Consistency has been king for Elliott Sadler. Though he hasn’t visited Victory Lane yet this season, he does lead the series championship contenders in top-five finishes with nine and is tied for the series lead in top-10 finishes (13) with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The 36-year-old veteran is on top of the standings by four points over Reed Sorenson and 27 points over third-place Stenhouse Jr. It’s his fourth time atop the standings and first since the May race at Charlotte. Sorenson also has led four times this year, most recently after Daytona before ceding the top spot to Sadler following last Saturday’s race at Kentucky. So far in 2011, the points lead has changed hands 11 times.
As the series heads to New Hampshire this weekend, the battle for the points lead could heat up. While Sadler has made seven starts compared to Sorenson’s four at New Hampshire, Sorenson has the better average finish of the two with a 12.0. But Sadler is on a roll in the past four starts rallying off four consecutive top-10 finishes and he outranks Sorenson in the NASCAR Nationwide Series pre-race Driver Rating with a 96.2 compared Sorenson’s 94.6.
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