In the Field: Elliott Sadler

There's no question I always love coming home to race at Richmond International Raceway, and without a doubt, no matter where we are in the standings, this weekend is one of the most exciting of the year -- and without having the top 12 who are going to race in the Chase, it's even more so.

I love racing at home. I went to the Fairgrounds many times as a kid, to watch races from the stands, so to be able to go back there now and be able to race in front of the hometown crowd -- because a lot of folks from Emporia show up -- is definitely a lot of fun.

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We don't have any special appearances this week. I'm actually playing in a big golf tournament at home, and then spending some time with the family and my friends -- getting some stuff ready for hunting season -- and spending some times with my folks.

It's especially cool to be able to stay in your own house and drive back and forth to the racetrack, which I'm able to do from Emporia. So with all the folks I grew up with that come to the race, it's always a big weekend at Richmond.

Of course, there are a lot of high expectations and a lot of pressure, but it's a lot of fun, too.

Everything about Richmond and the racetrack that they've developed there has grown so much. When we went there as kids, it was the third race of the year. Going to Richmond early in the year, it used to be very, very cold.

I can remember sitting there all wrapped up in blankets and stuff, because that race used to be at the end of February, beginning of March. So I can remember being cold, but I can remember watching the cars line up on pit road and how exciting it was -- how cool it looked.

Of course, you had your favorites growing up -- and they were all heroes to me, to be able to race that way. So to go back now and see how much it's grown and to see how much fan support we get -- Richmond is always sold out and it's always really loud to be there -- and having two night races really brings us back to our grass-roots racing.

Everything has just happened so right for Richmond International Raceway in the last 20 years, so it's been cool to watch everything grow. I was there in the day when they changed it from the half-mile track it used to be to the three-quarter-mile it is now.

So I'm very fortunate to be able to witness that and race on it, and I'm looking forward to watching it grow for the next 20 years.

It makes me proud to be a Virginian and knowing that all four races in the Commonwealth of Virginia are always sold out. At some of the tracks that we go to, only 60 or 70 percent of the fans show up to support our racing.

California is a good example of that, with what we saw last weekend -- but Richmond and Martinsville are always sold out and that makes me proud to be a Virginian and to see how much they support our sport.

Coming from California back to Carolina -- or Virginia as we are this week -- is always a pleasure. I love going home. I can't wait to get to Richmond. The buzz is out there and everybody's fired up. You always know when the NASCAR races are coming to town, so this week's a very exciting time to be around the Southside Virginia area and around Richmond. (Continued)