MOTORSPORTS ROUNDUP News and notes

Sadler succeeding with help: If Elliott Sadler wins the NASCAR Nextel Cup championship, one of the first things he says he plans to do is ask Robert Yates Racing teammate Dale Jarrett to join him on stage at the awards banquet in New York in December. "I tell you, I've got the best teammate in the world," said Sadler, who credits 1999 series champion Jarrett with helping him stay on an even keel this season while becoming a title contender for the first time. The 29-year-old Sadler is fourth in the points entering Saturday night's UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte -- the fifth of 10 races in NASCAR's new 10-man playoff-style championship format.
Jarrett, 47, failed to qualify for the championship chase, but went into the race 12th in the points. Sadler said he relies on the advice and friendship he has gotten from the older driver during their two seasons as teammates. "He's been great, even after the Richmond race when he was so disappointed at not making the top 10," Sadler said. "Two days after that he called me and we talked for an hour about what I can expect as a driver: He said, 'Look, if there are any questions on your mind, please give me a call and let me know.' But he's already pretty much told me what I'll be thinking pretty much before I get to every race, and that's exactly what I've gone through. It's made me so relaxed as a race car driver that I'm just having fun with it."
When Sadler crashed at the end of the race two weeks ago in Talladega, costing him points, he was angry and dejected until hearing from Jarrett. "As soon as I landed at home Sunday night back in Charlotte, my phone rang," Sadler said. "We talked for about 40 minutes about what could have happened and what should have happened. Then he told me how we were going to fix it and how we were going to get ready for Kansas City." Sadler came back to finish fourth last Sunday at Kansas Speedway, jumping four places in the standings and moving within 143 points of leader Kurt Busch.
The resurgent Jarrett, with three straight top 10 finishes, is just as happy to have Sadler as a teammate and friend. "Having Elliott as a teammate has probably helped as much or more than anything for a couple of reasons: One, he's just great fun to be around and he knows when to be serious and when to have fun. He gives me a lot more credit than what I deserve in helping him, but it's been fun to watch that and be a part of that, too."
Crew change: Team manager Tony Glover has taken over as interim crew chief for the No. 40 Dodge of Sterling Marlin. Glover replaces Lee McCall, who was moved to a new position in the Chip Ganassi Racing shop. "Our team is about performance and the No. 40 team hasn't regained its championship-caliber form of just two years ago," team owner Ganassi said. "Sometimes, in any sport, you need to change things up in order to re-energize the team, and this is one of those times. We have made some other changes as well to try and help the performance of the team for the remainder of the 2004 season." Marlin, who led the points for 25 races and was still in the battle for the title two years ago before an injury knocked him out of the last seven races of the season, has not been close to that form since. He finished 18th in the points last year, with no wins, and is currently 22nd. After no top fives and 11 top 10s in 2003, Marlin has just two top fives and six top 10s so far this year. Glover was the team manager of Team SABCO when Ganassi partnered with Felix Sabates in 2000. Together with Andy Graves, Glover continued in that role for Chip Ganassi Racing with Sabates.
New monikers: After sweeping the Busch and Nextel Cup races last week in Kansas -- the best weekend of his career -- Joe Nemechek was thinking about new nicknames. Dubbed "Front Row Joe" after winning six poles in a four-year span earlier in his career, he regained that sobriquet with consecutive poles at Talladega and Kansas. After winning both races though, members of his MB2 Motorsports team had some new suggestions: "Two-in-a-row Joe," "Checkered Flag Joe" and "Red Hot Joe." Nemechek, 40, laughs when asked about the names. He's just enjoying his newfound success. "We're on a roll and I'm not one bit surprised about it," Nemechek said. "Deep in my heart I knew I was with a talented group of guys and it was only a matter of time before I would drive the U.S. Army car into Victory Lane. It's a great feeling to know that you can be right up there competing with the leaders," added Nemechek, the first driver not in the top 10 to win in the new championship playoff.
Associated Press