Kyle Busch Scores 100th Career Nationwide Series Victory for Joe Gibbs Racing at Texas
After swapping the lead back and forth with Joey Logano throughout the day, Kyle Busch would lead the final 13 laps en route to scoring the victory in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway. It marks the 70th victory of Busch’s career and his seventh victory of the season. More importantly, though, it marks the 100th career victory for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nationwide Series.
“It’s obviously a special moment for all the guys at Joe Gibbs Racing. They have worked hard to get this many wins and get these wins,” Busch commented in victory lane. “I’m just glad to be a small part of the effort. It’s a blast to drive these cars.”
For Gibbs, Busch’s victory gives him his ninth victory of the 2014 season as Elliott Sadler and Sam Hornish Jr. also scored a win apiece this season.
“Just proud of Kyle, all these guys and their pit stops,” Coach Joe Gibbs said. “We love this series and love being in it. We took us five years to get one, so we really appreciate this. The Lord has blessed us with a great group of guys to do this.”
Joey Logano would finish second to extend the gap between the No. 22 Penske Ford and the No. 54 Gibbs Toyota in the Nationwide Series Owner’s Standings despite sliding through his pit stall mid-race. It marks his ninth top-10 finish of the 2014 season.
“I was going for pit stall one, but Nationwide pit stall one is actually pit stall two so I just missed it there,” Logano commented. “At least I redeemed myself there. We were fast on the long run, good enough to pass him – but then I got loose and along he came. He was able to gap us a little bit, and made that green flag pit stop able to keep the advantage.”
Ryan Blaney would finish third as he looks toward the full schedule in 2014, followed by Chase Elliott and Matt Kenseth. Elliott now holds a 48-point lead over Regan Smith in the driver’s championship standings with two races remaining. If the 18-year-old can finish in front of Smith at Phoenix International Speedway, he will clinch the championship in his rookie season.
“Just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing over the past couple of weeks,” Elliott said. “When we started out today, we really, really struggled. From the start to the finish, this is probably the best performance that we have had together working as a race team. So big thanks to NAPA, the Nationwide Series and Chevrolet; everyone that makes this possible. We want to get another win before the end of the year so hopefully we can do that at Phoenix.”
Brian Scott finished sixth, followed by Austin Dillon, Kevin Harvick, Elliott Sadler and Dakoda Armstrong. Sadler was credited with a ninth place finish, but did not run the full event as he got out of the car under the first caution at lap eight when J.J. Yeley got in the wall due to feeling nauseous and feeling stomach pains. Bowyer qualified the No. 11 car, and would climb behind the wheel under the first caution.
“You never want to get in, especially for someone like Elliott; hate to see him sick like this,” Bowyer said. “The OneMain Financial Toyota was really fast out there. Just got loose out there late in the race.”
Smith would bounce back to finish 11th despite having to make an unscheduled pit stop mid-race due to a loose wheel. Kyle Larson finished 12th despite having to start at the rear of the field due to missing qualifying as a result of failing to get through technical inspection due to rear camber issues. Chris Buescher finished 13th, followed by Dylan Kwasniewski and Ty Dillon.
Championship contender Trevor Bayne did not have the day that he was looking for as he finished 36th after blowing a right front tire and hitting the wall, causing the car to catch fire.
“I’m guessing a tire went down,” Bayne said afterwards. “I haven’t seen anything to know. I don’t know what to do as this was the best Nationwide Series car that we had. it was hauling the mail today, had a lot of speed. We definitely had the car to win but it wasn’t our day today, unfortunately.
“There was no warning. I just wonder why it caught fire, whether due to contact with the wall or blown oil line before. It felt like a tire the whole time. It never happens when you’re running 20th and struggling along; it always happens when you’re running well. I can’t thank my guys for working hard and giving me a good car.”
Team owner Jack Roush said that based on looking over the tire after the wreck, it looked as though the tire “lost its air due to something being run over on the track.” Roush also added that they were “still inconclusive” though as they “haven’t figured out what damage on the tire is from the wreck versus the tire blowing out.”
2015 Season Most Important of Elliott Sadler’s Career
On Friday morning it was announced that Elliott Sadler would move from Joe Gibbs Racing to Roush Fenway Racing which means that Elliott Sadler’s most important season may be the upcoming 2015 season.
Sadler moves to the organization after spending two lackluster seasons at Joe Gibbs Racing. Sadler’s tenure there was an opportunity to not only win a NASCAR Nationwide Series championship but a chance to eventually move back to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Sadler has 435 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts and has three victories to his credit.
Sadler’s 435 starts in the Sprint Cup Series had its ups and its downs. His career started driving for one of NASCAR’s most respected teams, Wood Brothers Racing. Sadler did well in his first five seasons driving for the organization, including a victory at Bristol in 2001. It was the Wood Brothers Racing team’s first victory since 1993.
