NASCAR WCUP: Wood Brothers, Sadler have a history at Richmond

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

May 2, 2001

ELLIOTT SADLER, -21- Motorcraft Taurus -- "I always look at Richmond International Raceway as a special place. I remember going there as a young kid watching my Uncle Bud Elliott run the sportsman cars there back when it was a half-mile; the old half-mile with the guard rails. I stayed after the race the year (1988) that they tore it down to build the three-quarter mile. I've watched it grow a lot over the years. It only being 50 miles from the track to the front door of my house is not a long distance at all. I always think it is special when we go to Richmond. It is a place I mark off on the calendar. I always have a lot of family and friends come to that racetrack to help support me and my brother when we both raced there in the Busch series and now in Winston Cup."

DOES THAT PUT MORE PRESSURE ON YOU THAN YOU FEEL AT OTHER TRACKS? "Oh, yeah. There's twice as much pressure there and at Martinsville because it is so close to the Wood Brothers' home, closer than any other place we race at. A lot of my family and a lot of people that I grew up with that worked for my Dad come and watch the race there. I feel a lot of pressure to try and perform for them. I don't want them to feel like their money spent on a ticket was wasted, and I just want to make them proud to have someone from their hometown do well. Yes, it puts a lot of pressure on me to do well. I want them to have something good to cheer about so they can be proud of someone from their hometown. But it's also very special. After the night races the last few years I've had a lot of friends come over after the race and we cook out. There are a lot of personal friends that I used to go to the races with to watch, and now they come to watch me. So we get together afterwards and we talk about everything. I can feel more relaxed then after the race is over with."

JUST OVER A MONTH AGO YOU GOT YOUR FIRST WINSTON CUP WIN AT BRISTOL. CAN YOU MAKE A CONNECTION OR COMPARISON BETWEEN THE TWO, BOTH BEING SHORT TRACKS? "I wish I could, but no (laughing). Richmond is not at all like Bristol. They are very opposite racetracks even though they are about the same in length. The difference between the asphalt and concrete, and the banking, and the type cars we run are a lot different. I think we are better prepared this year to run well there (Richmond). The Virginia Tech car we ran there last year; we thought we had a decent car and were not able to show it. I regretted that a lot. But hopefully we will be able to go back and put on a good show. But there are a lot of special reasons we like running at Richmond. I wish I could compare it to Bristol because I've had great success there, but not yet. But hopefully it will be one of my favorite tracks here in the future."

Text provided by Marti Rompf

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