FanHouse Elliott Sadler

We promise to throw a caution with ample time to slow down in the event of a spinning car on this Chase edition of Notes & Quotes.

Pressure? What pressure? Juan Pablo Montoya's run into the Chase for the Sprint Cup is quite the enviable position for most other drivers simply because of the expectations that the former Formula 1 driver has on his back.

Or, make that the lack of expectations.

"I mean, what's the pressure? We made the Chase," said Montoya after his third-place finish. "From now on, anything about that, it's a balance. Come here, first Chase race, put on the pole, finish second. Can I ask for anything else? Not really. A win would be nice, but that will come."

Where: Richmond Int'l Raceway
Time: Saturday night 7:30pm/EDT
TV/Radio: ESPN, Motor Racing Network
Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing
Forecast: Mid-60s, Partly Cloudy
Distance: 400 laps (300 miles)
Pole Winner: Mark Martin
2008 Winner: Jimmie Johnson

Welcome to the 2007 NASCAR FanHouse Year in Review. Follow along each day until the end of 2007 as we look back on the top 25 drivers of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for the 2007 season.

Driver: Elliott Sadler -- Emporia, Virgina
Team: No. 19 Dodge Dealers Dodge, Gillette-Evernham Motorsports
Points: 25th (-3583)
2006: 22nd
Key Stats: 2 Top-10s, 4 DNF's
Back in 2008?: Yes, same team

Elliott Sadler's 2007 campaign was a direct showing of the struggle that car owner Ray Evernham's teams had all year.

Sadler's year started well in 2007 after posting a sixth-place finish in the crazy finish of the Daytona 500, but it would be down hill for the rest of the season. Following Daytona in February, Sadler's No. 19 was penalized 25 points for a violation. He wouldn't find the Top-10 again until the LifeLock 400 at Kansas in October.

In between those high points, Sadler frankly struggled the entire way. A late-summer slump saw the No. 19 finish 28th or worse five races in a row. That's a long way removed from his two win, Chase-making season with Robert Yates Racing in 2004.

"It's been a long season for everyone and not the kind of season we expected when we went to Daytona in February. We have work to do this winter. We just have to put this year behind us and get to work on 2008. "

As for 2008, Sadler picked up a new primary sponsor for his No. 19 Dodge in Best Buy. It will be the first complete year under the Gillette-Evernham Motorsports banner for Sadler after Evernham signed a deal with Canadian investor George Gillette, which will hopefully allow the team to spend more money on R & D for all three teams.

Look for 2008 to definitely improve for GEM veterans Sadler and Kasey Kahne after two dismal years in a row.

So after yet another disappointing and name-calling weekend, Kasey Kahne sits a wondrous 32nd in driver points.

Bad setups? Bad moves? Bad race cars? Bad luck?

Throw 'em all on the plate for Kahne. Excuses or not, he and Evernham Motorsports are just flat getting kicked on the race track. Kahne's best finishes this season (7th & 12th) came at restrictor plate tracks. Outside of those crapshoots? A 19th-place finish at Bristol.

Is this really the same driver that took 6 wins last season? Or the same team, even?

Kahne had 14 top 10s in his 2004 rookie campaign, with five already at this point in this season that year. This year, he has had one.

I'll say it now -- although its hardly a risk -- that Kahne won't come close to making the Chase this season. This is something terrifically wrong with the cars at Evernham, as Elliott Sadler's best finish this season outside of a 6th at Daytona was 14th at Vegas. However, he has a viable shot at that Chase still because he now sits 16th in points.

At this point in the season, Kahne needs to just start enjoying the fact that he's driving a race car for a living and go for winning races, not just finishing them. Of course, that's tough to do with the performance of that car this season.

Coming up with hilarious and unfounded nicknames for other drivers obviously isn't, though. Hey -- at least we have something to look forward to from Kasey now.

Scott Riggs knows what it feels like to miss a race. After all, he missed the biggest one two years ago at Daytona to lead off the 2005 campaign. Thursday afternoon, however, Riggs drove like a man that didn't want to feel that way again.

Coming into Saturday night's race, Riggs sits 36th in owner points meaning he had to qualify on speed. And boy, did he.

Riggs was 20th quick in pre-qualifying practice, but the cooler track temperatures really provided some extra grip for the Evernham Dodge in the qualifying session. The Valvoline car posted a time that was nearly six-tenths of a second faster than his best practice time and in doing so, grabbed the 4th spot on the grid. That translated to a speed average gain of nearly three miles an hour. Riggs was gettin' it done.

"It was a good lap for us. We really didn't know what we had to be honest with you. We knew we had a pretty good car and knew when the sun went down there was pretty good grip out there, but I think I still left about a tenth on the track. I was just trying to be careful and hit my marks," said Riggs.

