Photo – JRM

Apparently, the Sadler’s and the Earnhardt’s have been great friends since their teen years and now, coming full circle in the 2016 season, they are on the same team with JR Motorsports in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. After their first race together, the season opener at Daytona, so far they’re all happy.

Sadler finished fourth in Saturday’s PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway and as the highest finishing series regular, he is happy about having the points lead. Sadler knows the momentum his team will take into the next race at Atlanta is a big deal, and with their results at Daytona, he says there’s more reason for optimism down the road with JR Motorsports. 

“Momentum is the main thing,” said Sadler. “Look, guys, I’m in a great situation.  A lot of people don’t know the history of Dale Jr. and Kelley and myself.  We’ve known each other since we were teenagers.  For our relationship to come full circle and be at this race team, to see how much effort they have put into the program this winter.  Showed today, three of the top-four were JR Motorsports cars.  I feel like we have some good stuff coming down the road.”

Although having the points lead is great, Sadler is looking for more wins this season as he is well aware of the eyes focused on him and how well he performs. He’s proud of his team’s effort leading up to and including this weekend.

“Points lead is good, but it’s all about…. getting wins.  Especially with this chase format.

 “I could not be more proud of my guys.  Had a lot of people from OneMain today, a lot of them watching their first race ever.  Hopefully they were impressed with the race track and how we ran all day.”

The last several years, Sadler has come up short in contending for an XFINITY Series championship and last season was a disappointment. So his move to JR Motorsports comes with his sincere intention to go after more wins and by the way, the title would be nice too. That may mean added pressure, with Sadler having to prove to himself and others that he can indeed make it happen.

“Nobody is going to put more pressure on me than myself, to be honest with you.  Since I’ve been in the XFINITY Series, the last five years, no matter what team, I think I got more poles and as many wins as any regulars in the series.  That’s a pretty good stat.

“… I would have liked to have run better last year, probably the most disappointing season I’ve had in the XFINITY Series, points, top-fives, poles, everything.  A couple years before that I felt we were strong, ran up front, won some races.

“I really feel comfortable in the position I’m in.

“As far as proving something, I have to prove something to myself,’ says Sadler. “Nobody has more fire out there looking at me than I have with myself.  I have a little chip on my shoulder, I think every driver does, you want to go out there, you want to run up front, you want to do good, you want to get the finishes that you feel like you earned.  That’s kind of where I’m at as a person right now.”

After winning the 2014 Championship with Chase Elliott, JR Motorsports also came up short last year when Chris Buescher with Roush Fenway Racing took the series title. So both driver and owner have the same goals in mind – more wins and the series championship.

Besides Sadler being friends with his bosses, he realizes beyond that, there are plenty of other good reasons to be happy at JR Motorsports as they have impressed him already.

“Well, the biggest thing that’s impressed me is just Dale and Kelley are very vested in that race team,” says Sadler. “They’re involved heavily.  They have a direct line to Hendrick Motorsports, which never hurts.  I didn’t realize it was that much support when I first started kind of going over there at the end of last season.  They made some really good hires this winter, brought in some talented people, beefed up the body shop a little bit, done some really great things.

“I’ve been very impressed on the family atmosphere.  There’s a lot of racers over there that do it for the fun of it, do it for the love of the sport.  That seems to have impressed me the most so far.”

 With their first 2016 race under their belt, Sadler and his team are ready and confident for the next race, and then the next, as they go after the speed to make it all work to their advantage..

“We seem to be very prepared not only for here (Daytona) but for Atlanta, Vegas, Phoenix, coming up.  With the cars we have coming up, the guys have done a great job of making sure we’re prepared to the best of our ability.  I think that will show up in speed when we show up at the race tracks.”

And for Sadler that means more than sharing the points lead beside his friends.Now it’s all about going after more wins, which will also make him and JR Motorsports contenders for the first XFINITY Series Chase. And that will bring a big smile to a lot of their fans.