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From Heartbreak to Redemption…..Sadler wins at Iowa

[media-credit name=”Credit: Rainier Ehrhardt/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”230″][/media-credit]Last week Elliott Sadler experienced one of the lowest lows ever inside a race car. Leading in the final laps and pulling away from Brad Keselowski in the inaugural NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Indianapolis. Sadler was black flagged by NASCAR for jumping the restart leaving him to settle for a 15th place finish and a feeling of what might have been as he left Indy 1 point ahead of teammate Austin Dillon.

Fast forward ahead to this weekend at Iowa Speedway and a chance at redemption. Sadler set the tone for tonight’s race by earning the pole with a track record speed of 135.141 MPH setting the stage for tonight’s race. Never running outside the top 5 practically all night long. Sadler used patience and his veteran savvy to overtake Justin Allgaier with 58 laps remaining and was able to hold off Allgaier’s challenge to win by .649 seconds for his 4th NNS win of 2012.

Sadler let his emotions out over the radio when he crossed the start/finish line proclaiming ‎”They are not taking this championship from me”.

Elliott credited his teammate Austin Dillon and his team for helping him prepare this week. “It’s been a tough week, we feel like we should have won that race last week,” Sadler said in his victory lane interview on ESPN. “We got a lot of help from Austin Dillon and his team, that’s what teamwork is all about and we were in the right place at the right time tonight and I feel really good about it.”

Sadler now enjoys his largest points lead of the season now leading by 18 points over Austin Dillon, who’s night turned sour on lap 137 when he had to pit under green for a vibration that left him a lap down the rest of the evening and relegated him to a 15th place finish after leading 53 laps while having one of the strongest cars on the track.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. saw his 3 race winning streak at Iowa snapped on Saturday night. Complained of having no side grip in his all night long still brought home a top 5 finish and Sam Hornish Jr. won the Nationwide Dash for Cash after finishing 3rd. Both Stenhouse and Hornish lost ground to Sadler in the standings and they leave Iowa 21 and 34 points behind Sadler respectively.

Justin Allgaier proved to be a force tonight leading a race high 101 laps and scoring his best finish of the season 2nd. Youth was also served at the Iowa Speedway this weekend as Brett Moffitt,Darrell Wallace Jr., and Ryan Blaney all scored top 10 finishes. Wallace improved his best finish by finishing 7th and Moffitt came home 9th in his NNS debut. The ladies of the NNS, Danica Patrick and Johanna Long also impressed bringing home solid top 15 finishes.

The series heads into the next 3 weeks with huge championship implications as it heads to Watkins Glen next week and Montreal the week after before making the trip to the half mile bull ring at Bristol. Sadler can go a long way in claiming his first NASCAR championship by avoiding any kind of disaster the next 3 weeks and with the close quarter racing that the road courses and Bristol presents lots can happen these next 3 weeks but if Elliott can stay the course and score solid finishes at Watkins Glen and Montreal then repeat his effort at Bristol by going to victory lane like he did in March. It will go a long way in erasing the disappointment of the 2011 season and go even further to adding a new title to his resume. The title of Champion.

Sadler wins at Iowa

[media-credit name=”Kyle Ocker” align=”alignright” width=”234″][/media-credit]After getting the black flag last week race at Indianapolis’ inaugural 250, Elliot Sadler kept it together this weekend and won Saturday’s race at Iowa Speedway.

Sadler also remain the series points leader stating that “they (NASCAR) are not going to take this championship away from me.” after winning on Saturday night.

“It’s been a tough week,” Sadler said. “We really felt like we should have won that race last week. My dad told me this week, ‘Do not let them take this championship from you. Go to Iowa and kick their butts.’

With Sadler winning the Nationwide race and Joey Coulter winning at Pocono in the Camping World Truck Series, these wins were big today for owner Richard Childress.  Childress has a great chance to sweep the entire weekend if one of his teams gets the wins the Sprint Cup race on Sunday at Pocono.

Justin Allgaier came in second place, Justin Allgaier third, Sam Hornish Jr. fourth and Rick Stenhouse who has won this race for the last three years in a row finished fifth.

Hornish Jr. was the winner for the Nationwide Dash for cash.  Hornish Jr and a fan both got a check for $100,000 on Saturday night.

“This is a great night for the Würth Dodge and for all of us at Penske Racing to be able to get out of here with another top three finish. I’m glad to have won the money; we’ll split that with the team.” Hornish said.

Dillon led 53 laps but he fell off the lead lap about halfway through the race when he pitted with a strong vibration. He finished 15th, the first driver a lap down.

Starting in his second NNS race, Darrel Wallace Jr. was in the No.18 car and got a solid top-10 finish in the 7th position.

“I learned a lot. I think I got out too hot right there at the beginning and kind of used the tires up. We fell off right there in pit road — mistake, my fault there. It’s cool to lead the first lap. I don’t know if he (Elliott Sadler) gave it to me or I took it away from him, so that was fun there.” Wallace said.

Other notables: Brett Moffit was in the No.99 car for his first NNS race finished 9th.  Ryan Blaney driving the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger finished 10th.  Danica Patrick in the No.7 Go Daddy Chevrolet finished 11th.  Johanna Long in the No.70 car came in 13th.

Unofficial Race Results
U.S. Cellular 250, Iowa Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=20
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Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
=========================================
1 1 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 47
2 5 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 44
3 7 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 41
4 17 43 Michael Annett Ford 40
5 11 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 39
6 8 18 Michael McDowell Toyota 0
7 2 20 Darrell Wallace Jr. Toyota 38
8 4 30 Jason Leffler Chevrolet 0
9 10 199 Brett Moffitt Toyota 0
10 13 22 Ryan Blaney Dodge 34
11 18 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 33
12 16 38 Brad Sweet * Chevrolet 32
13 14 70 Johanna Long * Chevrolet 31
14 6 33 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 0
15 3 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 30
16 20 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 28
17 15 54 Kurt Busch Toyota 0
18 9 11 Brian Scott Toyota 26
19 12 88 Cole Whitt * Chevrolet 25
20 21 10 Mike Bliss Toyota 24
21 24 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 23
22 23 19 Tayler Malsam Toyota 22
23 26 44 John Blankenship Chevrolet 0
24 19 23 Jamie Dick Chevrolet 20
25 32 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 19
26 34 52 Justin Jennings Chevrolet 0
27 28 40 Erik Darnell Chevrolet 17
28 36 124 Scott Saunders Toyota 16
29 22 81 Jason Bowles * Toyota 15
30 42 41 Timmy Hill Ford 0
31 33 14 Eric McClure Toyota 13
32 25 39 Joey Gase * Ford 12
33 41 4 Daryl Harr Chevrolet 11
34 29 108 Josh Richards Ford 10
35 39 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 9
36 37 50 T.J. Bell Chevrolet 8
37 40 174 Mike Harmon Chevrolet 7
38 35 171 Carl Long Chevrolet 6
39 38 47 Tim Schendel Chevrolet 5
40 43 15 Dusty Davis Chevrolet 0
41 30 42 Matt DiBenedetto Chevrolet 0
42 31 46 Chase Miller Chevrolet 2
43 27 191 Jeff Green Toyota 1