Failing to make the show is something that definitely shouldn't happen for the Evernham team, but they've struggled mightily this season. Kasey Kahne flirted with falling out the top-35 but has kept his position. Elliott Sadler leads the team in 16th spot in part because he has completed all but 9 laps this season.

The strong qualifying effort has a doubly good effect on Riggs. Not only does he make the show, but he's got good track position to start the race.

"We've got track position, and that's something I've never had here because I haven't qualified well. Now that we've got good track position, hopefully we can have a good race," said Riggs.

That track position is something Riggs needs to turn into results this weekend at Phoenix to get back into the top 35.

Gearin' up for 500 miles of Nextel Cup action in the Lone Star State. Be sure to stay tuned for live commentary on today's race here at the FanHouse!

The Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful.
Forecast for today's race? Impeccable. The National Weather Service is calling for highs near 70 and mostly sunny skies. The key? I'm not giving you a link to a radar page because it's going to be clear all day long. It's also another day for the unlucky people around the Fort Worth and Dallas area who received damage from Friday's tornadoes and assorted severe weather that canceled qualifying to clean up.

K. Busch, Biffle, Petty, and Sadler to Talk Fast.
The four drivers have been selected to be rotating hosts on Performance Radio Network's Fast Talk radio show that originates live from Lowe's Motor Speedway every Monday night. Longtime co-host Doug Rice will continue to sit alongside the drivers, who are essentially filling the spot that Benny Parsons held. On that note, it's still really hard to believe that ol' BP isn't still with us, and I can't imagine how tough it is for everyone in that garage area that loved the guy. Sail on, BP.

The Cup boys have the weekend off for Easter this week, so here at the NASCAR FanHouse, we won't be ranking the drivers according to their performance and likelihood of winning on track this week. Instead, this week is based on which driver would be the best hunter of Easter Eggs. So here it is, folks, this week's Easter Egg Hunt Top Picks.


2. Tony Stewart. He certainly is compassionate for children these days, but you have to realize Tony had no friends on the Easter egg field growing up. One, there was chocolate involved and two, everyone else was an enemy and wedgies definitely weren't out line. There's no way he wasn't the bully. I'd give up the egg over the wedgie any day.

3. Denny Hamlin. He was one fast cat, I bet, growing up. After all, he was the team champion in "hauler races" last year after a tire test at Charlotte, despite gashing his hand on the bumper chrome. The lack of pain reflex and nice quickness would land Denny a top placement in the hunt.

They're not the cream of the crop, but they have solid footing in the Top 35 heading to Martinsville. They don't have to worry about qualifying, but they need to make adjustments if they want to secure their spot in the Chase. Here are your teams in the middle of the road:

Chip Ganassi / Felix Sabates: Two teams solidly in the Top 35--the #40 in 11th and the #42 in 19th. Their third team, the #41 isn't faring quite as well in 29th, but they're inside for at least one more week.

The CGRFS cars have gained an average of 3.3 positions from the end of last season.

While the teams cars are on the rise, so is one of the team's stars. Juan Pablo Montoya's entry into NASCAR is one of the most talked about stories in all of auto racing--there's the F1 angle, the international angle, the diversity angle and the he'll push anyone and anything out of his way to win angle ...

Ganassi is also off to a good start in the Indy Racing League, which kicked off Saturday and saw the third one-two finish for Ganassi drivers Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon.

a.k.a. The Bristol Sweet 16 COT Crapshoot

1. Kurt Busch. Bristol's snow angel has plans for a sixth drive to victory lane--the first on his ears of CORN.
2. Jeff Gordon. Along with Busch, has the most wins in Thunder Valley. This season he's just trying to keep up with the Johnson.
3. Matt Kenseth. He's got three straight top 5s and nine top 10 finishes in 10 starts at Bristol. But nevermind that, he's got his crew chief back.

4. Denny Hamlin. He's got a win under his FedEx timing belt and was among the fastest in COT testing. Plus, his stock is up.

When Darrell Waltrip took the checkered flag in the Busch 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in 1982, a sold-out crowd of 30,000 watched him do it.

That August race began a consecutive streak sellout of Nextel Cup events that now stands at 50 strong with the upcoming Food City 500 and its 160,000 capacity crowd.

Only three drivers that competed in that 1982 race still race today.

Mark Martin, who is not expected to race in this year's Food City 500, was 23 years old and competing in his first full year as a driver/owner.

Kyle Petty, who was 22, and Ricky Rudd, who was 25, will be the only drivers in the field this Sunday who also ran in 1982.

Most of today's Nextel Cup drivers weren't even around back then to see it.

Reed Sorenson, Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers had not yet been conceived.