Countdown to Daytona: Owner Point Style No.24 (Elliot Sadler)

Good morning, fellow NASCAR fans, and welcome to Day 12 of my 35-part series of previewing the top-35 drivers in NASCAR. It’s been a long run so far, and we’ve still got plenty more to go.

Today we take a look at a team that has made quite a bit of news in recent weeks, the No. 19. This team sits comfortably 24th in the owner’s points and is looking forward to starting the season.

With all the distractions from this past off-season, many are wondering how well this team will perform. At first the team said it didn’t want Elliot Sadler to be a part of the team, only to rescind that (after some talks with lawyers, I might add) a few days later.

With changes to some personnel, and possibly a new banner to run under, it’ll be interesting to see how this team will fare.

Here is a look at the No. 19 team:

Today’s Spotlight: No. 19

Team: Gillett Evernham Motorsports – Petty Enterprises

Driver: Elliot Sadler

Sponsor: Best Buy, Best Buy Racing, Stanley Tools, and Stanley Motorsports. For a look at paint schemes visit Jayski.com. 

Driver 2008 Stats: Sadler earned more than $4.4 million in 2008 with eight top-10 finishes and two top-fives. His 24th-place finish in the championship standings marked his third worst in his career. Since finishing ninth in 2004 (his career best), Sadler has fallen downhill with finishes of 13th, 23rd, 25th, and 24th. During 2008 he averaged a 24th-place finish and led 21 laps. 

News: Now here is a team that’s had no news this off season, right? OK, so there has been plenty of controversy surrounding this team in recent weeks.

First it was announced that Sadler had been kicked to the curb and up-and-coming racer AJ Allmendinger would take his place.Then a couple of days later, it was announced that Sadler would return to the No. 19 this season. (Word has is that legal issues and possibly loss of sponsorship caused the final turnaround).

GEM officials said, “We are family. Sometimes in a family, you have differences. We have resolved those differences.” (ESPN.com)

The other two pressing issues with this team is the fact that GEM will merge with the sport’s most historic name—Petty Enterprises. With the merge, Robby Loomis will serve as executive director for the new team.

Sadler will also venture into 2009 with his former crew chief calling the shots. Kevin Buskirk, who was the team engineer for Sadler when he won two races in 2004, recently was brought on board. Buskirk spent some time at Dale Earnhardt Inc. overseeing the test teams.

My Prediction for 2009: This situation is ugly. Officials can say they have everything worked out and every one is on the same page, but are they really?

Sadler has got to be thinking, "if I mess up, are they going to can me mid-season and put Allmendinger in the car?"

That kind of situation never works out. It appears the big dogs at Gillett have no interest in keeping Sadler, as was evident when they said Allmendinger would take his place.

Anyway, for my prediction I’d have to say this team struggles in 2009. Not in an outside the top-35 kind of way, but I can see them having their growing pains, so to speak, and finishing below Sadler’s career worst points position of 25th. I predict a finish in points of between 25th and 30th.

Will this team remain in top-35: I don’t think this team will be in danger of falling out of the top-35. I mean, there are really only two cars that I see fighting into those spots and that is Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer.

I think some of the lower teams will fall out to allow those two in, but this team will be just fine.

Up Tomorrow: No. 28 Travis Kvapil

This story also appears on my Bleacher Report.

Reminder: Only: 24 days until the Budweiser Shootout!

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