Elliott Sadler notched a fourth-place finish at Kansas, and teammate Dale Jarrett also scored a top-10 finish. Credit: Autostock

Sadler gains ground on strength of top-five

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Elliott Sadler shook off the disappointment of last week's race at Talladega by playing to his strength.

Elliott Sadler Credit: Autostock

Sadler has been one of the best drivers on the 1.5-milers all season, and it showed on Sunday at Kansas Speedway, where he finished fourth to remain in the hunt for the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

Sadler gained four spots in the Nextel Cup standings with the finish, although he is still 143 points behind leader Kurt Busch, who finished sixth.

It was Sadler's first top-five since his win at Fontana five races ago. Some people even wrote him off after he tumbled wildly on the final lap at Talladega last week.

"This race is not over with," said Sadler. "I know Kurt Busch is doing a great job, but we got to try to beat them every week. We'll keep trying."

Sadler's run proved that the newly-formed Yates-Roush engine combination can not only generate a lot of horsepower, but also be friendly on gas.

Sadler drove the final 64 laps on one tank of fuel -- consistently gaining track position as others were forced to re-fuel.

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"Todd made a great call there at the end to stay out," Sadler said. "We had like an eighth- or ninth-place car all day."

Thanks to tires that had lost their grip, Sadler's car tightened up as the race wound down, so he entertained himself by watching Ricky Rudd race Joe Nemechek for the win.

Sadler drove for the Wood Brothers Racing -- Rudd's team -- for four seasons, and he was hoping Rudd could get around Nemechek.

"I would have loved to see the Wood Brothers car go to Victory Lane," Sadler said. "I let him go there at the end and wanted him to get that 01 car."