Elliott Sadler isn’t ready to be written off.
On Saturday at Pocono Raceway, he showed why. Pulling away on the second attempt at a green-white-checkered finish, Sadler won the Pocono Mountains 125 from the pole, the first Camping World Truck Series race at the track.
Sadler, 35, beat Kasey Kahne to the finish line by .445 seconds in a race that went five laps past its scheduled distance of 50 laps at the 2.5-mile triangular track. With his first Truck Series victory, Sadler is the 21st driver to win at least one race in each of NASCAR’s top three divisions. Matt Crafton finished third, followed by Aric Almirola and rookie Justin Lofton. NASCAR.com
“You sit at home a lot wondering if you’re ever going to make it back to Victory Lane,” said Sadler, a former Sprint Cup series contender who has struggled in recent years. “This time, I know it’s recent, I know it’s today, but it feels like the biggest win of my career.”
“It’s hard to put into words what this means to me ... to have a tough couple years like we’ve had in the Cup series,” said Sadler, who hasn’t finished better than 17th in a Sprint Cup race this year. He’ll start 29th for the 500-mile race Sunday at Pocono.
Other than Sadler, the first Pocono trucks race also featured Sprint Cup stars Kahne and Denny Hamlin, who finished ninth. Each took their shots challenging Sadler, who never strayed too far from the front after starting on the pole. The Associated Press
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 2 18 Kasey Kahne Toyota 3 88 Matt Crafton Chevrolet 4 51 Aric Almirola Toyota 5 7 Justin Lofton * Toyota 6 5 Mike Skinner Toyota 7 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 8 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 9 15 Denny Hamlin Toyota 10 23 Jason White Dodge 11 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 12 30 Todd Bodine Toyota 13 81 David Starr Toyota 14 13 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet 15 12 Mario Gosselin Chevrolet 16 85 Brent Raymer Ford 17 60 Stacy Compton Chevrolet 18 46 Tim Andrews Dodge 19 4 Ricky Carmichael Chevrolet 20 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 21 84 Chris Fontaine Chevrolet 22 21 Donny Lia Chevrolet 23 47 Brett Butler * Chevrolet 24 1 Joe Aramendia Chevrolet 25 48 Tim Bainey Jr. Chevrolet 26 89 Mike Harmon Ford 27 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb * Ford 28 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 29 33 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 30 164 Chase Mattioli Chevrolet 31 28 Chad McCumbee Chevrolet 32 6 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Chevrolet 33 93 Mike Garvey Chevrolet 34 7 Butch Miller Dodge 35 216 J C Stout Chevrolet 36 95 Carl Long Dodge
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