In the Field: Elliott Sadler (cont'd)

It's everybody getting ready for the big race, just like they always have -- and I love being home and being a part of that. Everybody is so excited and fired up, that it's cool to be there and join in.

You know, I might have the new house down near Charlotte that I'm still getting settled into, but I'm just excited to get back to Virginia. You know, I've got a lot of family and friends back in Virginia. Even though I have a house back in North Carolina now, it's still not home yet, to me.

I have so many folks I went to high school with in Emporia that I love being around and sharing time with. I love being there with my mom and dad and my nieces and things like that, so there are a lot of great plusses to being from Virginia, and I love getting back there.

And speaking of that, I'm really looking forward to and hoping I get to see more of our new owner, George Gillett, as we move forward. He's an amazing man and his personality is just awesome.

He's a great guy and down to earth and I think having him involved is going to be great for our company. He's very much into it and he's a big race fan. It's not like he's just an investor -- he knows what's going on -- so I'm looking forward to being a part of this company as we grow together.

It takes you back to the day. Every time I've been around him at a racetrack, he's been like a little kid -- every time. That hasn't changed one bit. When he comes to the racetrack, he brings a lot of energy, so I'll tell you what -- he's brought a spark to this race team. He has a tremendous amount of experience in professional sports and that's going to be a huge asset to our team.

As you know, Richmond is the latest Car of Tomorrow race, and we're looking forward to it because after that, half the races in the Chase are COT races. We've struggled with our COT program a little bit, and we won't really know where we are until after this weekend.

We're working on it. We've tried to test, but you can't test on the right Goodyear tires that we'll race on, so we don't really know what we're learning, yet. So when we get to Richmond, we'll maybe figure out if all our testing has paid off or not.

Last but not least, the Hermie and Elliott Sadler Foundation is working hard to finish out our year with a bang. We have a members-only event planned for our fan club members on Oct. 10 in Charlotte. You can visit sadlerfanclub.com for more information. And we continue to have our monthly charity auctions at sadlerfoundation.org. We've always worked hard to offer our fans experiences of things they can't always gain access to.

I'm certainly looking forward to a fun weekend in Richmond and hopefully our No. 19 team will have a solid run.