In the Field: Sadler

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- There's one thing that racing has taught me, and that's to look carefully ahead at every corner you come to, because you never know if the trailer truck coming around it will be on your side of the road or not.

We came to Daytona for Speedweeks overflowing with as much optimism as everyone else -- and even though the events that happened there were a momentary punch in the gut, we left after the Daytona 500 just as optimistic about the rest of the season as we'd felt coming in.

• Elliott Sadler's driver page
• Superstore: Elliott Sadler

That was particularly special for me personally, because I came to Florida knowing that I'm happier now than I've ever been in my life. I'm 31 years old and all I've known how to do is focus on racing.

I've never really understood how to get other things involved in my life, whether it was other businesses, or even things other people would consider to be important in their personal lives.

With the attention I've paid to my racing career, everything else has always been sitting on the back burner.

At least, that was the way it was until I met someone very special toward the end of last year. And man my life has changed a lot, to the point I've changed all my priorities around.

Of course, racing is still No. 1 to me and it's still very important, but now I have someone to share that with. So my personal life is great.

She's from my hometown and I've known her and her family for years. I was hanging around and watching my sister and sister-in-law play softball and she's on their softball team.

We just started talking one time and just kind of hit it off. She's just an amazing person.

I'm not the most optimistic person in the world -- the glass has always been half-empty for me -- but for some reason it's half-full right now and I have her to thank for that.

Things have been on an upswing and things have been a lot of fun. In fact, I didn't think life could be this much fun and man, it's been a blast.

My nieces love her, because she taught them all in swimming lessons and they all know her. Sometimes I think they like her more than they like their Uncle Elliott, right now. (Continued)