2012 Nationwide Series run of Elliott Sadler – A statistical review - NASCAR Special
The 37-year-old American driver made his Nationwide debut in 1995 at South Boston Speedway where he also won the title of Track Champion.
In 2012 Nationwide Series, Sadler finished with a silver medal clinching 4 victories, 5 pole positions, lead most laps in 2012 Kentucky 300 and 1228 championship points. A total of 9 victories, 85 top-tens and 15 poles lace the American driver’s Nationwide
Series career.
Sadler started off the season with 3rd position in the inaugural race of the series at Daytona Speedway. In Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix, Sadler clinched his first victory of the season. After Phoenix, Sadler had 89 championship points to his name
and stood 1st on drivers’ standings. In Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas, Sadler again finished 3rd and was still leading on drivers’ standings with 131 championship points. At Bristol, the fourth race of the series, Sadler further consolidated his 1st place driver
standing by clinching another victory. After Bristol, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was Sadler’s closest competitor with Stenhouse Jr. being 25 points behind Sadler.
In Royal Purple 300, Sadler finished 9th and the difference between Sadler and Stenhouse Jr. dropped to 18 points. Stenhouse Jr.’s victory and a 12th place finish for Sadler in the next race at Texas further reduced the difference to only 4 points with Sadler
still in lead.
It took Sadler three more races to clinch the next top-5 finish. At Richmond, Talladega and Darlington, Sadler finished 6th, 10th and 24th respectively. It was after the race at Talladega that Sadler lost his lead on drivers’ standings to Stenhouse Jr. who
went into a 5 points lead over Sadler.
In Pioneer Hi-Bred 250, 10th race of the series, Sadler finished 2nd. Sadler’s 5th place finish in History 300 at Charlotte, brought him closer to Stenhouse Jr. on drivers’ standings who finished 26th in the race. A 7th place finish for Sadler and a 32nd
place finish for Stenhouse Jr. in 5-hour Energy 200 put Sadler back in lead.
In Alliance Truck Parts 250, the 13th race of the series, following a 5th place finish, Austin Dillon became Sadler’s closest competitor with Stenhouse Jr. dropping to 3rd in drivers’ standings. No changes occurred to top-3 drivers’ standings until after
U.S. Cellular 250, 20th race of the series with Sadler always on the lead, Dillon following behind Sadler and Stenhouse Jr. placed 3rd on drivers’ standings. Sadler clinched two more victories during this time in STP 300 and U.S. Cellular 250 respectively.
With more than half of the series over, only 18 points were separating Sadler and Dillon.
In Zippo 200, Stenhouse Jr. reclaimed a 2nd place on drivers’ standings. Sadler lead the series for another 5 races. After the 25th race, Virginia 529 College Savings 250, only 1 championship point was the difference between Sadler and Stenhouse Jr., with
Sadler with leading.
Sadler lost his 1st place to Stenhouse Jr. for the second time in the series after Dollar General 300 in which Sadler finished 8th whereas Stenhouse Jr. won the race. But Sadler was quick to recover and moved up to 1st place on drivers’ standings after Kentucky
300 finishing the race 5th and going into 4 championship points lead.
In OneMain Financial 200, Sadler finished 4th, five places ahead of Stenhouse Jr. thus consolidating his chance of winning the Nationwide Champion title. In Dollar General 300 at Charlotte, Sadler was still leading by 13 points. A 4th place finish for Sadler
and a victory for Stenhouse Jr. in Kansas Lottery 300 reduced the difference to only 6 points.
With only 3 more races to go in the series, it was time for Sadler to do something out of the blue but he failed. Finishing a disappointing 11th and 22nd in O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge and Great Clips 200 respectively, Sadler lost the lead.
With only 1 more race to go and a 20 championship points deficit, there was no way Sadler was going to win the title. Following a 9th place finish in Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami, Sadler finished the 2012 series with a silver medal.
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