In the Field: Prelude

You all know that last week I was worried about being invited back to Tony Stewart's Prelude to the Dream at Eldora.

Not only am I already planning on going back -- I want to have my own car when I do it!

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

Competing in Tony's charity event at Eldora Speedway for the first time, and the first time I'd raced on dirt -- right before we went to Pocono -- was a blast, just like I knew it would be.

I had never been to Eldora, and three-quarters of a mile before we got to the racetrack, it was like Woodstock. They had some people there, and we weren't even close to the racetrack.

The people who were there had a great time, I know the people who watched it on HBO saw a great show and as far as all the drivers who competed, we loved it! And it raised a lot of money for the Victory Junction Gang Camp -- so no matter how it turned out for us, individually, it was great.

But I've already figured out something for next year.

Like I said, I want to have my own dirt car. I've already talked to the guy and I'm hoping to get one built."

I know a guy back home that owns a dirt track, so I'm going to go there and practice a bunch and have my stuff together for next year.

I think it's going to get bigger. The first year, I don't think nobody had their own car, then the next year, four or five guys did -- but this year, I bet there were 10 or 11 guys who had their own dirt late models, and their own teams.

I couldn't believe all the guys that brought brand-new cars, which had never seen a track; just brand-smacking new, just to race that 30-lap feature. It was pretty cool.

Kevin Harvick said it was the most competitive charity event he'd ever been to, in his life. I mean, they had inspection and you had to weigh-in after qualifying, after the heat races and after the feature.

So it was serious -- and very competitive between the guys. But I see it in two or three years where everybody will bring their own cars and their own teams. I can really see that happening.

The car I had to drive at Eldora was a good one, don't get me wrong. It belonged to Jay Johnson, of West Burlington, Iowa.

He had to straighten the front clip out and do a little suspension work, though -- because I crashed the thing in the heat race. I actually spun out twice -- on my second lap of qualifying and then in the heat.

Dream weaver

Carl Edwards held off Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon to win the third annual Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway.

• Complete story, click here

I did find out one thing, though. Everything I ever learned as a Nextel Cup driver does not apply in any way, form or fashion on dirt.

It is so much backwards, but I'll be honest with you -- it was a lot of fun. Everybody was so relaxed.

But back to that car, a driver is real finicky about the cockpits of our racecars. Those are our offices.

So if I do my own dirt car, I'll know how the seat and the wheel and everything will be. I'll be more comfortable. I know we're weird people sometimes, racecar drivers.

But I got in this car and the seat was just different. The steering wheel was huge -- like driving a danged school bus.

I prefer a small steering wheel, so that was one thing that was tough to get used to.

And when I got in the thing, it had all kinds of switches and knobs -- like "three-wheel brakes" and stuff like that.

I told them to just put duct tape over all that because I didn't need to be messing with any of that.

And this car had a transmission that was like nothing I had ever seen before. I dumped it about eight times before I was able to take off out of the pits to practice -- but my car owner was cool.

When they opened up pit road for us to go out to practice he ran along in front of me, waving his arms and saying "he can't stop!"

True deal.

We were out for a couple laps and I was just getting the feel of it, when they turned us loose. I jumped on the gas and whoomp! That bad boy just leaped sideways! I thought, "Now, ain't this going to be interesting?"

All I had in front of me -- where the windshield would be -- was some barbed wire or something. And all these clumps of dirt were ripping into me.

My head was hitting the roof, so all I could think was what would happen if the thing turned over -- like Bill Elliott did. Bill and I both wrecked out in our heat races and didn't even make it to the feature.

We had two practices -- about 10 laps total. I was starting to get the hang of it -- but I just kept saying, "Please, don't let me be last."

Well, I was next-to-last on the first time sheet, but I picked up to 20th on the second.

When it came time to qualify, I was 15th -- and I killed Ray [Evernham]. I out-qualified Bill, so I figured I would be all right.

But then I had my little problem in the heat race, and didn't get to start the feature.

But I got to watch what, in my opinion, was maybe the best race of the year, as far as us guys racing against each other.

It was a heck of a race. If the fans didn't order it on pay-per-view, I'm sorry -- you missed it. I do think it's coming up on SPEED in a month, so make sure you watch it.

It was amazing to watch, and it was a fun night. No points. No money. No anything.

It was a great, great fun race and we raised a lot of money for the Victory Junction Gang and Tony did a great job. Well, it was kinda fun for me -- not as much fun -- but I think if I practice some and learn more about it, I'll definitely have more fun next year.

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.