Tommy Baldwin and Elliott Sadler finished in the top 10 in both Daytona races. Credit: Autostock

Sadler encouraged with back-to-back top-10s

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- There are a lot of teams in the Nextel Cup Series that have struggled on the high-banked speedways this season. Count Elliott Sadler's No. 38 Ford as one of the best examples.

Sadler's outfit has been competitive on restrictor-plate tracks and short tracks, but on the 1.5-mile tracks, the team has merely struggled to stay on the lead lap.

Official Results Pepsi 400 Pos. Driver Make 1. T. Stewart Chevrolet 2. Ky. Busch Chevrolet 3. Ku. Busch Dodge 4. B. Said Ford 5. E. Sadler Ford 6. M. Kenseth Ford 7. C. Mears Dodge 8. J. McMurray Ford 9. K. Harvick Chevrolet 10. C. Bowyer Chevrolet • Complete results, click here • Official standings, click here DaytonaWatch all the highlights from Daytona Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Crew chief Tommy Baldwin says the team's downforce struggles is the main reason they sit 19th in points, well shy of a spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

"Our major concern is this upcoming weekend at Chicago. That is where we have our problems, those types of tracks," Baldwin said. "We have a brand-new car and a brand-new body. We are going to be much better in those types of racetracks than we have all year."

Sadler's best finish on a high-banked downforce track is 14th, which came at Las Vegas.

Things grew especially bad for Sadler in May. He fell off the lead lap almost immediately at Darlington and followed that up with a 30th-place finish at Charlotte.

The poor speedway runs completely erased the gains Sadler had made during the three short-track races, when he was consistently in the top 10.

"It got bad, you get frustrated," Baldwin said. "We have got to get a good piece. Elliott is only as good as the piece you provide him and we have not been giving him good pieces. It hasn't been for a lack of effort. We have all our tools in place and we are going to move forward."

One of the team's lone bright spots this season has been its restrictor-plate cars. Sadler was fourth in the Daytona 500 and sat on the pole at Talladega, and he wound up sixth in Saturday night's Pepsi 400.

Baldwin employed a three-stop strategy to steal an eighth-place finish at Sonoma the week before, so his sixth at Daytona gave him back-to-back top-10s for the first time all year.

"We needed this at our company," Sadler said. "I'm proud of my guys and how hard they worked. This is a great finish for us.

"They gave me a car capable of winning, we just made a few mistakes here and there, but [sixth] is great for this team right now."