CHARLOTTE, NC (May 23, 2015) – Roush Fenway Racing’s Elliott Sadler finished in ninth-place during Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Charlotte Motor Speedway (CMS). Sadler qualified for the 200 lap event on Saturday morning and started the NXS race from the 11th position. Sadler started off the race on a good note and quickly worked his way up to ninth. By the halfway point, Sadler continued to move forward and on Lap 99 he was scored in the seventh position. However, the momentum changed after a mid-race pit road adjustment, which tightened up the car too much. With the tight car, Sadler couldn’t hold his fast lines and dropped back to 11th. After another pit stop to fix the tight conditions, Sadler was able to race out the final 40 laps and push his No. 1 OneMain Financial Ford Mustang forward and crossed the finish line in the ninth position.
“My car was better than a ninth place car today,” Sadler said at the end of the race. “On long runs, my car would come to itself and we could really put down some fast times. However, everyone was running the same line, so it’s hard to run fast laps when the fastest lane is currently being used by the car in front of you. As a team, we are moving in the right direction. We are starting to understand the car better, which is greatly helping our race set ups and mid-race changes. We’ll build off what we learned this weekend and go battle at Dover next week.”
Sadler qualified Saturday morning and started the NXS race in the afternoon from the 11th position. Within the first 15 laps, Sadler battled his way forward and jumped ahead two spots into the ninth position.
On Lap 35, Sadler radioed to the team the car was a little too tight on entry. On Lap 48 the caution flag came out and Sadler pitted for four fresh tires, fuel and a small adjustment to the track bar. Sadler exited pit road and restarted ninth.
On Lap 81, the No. 1 OneMain Financial Ford Mustang continued to run fast lap times and Sadler drove his way up to seventh.
On Lap 99, one lap before the halfway mark, Sadler pitted under green for four fresh tires, fuel, track bar adjustment and the crew lowered the air pressure in the front tires. However, the track bar changes and air pressure changes resulted in the splitter hitting the ground to hard. With a tight car and the splitter hitting the payment, Sadler dropped back to two spots to the ninth position.
Ten laps later, the yellow flag came out again and Sadler came down pit road with the leaders. Sadler’s crew reversed their previous changes and added four fresh tires. Sadler restarted from the 11th position.
With 27 laps to go, Sadler worked his way back into the ninth position. Sadler held this position for the remainder of the race and crossed the finish line with another top-10 finish.
The No. 1 OneMain Financial Ford Mustang will be back in action on May 30th at Dover International Speedway
NEXT UP:
NASCAR XFINITY Race
Buckle Up 200
Dover International Speedway
Dover, DE
Saturday, May 30th, 2015
2:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 and PRN
RACE SUMMARY
Elliott Sadler
Started: 11th
Finished: 9th
Complete Race Results:
POINTS SUMMARY
Elliott Sadler
2015 Season Total: Sixth with 352 points
2015 SEASON SUMMARY
Elliott Sadler
Starts – 11
Wins – 0
Poles – 0
Top-5s – 0
Top-10s – 5
