Elliott Sadler's mishap on lap 154 at PIR left him in the garage for 62 laps. Credit: Credit: Autostock

Sadler's slump continues as Cup hopes have faded

RYR driver eighth -- now 322 points behind -- after crash at Phoenix

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Elliott Sadler's dream of winning the Nextel Cup championship came to an abrupt end Sunday in the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway when his car slammed against the Turn 4 wall.

Sadler was a longshot for the title anyway, but his crash all but eliminated the Robert Yates Racing driver. Sadler ended up 38th on Sunday, and while he maintained eighth in the Nextel Cup points standings, he fell to 322 points out of the lead.

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He hasn't been mathematically eliminated, but all the contenders in front of him have to do is start the next two races to bounce Sadler from his championship hopes.

Sadler stood sixth in the points after having the best season of his career, winning twice and posting seven top-five finishes.

After a fourth-place finish at Kansas, Sadler was fourth in the Chase. But three consecutive bad finishes doomed his hopes.

Two weeks ago at Martinsville, Sadler plowed into Joe Nemechek's spinning car and suffered his first DNF of the season.

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Last week at Atlanta, Sadler made contact with Nemechek again, this time on pit road. The collision damaged Sadler's steering and broke the transmission in the No. 38 Ford, dropping him to eighth in the points heading into Phoenix.

"Whether it's in the pits or on the racetrack, we've been having bad luck the past few weeks," Sadler said. "Just tough. Tough to swallow, tough to live with. But we'll keep doing the best we can. My guys are working their butts off. It's just a shame.

"I'm man enough to say I messed up. It's just one of those deals."

Sadler was in the outside line as the field raced through Turn 4 at Phoenix, but there wasn't enough room.

Elliott Sadler's crew began with a ninth-place car, but finished 63 laps behind. Credit: Autostock

His car slipped out of the groove and slapped the outside wall, causing heavy damage to the right side of the car.

Sadler limped to the garage, and his crew feverishly made repairs, but the damage was done -- to the car and to their season.

"It's tough to run that good all season long, and then have this much problems the last three weeks -- we're just plagued with problems," Sadler said.

"We'll try to fix it and make it better and go to Darlington and do the best we can."