, Sadler came down pit road for his first pit stop of the day. Under green, the No. 1 OneMain Financial crew added four fresh tires, two cans of fuel and made a small wedge adjustment. After the green flag pit stops cycled through, Sadler was scored in the 14th position.
By lap 48, Sadler worked his way into the top ten and stayed there for the next 30 laps. Then on lap 80, during another green flag pit stop, a tire from another team rolled away from the pit box and brought out our first caution of the day.
Sadler drove the No. 1 OneMain Financial Ford down pit road under caution and the crew made another quick stop adding fuel, four tires with a small air adjustment in the front left. When the race went back to green, Sadler restarted from the 10th position.
Lap 93 brought out the yellow again for a big multicar pile up at the tri-oval. The wreck happened in front of Sadler and he was able to bring the No. 1 to a complete stop without running over any debris.
After the long red flag clean up, Sadler came down pit road with most of the field for four fresh tires and topped the Ford Mustang off with fuel. With 23 laps remaining in the race, Sadler restarted from the 10th position and looked poised for a move to the front, before getting claimed in the late-race melee just a few moments later.
NEXT UP:
Hisense 250
1.5-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway
Hampton, Ga.
Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015
2:00 p.m. ET on FOXSPORTS1 and PRN
RACE SUMMARY
Elliott Sadler
Started: 11th
Finished: 19th
Complete Race Results:
www.roushfenway.com
POINTS SUMMARY
Elliott Sadler
2015 Season Total: 12th with 25 points
2015 SEASON SUMMARY
Elliott Sadler
Starts Wins Top-Fives Top-10s Poles
1 0 0 0 0
