Sadler scores career-high qualifying effort

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Though plenty impressive, Ryan Newman's fourth Bud Pole of the 2002 campaign pales in comparison with Hermie Sadler's eighth-place qualifying effort Friday at Martinsville Speedway.

While Newman has the luxury of leaning on an expert panel of engineers, hundreds of teammates and seemingly infinite dollars, Sadler employs a handful of overworked men.

	Hermie Sadler, Credit: Autostock

Four of them, to be exact.

"Yeah, there's not but four of us. That's right," said Sadler, still beaming from his career-best qualifying effort. "This is huge for us. It's not like it was a fluke, though, either. We ran 10th in practice. We were good from the second we unloaded."

Don't go thinking Sadler has visions of victory dancing through his head, however. He knows winning is a virtual impossibility. That's one reason Friday's run was such a joyous occasion.

"It is definitely that, that's for sure," Sadler said of his gleeful day. "We've run pretty good in Virginia this year. We were 18th at Richmond in spring, good here in the spring. At this time, all we can really hope for is to keep getting better.

"We don't run enough races to think we can go out there and win a race. We gauge our progress by how much better we get. If we can keep getting better like we are, hell, I'll keep plugging."

Places like Martinsville lend themselves to successful effort for folks like Sadler. On the bigger tracks, aerodynamics play a crucial role into determining the outcome. Hence, larger-funded operations have a virtually incalculable advantage over the smaller teams before they ever take the track.

"That's why we can come here with confidence. We know when we come here, we've got a chance to compete," Sadler said. "It's good, old-fashioned short rack racing, and it's in Virginia, near my home. It's one of my (sponsor) Virginia Lottery races. I've got lots of friends and family here.

"Like I say, it's a stretch to say we could win. But if we could run well enough to finish in the top 15, that would definitely be a good day for us. To come here and qualify eighth is so big. That's about as good as we could expect, so we're just tickled."