In the Field: Elliott Sadler (cont'd)

We just could not go the whole way, like some of the other teams could. But as far as being fast and being competitive, we were pretty good all weekend long. I had a great weekend and I enjoyed myself.

It got to the point that we were really good in Happy Hour, and maybe a couple tenths off Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick, so I was like, "Look, guys, with my limited driving talent on road courses, I think this is as good as it's going to get."

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What I meant by that, was that we had been in the top five in Happy Hour the whole time, and I didn't want us to take what was a top-10 car and mess it up trying to make me a top-two car, trying to win the race.

The car was really good, it was fast and it was stable, so I thought we should just work on it on Sunday and do the best we could.

Now that we look ahead to our next road course, Watkins Glen in August, it's going to be gas mileage, 100 percent -- because that's what won the race for Juan [Montoya] on Sunday.

It was [Chip] Ganassi and [Richard] Childress, who finished second, third and fourth, getting great gas mileage. My guys worked their butts off, too -- every team did -- but a few teams did it just a little better.

They went six laps further than we were able to go, so knowing how long that racetrack is and how many shifts you have to make, those guys did their homework. So we need to work on that as a company.

We know, going to Watkins Glen, our car is going to be fast, because it was fast at Sonoma; and we should be competitive. We just have to figure out a way we can do it on two stops -- just like the other guys did.

And hopefully we'll have a chance at winning, that way.

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.