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Elliott Sadler bounced back from a questionable penalty call in Indianapolis to take the Nationwide Series win in Iowa.
The Richard Childress Racing driver was penalized by NASCAR, last week, for jumping a restart, a move questioned by many. He had been bumped ahead of the leader, Brad Keselowski -- who admitted that he had spun his wheels which caused him to slow. That's when NASCAR called the penalty.
This week nothing was going to deprive him of a well-deserved win or his lead in the series championship.
After taking the checkered flag by a comfortable margin over Justin Allgaier he radioed his crew “They're (NASCAR officials) not going take a championship away from us.
“It's been a rough week,” the 37-year old driver said in Victory Lane acknowledging how his team reacted to the disputed call. “We felt like we should have won that race last week."
“I'm still upset about it,” Sadler said Friday. “I'm still pretty emotional about it. That's a once-in-a-lifetime win that we felt got taken away from us.”
One week later it was a different story.
Sadler started from the pole, in a Chevrolet, with a track-record qualifying speed of 135.141 mph and was near or at the front of the pack the entire race. He passed Justin Allgaier on the 192nd lap and went on to his fourth victory of the season.
Third place went to Sam Hornish Jr. followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who saw his three-race winning streak end at the 7/8ths of a mile oval.
Sadler's teammate, Austin Dillon, had to make a green flag pit stop early in the race for a vibration. That caused the rookie to fall one lap down and eventually finish on the lead lap but in 15th place.
Sadler's series points lead extended to 18 points over Dillon. Stenhouse, who finished fifth, remains third in the standings 21 points behind.
Hornish also won the series sponsor's $100,000 Dash4Cash bonus.
The Richard Childress Racing driver was penalized by NASCAR, last week, for jumping a restart, a move questioned by many. He had been bumped ahead of the leader, Brad Keselowski -- who admitted that he had spun his wheels which caused him to slow. That's when NASCAR called the penalty.
This week nothing was going to deprive him of a well-deserved win or his lead in the series championship.
After taking the checkered flag by a comfortable margin over Justin Allgaier he radioed his crew “They're (NASCAR officials) not going take a championship away from us.
“It's been a rough week,” the 37-year old driver said in Victory Lane acknowledging how his team reacted to the disputed call. “We felt like we should have won that race last week."
“I'm still upset about it,” Sadler said Friday. “I'm still pretty emotional about it. That's a once-in-a-lifetime win that we felt got taken away from us.”
One week later it was a different story.
Sadler started from the pole, in a Chevrolet, with a track-record qualifying speed of 135.141 mph and was near or at the front of the pack the entire race. He passed Justin Allgaier on the 192nd lap and went on to his fourth victory of the season.
Third place went to Sam Hornish Jr. followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who saw his three-race winning streak end at the 7/8ths of a mile oval.
Sadler's teammate, Austin Dillon, had to make a green flag pit stop early in the race for a vibration. That caused the rookie to fall one lap down and eventually finish on the lead lap but in 15th place.
Sadler's series points lead extended to 18 points over Dillon. Stenhouse, who finished fifth, remains third in the standings 21 points behind.
Hornish also won the series sponsor's $100,000 Dash4Cash bonus.