Prior to the 2003 season Sadler joined Robert Yates Racing replacing Ricky Rudd, who moved to Sadler’s former team at Wood Brothers Racing. Sadler and his team struggled in their first season, finishing a disappointing 22nd in points and recording just nine top-10 finishes. However, the team would make some major changes, including combining their engine program with Roush Racing. The team had high expectations going into the 2004 season.
The team ran great, winning two races and qualifying themselves into the inaugural season of the Chase for the Nextel Cup. At the end of the season Sadler finished ninth in points and was ready to show his strength as the 2005 season began.
Sadler’s 2005 season looked a lot like his 2004 season minus two victories. While the team didn’t qualify for the Chase they did all but that. However in 2006 things started to change at Robert Yates Racing. The once proud organization had been falling on really hard times, winning just one race in the 2005 season.
In June of 2006 Sadler left Robert Yates Racing to drive for Evernham Motorsports a team owned by one of NASCAR’s most brilliant minds, Ray Evernham. Sadler was slated to drive the No. 19 Dodge for Evernham, a ride which became vacant after Evernham and driver Jeremy Mayfield decided to part ways in the middle of the year. Sadler was in prime equipment and things appeared to be headed in the right direction for the 30 year old veteran.
As good as things appeared to be was as bad as they turned out to be. Evernham Motorsports would go through major changes throughout the next four seasons, seeing three different owners at the organization and leaving the team in limbo for several seasons. Sadler’s career began to spiral downward. He finished 25th and 24th in points in the 2007 and 2008 seasons. During the off-season rumors surfaced that Sadler would not be returning to the organization in 2009, even though he still had two years left on his contract. Sadler threatened the organization with breach of contract and the team had no other choice but to keep Sadler until his contract was up after the 2010 season. In 2009 Sadler finished 26th in points and his final year at the organization he finished 27th in points. For something that seemed so promising, the Evernham Motorsports deal had turned into a disaster.
The whole situation was viewed as a mess and though the Emporia, Virginia native struggled, many pointed to the organization’s dysfunction as the reason why. Included among those people was friend and fellow Sprint Cup Series competitor, Kevin Harvick.
At the time Harvick had respectable NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams and when it was announced that Sadler would not return to the organization now known as Richard Petty Motorsports, Harvick jumped at the opportunity to sign Sadler, as did sponsor Citi Finiancial. Sadler joined both Citi and Kevin Harvick Incorporated to run two seasons in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. It was a huge move for Sadler’s career.
Things began to pick up for Sadler, who would compete for the championship in the 2011 season with KHI. While he didn’t visit victory lane, Sadler finished runner-up in the point standings. Kevin Harvick Inc. would shut down after the 2011 season and Harvick sold his assets and team to Richard Childress Racing. Sadler would run for RCR in 2012.
The 2012 season was far and away Sadler’s best season in the Nationwide Series. He won four races and although he didn’t win the championship Sadler proved that he was still a force to be reckoned with. Other owners began to notice, including the owner of perhaps the best NASCAR Nationwide Series team in the sport. That owner was Joe Gibbs.
Gibbs offered Sadler a two year contract prior to the 2013 season and although he had won four races at Richard Childress Racing, Sadler decided to leave the organization and move to Joe Gibbs Racing. Sadler’s two years at JGR has left much to be desired. It’s been reported that Sadler and his crew chief Chris Gayle haven’t seen eye to eye on a lot of the decisions made on the team this season and that has left Sadler with just one victory in his two years at JGR. Add that to the fact that Sadler was passed up for a Cup ride this season at JGR in favor of Carl Edwards, and it’s no surprise that Sadler looked elsewhere for a ride. He found one at Roush Fenway Racing.
As Sadler enters the 2015 season, it will be the most important season in his career. There have been some reports that Sadler ultimately would like to get back to the Sprint Cup Series. He will turn 40 years old next season which means the opportunity to move back to the Sprint Cup Series is getting less likely as the years pass by.
Something that may also cloud Sadler’s future Cup return may be Sprint Cup Series driver Kasey Kahne. In 2015 Kahne will be entering his final year of a three year contract with Hendrick Motorsports. There is speculation that HMS development driver Chase Elliott may make the jump to the Sprint Cup Series to replace Kahne at HMS in 2016. If that’s the case Kahne may be looking to go elsewhere for the 2016 season and will automatically become NASCAR’s hottest free agent. The Washington native, Kahne, will be 35 years old at the end of the 2015 season and has 17 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories to his credit. Kahne could be mentioned in a fourth car at Roush Fenway Racing in 2016, meaning Sadler could be passed up again for a Sprint Cup Series ride. That is, if the struggles continue for Sadler.
He will also be entering his fifth season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with his fourth different race team. His sponsor One Main Financial has been very loyal to him and still believes he can win the championship in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. However, the big rides for Sadler may be running out and if he doesn’t have a strong season in 2015, it could be the beginning of the end for Sadler’s career in NASCAR.
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