In the Field: E. Sadler (cont'd)

We wanted to meet them on a more personal level and to let them know what we do -- and to find out what we might do -- for them. Like I said, the other teams I've been with did not offer that type of event, whereas Gillett Evernham does offer sponsors this opportunity to get together and meet and have b-to-b opportunities with other sponsors, which is very important in the sponsorship environment today, specifically meeting with other people in racing and making these things happen.

I'll tell you this, the Gillett family has only been involved with our organization for only a couple weeks now, but I'm already seeing an impact on Ray -- and it was something you could see in how we hit the track and qualified at Michigan.

One thing I've seen is that Ray has gotten to be at the track a little more and around the cars more and he's a lot more relaxed -- and that's nice to see. He's much more involved in our car set-ups and things like that, and he's not worried about other things, so that's really the biggest thing I've seen so far.

You know, this is a pretty big ship -- a NASCAR race team -- and I don't think you're going to just see it turn on a dime and go one way or the other.

But I have started to see Ray being more involved in what makes us go fast on Sunday -- or as is the case this weekend -- Saturday night at Bristol. That's the biggest difference I've seen so far.

Right now, with three races to go until the Chase begins, we're faced with a different scenario -- trying to get our cars competitive week in and week out. Over the last few seasons, I've been in the Chase and I've missed the Chase.

For these three weeks, you've got guys like Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. trying to stay in -- and Dale [Earnhardt] Jr. and Ryan Newman trying to get back in.

For those guys, oh man -- the pressure is big-time. One year I was able to win my way into the Chase at California, and the next year, I just missed it by having a few wrecks.

So the pressure on those guys is at an all-time high right now -- not only with the driver, but with the crew chief, the guy that puts the rear end in the car, the guy that puts the valves in the motor.

I mean, everybody is just under so much pressure anyway -- but for these next three races, it's just going to be tough on those guys, because as a driver, they've got to go fast and get the best possible finish they can -- but they really can't take any bad, bad chances that might take them out of the race.

They've really got to be on their A game for these next three weeks. California is not really that bad, because it's big and spread out -- but when you get to Bristol this weekend and then Richmond, where you're all on top of each other and one little mistake can cost you your chances of making the Chase.

So it's going to be tough and I'm sure everybody is going to be watching those guys. They're going to be under a microscope for the next three weeks -- and a really tough situation.

But we'll all see how it turns out. These guys are the best teams. Kurt Busch is a champion -- they're all winners and we'll see how it turns out. It's going to be a good race.