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Bob PockrassNASCAR
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Elliott Sadler planned to leave Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday night for what has become a typical Sunday morning activity — hunting with his kids at 5:30 in the morning.
What will be different is he won’t be thinking at all about the next race. There won’t be a next race as the 43-year-old has no plans to race in NASCAR again. Sadler finished 14th in the Xfinity Series season finale Saturday at Homestead.
He will retire to a life of hunting trips and coaching his 8-year-old son, Wyatt, and 7-year-old daughter, Austyn.
“That is 100 percent what we do on Sundays,” Sadler said. “Last week, I had a terrible week at Phoenix (getting knocked out of the playoffs) and Sunday I went and took my son hunting and he got the biggest deer he ever got and I wasn’t even thinking about Phoenix anymore.
“So I’ll go home and spend some time with them.”
At the drivers meeting prior to the race, Xfinity played a tribute video to Sadler that included his good friends – Dale Earnhardt Jr. and country star Blake Shelton. The drivers gave him a standing ovation.
“I was trying to hold it together all day,” Sadler said. “A few things got me emotional. My son told me this morning he was sad. I said, ‘Don’t be sad, you understand why Daddy’s retiring?’
“He goes, ‘Oh yeah, to watch me play more baseball.’ That’s exactly right. … And that video tugged on a lot of strings.”
Sadler’s 23-year NASCAR career included three wins in 438 Cup starts and 13 wins in 395 Xfinity starts. He announced in August that this would be his last full-time season, ending a seven-year Xfinity Series run, including the last three at JR Motorsports. He plans to race occasionally in Late Model events at some tracks in the southeast.
His final race didn’t go the way he wanted. A possible flat tire late while running 10th resulted in him pitting under green just to make sure he did not cause a caution that could keep his JR Motorsports teammate Tyler Reddick from winning the title.
“It didn’t really end the way we wanted to for our team,” Sadler said after a toast with his crew on pit road. “I’m sure it will hit me tomorrow. It’s good to see their laughter (after the race).
“I didn’t know how my emotions would be. But I’m actually OK, which makes me feel good about my decision. It feels right. I gave it my all. We came up short. But I don’t have any regrets in my career.”