Family First: Xfinity Standout Sadler Content with Decision To Drive into Sunset
September 07, 2018 | By Phillip B. Wilson, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
As Elliott Sadler walked out the door for another race somewhere, his two baseball All-Star children were headed in a different direction for a game.
Sadler couldn’t ignore a sick feeling in his gut. He felt like he was letting down his kids, 8-year-old son, Wyatt, and 6-year-old daughter, Austyn.
And that feeling just wouldn’t go away. Sadler spoke to NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett about recognizing the right time to walk away from racing.
In the end, the decision wasn’t that difficult. Sadler, a 43-year-old driver from Emporia, Virginia, announced three weeks ago that he wouldn’t race full time next season.
“Honestly, the decision was pretty easy for me,” Sadler said Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “My wife (Amanda) and I have been talking about this for a little while. I’ve been doing this (racing) for 22 years. Twenty-two years, traveling every single weekend. My kids are now 8 and 6. They’re very involved in their activities at home. We had practice last night until 9 o’clock, which is why I couldn’t come until this morning. I hope we race (Saturday) because I’ve got to get home Sunday.”
A NASCAR mainstay since 1995, it’s not that Sadler doesn’t have it anymore. He’s second in the Xfinity Series points, where he finished each of the past two years, entering the seventh annual Lilly Diabetes 250 at 3 p.m. Saturday at IMS.
Although the sponsor on his No. 1 OneMain Financial Chevrolet for JR Motorsports announced it was leaving after this year, he said others had expressed interest in supporting him.
But none of that really mattered, not when weighed against family.
“We have a lot going on at home, and I did not want to be a dad who lived his kids’ memories through a phone,” Sadler said. “I don’t believe in that. I believe in being there with ’em. I’ve pursued my dreams long enough. Now it’s time for me to be a dad and help them pursue their dreams.
“It was getting harder and harder to leave home every weekend, especially during the summer months, when my kids are involved in All-Stars (baseball) and being so successful, and I wasn’t there to share it with them. It was hard. It was tough. Honestly, the decision was very easy for me to step away. Honestly, I’ve slept better ever since. I feel like I’ve made the right decision.
“We’re going to try the best we can to go out on top and race these guys as hard as we can to try to maybe win a championship before my career ends, but I honestly cannot wait for the next chapter of my life to begin.”
Sadler reasserts this doesn’t mean he lost any desire to race. That probably will never go away.
A NASCAR Cup regular from 1999 to 2010, his best season was when he finished ninth for Robert Yates Racing in 2004. He celebrated two of his three career wins that year. It was his only top-10 points finish, and he could have walked away after 2010.
“I still wanted to race,” Sadler said. “I had long conversations with Dale Jarrett about that, too. He went through that in his career. He dropped back and ran his own Xfinity car for a while, then he got a great deal with the Wood Brothers and kind of came back through.
“If you still love it, and you get to go out and compete, and compete for wins and be with a good team, is it really a step back? Yeah, it’s not racing on Sundays, but we’re still deep-at-heart racers. Look at Christopher Bell racing (Midgets) last night. They’re racing and having a ball. You don’t look down on it because it’s a different style of racing.”
Sadler’s full-time commitment in Xfinity Series began with Kevin Harvick Inc., for which he finished second in the points in 2011.
“Man, holy cow, was that a great decision for me,” he said. “It was fun again. We were competing and running up front and had a chance to win a championship.”
He’s won eight races since, including four for Richard Childress Racing in 2012. If he finishes a points runner-up again this season, it will be the fifth time. He’s 16 points behind Justin Allgaier.
However it ends up, though, Sadler is comfortable with walking away on his terms.
“I was at the racetrack, but my heart was still at home with my kids,” he said. “I didn’t want to be that guy. I don’t want to feel like I was still hanging on trying to do things. I wanted to go to the next chapter in my life, which involves my kids. I can’t wait to spend more time with them. That’s what I based my decision on, not my record this year or my average finish or anything like that. I feel like I made this decision for all the right reasons. It still maybe feels funny to still be running this good and walking away, but at the end of the day, we’re doing this for the right reasons.
“I still love racing. I can’t wait to get in the car and be a part of it. I’m with a great team and an amazing organization. I still had the chance to be there next year. We had some sponsor opportunities for that. But I don’t want to miss my kids growing up. All my friends have kids, and it’s like you blink, and they’ve moved onto something else. I want to be around while dad is still cool, right? When they’re teenagers, I’m not cool anymore. I want to be cool now.”
If this season does indeed mark the end, how should Sadler be remembered as a NASCAR driver?
“Oh, man, I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve always tried to do it the right way. I’ve never tried to take advantage of the sport or take advantage of my competitors. I always wanted to try to be good, clean, hard racing, and I tried to do it fair and the right way. Hopefully that’s how I’ll be remembered.”
And also hopefully as a cool dad.