No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota driver Elliott Sadler and his Michael Waltrip Racing team visit Phoenix International Raceway this weekend for the penultimate race in the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.
Both Sadler and the No. 55 team have enjoyed success at Phoenix. Sadler claimed the pole for the Nationwide race in March 2012 and the No. 55 team won the Sprint Cup pole with driver Mark Martin earlier this year. Sadler hopes for similar success this weekend on the fast, mile oval.
SADLER ON PHOENIX: “I won the spring Nationwide race at Phoenix last year so that was pretty good. I finished fifth there this year in the spring, but I wrecked there last fall. So, let’s hope we have more of a spring result than a fall result. I haven’t been in a Cup car in Phoenix in a long time — not since the repave — so I know it’s going to drive a little bit different. I feel like the MWR program is pretty good. I know the 55 sat on the pole there last year, so they definitely have a good short track program. We’ll go there and see where it takes us, but I can’t really give you an honest answer what to expect because I haven’t been there on the new pavement in a Cup car. Two of the last three races that we have been there in the Nationwide car is a win and a top-five so I feel pretty good about that.”
SADLER ON GOALS DRIVING THE NO. 55: “We’re going to look at it as we have nothing to lose. We’re not trying to battle any points or anything like that, so we can really try different setups, we can try different pit strategy. To sit here and tell you that I just want to go be competitive and not do much is a lie. I want to come out and try to qualify good each week and run good each week and put ourselves in position to be there at the end of the race. I’m a competitor no matter what I play and no matter what I race. I want to be involved and competitive in a good way. This is what we come for whether it’s Phoenix or Homestead. It can happen. That’s the attitude we have. My guys are working their butts off to get the cars good for these final races and I’m going to do everything I can to give them the information to make the car as good as we can and get me as good as we can. We’re going to go after it.”
MWR PR
