In the Field: Elliott Sadler

I'm on the verge of competing in Tony Stewart's Prelude to the Dream charity dirt race at his Eldora Speedway in Ohio, and I don't know whether to be excited, or nervous.

But I am proud to be one of the guys on the great list of drivers who are coming.

It's going to be my first dirt race, and as I got ready to go there, I didn't even know how to get the car started -- or how to put it in gear.

Those dirt cars are configured a little different. They've been telling me how they put them in gear, because it's just a high-low, slam-shift kind of deal.

So I'm going to have a lot to learn, in only a couple hours of practice. Eldora's a pretty fast racetrack, so I hope I pick up on it, quickly.

But the bottom line is this: It's for a good cause, and I'm going to have a lot of fun with it, even though I guarantee you it's going to be a competitive situation.

I think what Tony does with this event, at Eldora and how much money he raises for the Victory Junction Gang Camp is incredible.

I mean, this event Wednesday night is a mini-Nextel Cup race, and we've got more guys coming, who are more serious than you can even imagine.

I've been hearing that Kevin Harvick has tested more for the Prelude to the Dream than he did for the Daytona 500 he won.

A lot of guys got serious for this, buying dirt late-model cars and what have you. There are a lot of bragging rights that are going to be settled on this one race, and I think Tony is starting a tradition without even knowing it.

I think this is going to be a huge event, each and every year at Eldora, and I think he's going to have more and more Cup drivers involved each and every year. I betcha it's going to get to the point he'll even have to go to a waiting list, to get invited.

This is going to be a non-points Nextel Cup race, is kind of the way we're looking at it. And the fact that it's on dirt makes it a neat throwback.

Heck, I think he's going to need to go to a program of pre-qualifying heat races just to get to the main event -- it's going to get that big.

Last year, the guys that did it had so much fun; I think that's why he's got so much support this year. You ask anyone in this garage area and they'll tell you the most fun we have racing is when we're not racing for points.

There's a lot of pressure and a lot of hard feelings when you're racing for points. You drag it around like an anvil. So anytime we get to go race like this for fun, it's going to be a blast.

It'll get interesting because he's got a few of us guys that have never been on dirt, and some of the guys that have been, a lot. So there will be a lot of shaking it up and mixing it up going on -- but I'm looking forward to it.

• Driver Page: Stats, videos, etc
• Store: Everything Elliott Sadler

I'm looking forward to the challenge, and I can't wait.

And it's neat that they're doing a pay-per-view like they are; for the fans that don't have the money to travel up there, with their families or kids and all that. But through HBO doing the event, they'll actually get to watch it on TV, so that was a great idea on Tony and his guys' part.

The guy who's providing my car has done cars for Matt Kenseth in the past, and he's got good stuff. I sent them my measurements for a seat, and all I'm doing is showing up with my suit in a bag, with my helmet, HANS and hopefully a little bit of driving talent.

I want to run good in it -- I don't want to be a moving chicane. I want to run good and to make my guys happy and proud for providing a car for me to race.

But helping out Victory Junction is the big thing, when you get to the bottom line. All the fun we hope to have will be a bonus.

So we'll see what happens.

But I'm excited to show up and race on dirt -- and not just against the local guys, who are pretty good when you go to their home track -- but against Nextel Cup competition.

I think this is the start of a phenomenon, that Tony's undertaken, here -- because where it's gone from last year to this year, I can only see it getting better.

And I think that's the way Tony looks at it, too.

I just want to do a good job, so I get invited back.

Elliott Sadler, now in his ninth full season in the Cup Series, shares weekly with NASCAR.COM readers life on the road through staff writer Dave Rodman.