Elliott Sadler is sitting high and mighty atop the NASCAR XFINITY Series standings right now – 52 points ahead of William Byron.
He leads the circuit with five stage wins but hasn’t visited Victory Lane at the end of a race this season. As a result, he trails the three-race, two-stage winner Byron by 12 playoff points.
A win in Saturday’s Mid-Ohio Challenge at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (3:30 pm. ET on NBCSN) would help Sadler close the gap and increase his odds of capturing his first NASCAR XFINITY Series championship.
Sadler has finished in the top-ten in all four of his career starts at Mid-Ohio. He has a high finish of sixth at the 13-turn road course (2013, 2015) – the second of three road course races on the XFINITY schedule. The No. 1 Chevrolet driver placed 18th in the first road-course race at Watkins Glen last Saturday.
“Last weekend, we got a good look at what our road course program will be like for these next couple of races,” Sadler said. “With the first road race under our belt, we now know what we can expect. We can really dial in on the handling of our Chevrolet and our strategy. We had a fast car last weekend, just had a little bit of bad luck. I like Mid-Ohio – this weekend should be fun.”