In the Field: Elliott Sadler (cont'd)

He felt like a whole load had been lifted off him because everyone knows what the sponsors are and what the cars will look like, they know what the number's going to be so there are no more questions and now he can just go racing.

And that's all he's ever wanted to do. I haven't seen him this happy in a long, long time so I'm happy for him and I think he's going to a great race team, and that will be a great thing for him.

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One thing about him that I think some people forget sometimes is that he honestly just wants to win races. That's all he ever talks about, is winning races and winning championships and I think he's just trying to get himself in what he feels is the best possible position that he can to do that.

But that's all that kid cares about, I'm telling you. We've been friends since we raced Late Models together -- heck, back in 1994 or 1995. I've known him, I believe, longer than just about anybody in the garage and all he's ever talked about is winning races.

And he still has that same mentality today.

We've pretty much put the whole weight of this NASCAR thing on his shoulders -- to be the face of our sport -- and he doesn't really care about that. He just wants to win races.

That's all he's ever wanted to do, and that's what his whole life is about. So I think he feels like he's in a great situation right now, and I think he's going to enjoy racing with his teammates.

He's already been talking about how much he can learn from Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson -- with all their different driving styles. If they can make him have to bring his A game every single week, to run with those guys, I think that's going to be good for him.

He's very ecstatic and happier than I've seen him in a long time. He's definitely much more looking forward to being there than he's feeling any pressure of being in that kind of equipment.

Like most of us are, I think he's very sure of his talent as a driver. I think his mentality is, you give me the same equipment that y'all have got and I'm going to outrun you with it. But you have to have that kind of attitude, as a driver. You have to be sure of your talents and what you can do on the racetrack. So I think he's not nervous at all -- I think he's going to go over there and fit right in, and be fine.

As far as my program for next season, with the Dodge Dealers and UAW or whatever -- we're still in negotiations and I have nothing I can say about it right now. But the bottom line is, we've got a couple more different paint schemes to be looking at next season, but I can't really say it affects me that much as a driver.

When I'm racing with other drivers, I just use the number of the car to identify who's in it. You know who you're racing with. Some teams have been changing out here a lot lately, depending if they're on a road course or whatever. But you usually know who's in what car. You just go by the numbers, because everybody's got special paint schemes more often now. I remember when there used to be one special paint scheme a year -- now they're 20 a year, it seems like.

But I just go by the numbers. And I don't forget who's in a car -- like at a road course, for instance. I do my homework, because I want to know who I'm racing every week.

If you have to, you look online somewhere and find it, like on NASCAR.COM. You pretty much know, and it's no big deal. I know what's going on and I try to pretty much keep up with everything.

I'm a fan of the sport, so I always try to keep up with who's doing what, and what's going on.