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CUP: Sadler Back In A Familiar Place
Written by: Tom Jensen   
10/31/2009
Talladega, AL
 
Elliott Sadler with his new Ford Fusion preparing to race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic) ยป More Photos

Although it might seem odd for a team to be switching manufacturers for one of its drivers at this late date in the season, for Elliott Sadler being back in a Ford is a familiar feeling.

Sadler, who drives for Richard Petty Motorsports, will pilot the team’s No. 19 Ford Fusion Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. Kasey Kahne, Reed Sorenson and AJ Allmendinger, the team’s three other drivers, will remain in the Dodge Chargers that they have driven all season.

Next year, though, RPM will be an all-Ford team, regardless of whether its planned merger with Yates Racing comes to fruition. Sadler is certainly comfortable making the switch, given that the drove Fords for Yates from 2003 until the middle of 2006, when he joined RPM’s predecessor, Evernham Motorsports. And before that, he spent four years with Wood Brothers Racing, another Ford outfit.

So it made sense that Sadler would be the first RPM driver to begin the transition from Dodge to Ford.

“We learned a lot of stuff yesterday
and I think our guys learned a lot about the Ford Fusion and how you work on it and the adjustments we can make to it,” Sadler said Saturday morning at Talladega Superspeedway, where NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying was rained out.

For Sadler, this weekend represents an important first step on getting a jump on the 2010 season. Sadler has not finished higher than 20th in points since 2005 — he’s 26th now — so any advance work he can get in is critically important at this juncture.

“We don’t have winter testing anymore, and the Daytona 500 is one of my best races and it is the Super Bowl of our sport, so I’m glad the teams were able to get together and put this deal together where we can come here and race and learn some things about the Ford (car of tomorrow) car, which I have never been in and Kasey has never been in and A.J. has never been in,” said Sadler. “So we wanted to learn these things as best we can before we get to Daytona in racing conditions.”

And so, the team is doing a lot of R&D work with its new Ford here at Talladega.


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