In the Field: Elliott Sadler

I know, I know -- the Chase for the Nextel Cup is coming down to the wire and everyone's wondering who's going to prevail.

At Gillett Evernham Motorsports, we're a little more involved with getting our Dodges ready for each weekend's race, but we're also wondering how this Chase is going to turn out.

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But right now, I can honestly tell you that every minute that I'm not thinking about what to do next to get my Dodge Dealers/UAW Charger in a position to go fast -- like this weekend at Atlanta, which is about the fastest mile-and-a-half that we go -- I'm thinking about the opening of deer season, which is right around the corner.

I'm part of a group that manages a 50,000-acre hunting preserve and believe me; it takes some work, and commitment.

This time of year is big preparation time. We're getting all the paths cut, we're getting all the tree stands up, we're getting all the food planted, we're getting all the dog pens repaired and ready to go.

We're getting everything stocked-up with dog food and stuff like that because all our dogs use a lot of dog food during the wintertime. Having 83 dogs to take care of, that's a lot of dog food.

During the wintertime, we use a lot of protein in our dog food because they run so much. But my guys love Pedigree dog food; and the Pedigree people are still pretty generous to me with that, which they have been since I was driving the Cup car they sponsored.

My dogs eat a lot of it, so that's a good thing. We don't feed them that much during the summer, so they stay nice and lean, but boy, during the wintertime we really pump the protein to them because they have to use a lot of nutrients and stuff to run each and every day.

We're exercising our dogs a lot, right now. I'm running them at night because it's a little warm and I don't like running them during the day. So I'll run 'em at night and get them all exercised up and get them all loose, getting their joints ready to go -- getting their pads nice and hard and make sure they've got plenty of time to heal up before the first day of hunting season.

So today is preparation time. We're sighting-in all the rifles, getting all the bullets and buckshot that we need. Getting the cabins cleaned up, getting the sheets washed -- vacuuming, cleaning -- it's just that time of the year. We've got so many things to do to get ready for the upcoming hunting season.

It's a fun time of year to do it and it's pretty cool. It's something we always look forward to.

With all the logistics and planning and preparation we have to carry out, it's exactly like getting a race team ready to come to the track and compete in one of these Nextel Cup races.

When you have around 50,000 acres of land you're responsible for, that's a lot of paths to get ready and a lot of stands to get up. There are a lot of trees and limbs to trim back to clear your sight lines.

There is a lot of food to plant -- just a lot of work getting ready for hunting season that you just wouldn't imagine if you weren't in the middle of it -- a lot more than people think.

It's kinda what operating a race team or organizing everything your team manager has to organize to get everything, and everybody to the racetrack each week is like. (Continued)