NNS: Sadler, Stenhouse Having At It Again

Nationwide

NNS: Sadler, Stenhouse Having At It Again

Elliott Sadler leads Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by 6 points…

Tom Jensen | Posted November 03, 2012 Fort Worth, TX

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Left) and Elliott Sadler (Right) are locked in a close title fight. (Photo: Getty Images)

It’s déjà vu all over again for NASCAR Nationwide Series points leader Elliott Sadler and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

For the second year in a row, Sadler and Stenhouse are locked into a tense, two-man points battle headed into today’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway. A year ago at this time, Stenhouse came into Texas with a narrow 15-point lead and went on to win the series championship; this time, Sadler leads by just 6 points with three races left in the 2012 season.

And if Friday was any indication, this afternoon’s race should be a close one again.

Stenhouse was second in Friday’s opening practice round and third in Happy Hour, with Sadler fourth and sixth in the two sessions. SPEED will televise NNS qualifying from Texas at 4:30 p.m. ET.

While the race is close, Stenhouse has a bit of momentum on his side. In the last eight races this season, he has three victories and two runner-up finishes, plus he won the first Texas race this season.

Becoming a repeat Nationwide Series champion is something Stenhouse would like to achieve before he moves up to the NASCAR Sprint Cup level, where in 2013 he’ll replace Matt Kenseth in the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

“I think it would be huge,” Stenhouse said of winning a second championship. “Last year it was cool getting our first one, and then to be able to back it up, I think that would be a big accomplishment. I think it's been tough. I think — I feel like we've performed better this year than we have last year, but we found ourselves still behind. It would be a huge accomplishment for our team and some good momentum.”

As for Sadler, he’s never won a championship in any of NASCAR’s top three divisions and badly wants to capture one in what will be his one and only season with Richard Childress Racing. Sadler’s plans for next year have not been announced, though he’s rumored to be headed to Joe Gibbs Racing for a full-time Nationwide ride.

Sadler has led the NNS points after 25 of 30 races this year and has been relentlessly consistent: In his last nine starts, Sadler has seven top fives, including four in a row, and no finish worse than 12th.

“It’s been so much fun to be part of the championship discussion and to compete at a high level, week in and week out,” said Sadler. “We’ve got three races left to close out a childhood dream. This is what you dream of as kids — to be in this situation, and we’ve got out best cars in the whole shop lined up for these last three races and we’re going to go after it and see what happens.”

Boys, have at it.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

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Tom Jensen

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