1on1: Elliott Sadler (cont'd)

Q: Have you put the word out, no wedding gifts?

Sadler: I don't think we have to worry about that too much. I don't want my fans to spend money on wedding gifts. I want them to come and have a good time and enjoy the event that we're putting on for them that day. What's cool about it is, we were able to get everybody to come do this, do all the traveling, bring all the instruments, bring the buses, everything, we were able to do all this for free because it's for charity. That is what's absolutely amazing about it, that all the money that the fans are spending this day isn't going in somebody's pocket. It's all going to charity, and that's what makes this day that much more special.

Fill 'er up

Four of Elliott Sadler's over-the-wall pit crew spent more than two hours recently working the gas pumps at a mini mart in Rochester, N.Y.

• Complete story, click here

Q: Speaking of weddings, I can appreciate you looking as good as you do, you went from home building to wedding planning. What has been the biggest eye-opener, and have you become good at delegating stuff?

Sadler: I'm very fortunate on the wedding planning, because she doesn't let me do anything. She is not a procrastinator by any means, and she had everything done within the first three weeks. She's handling all that, and I think she's very smart by not letting me be a part of it. My jobs were just to get my groomsmen ready, get my guest list ready ... which I've learned is very hard. We're having a very small wedding in a very small town, and there's 270, 280 seats in the local church. The guest list, sometimes, can be very big, so deciding who can come and who can't come has been the toughest thing I've had to do as far as the wedding is concerned. But we have some cool things going on for the reception, so hopefully everybody will enjoy that.

Q: You ought to do a simulcast to the Barn.

Sadler: We're already doing that. We're way ahead of you! You got to catch up! We're going to try to do that to keep everyone involved, and she's done a pretty amazing job getting everything ready. There's a lot of things to get ready for a wedding, she's got a pretty huge checklist. But I think she's having fun with it and I can't wait, and Jan. 17 [2009] is going to be a special day in both of our lives. Her grandparents are celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary on that same day, so that's pretty huge, we think.

Q: Any home nightmares? Do the good experiences outweigh the nightmares?

Sadler: You love having a home and I love building a home. I don't stay in Charlotte much anymore. Mr. Gillett and Ray Evernham, they let me stay at home a lot to be around my folks. I was in Charlotte a couple weeks ago, and I have one of those home security systems, and I hit the wrong code and set the alarm off at 12 o'clock at night. I had to get up at 5:30 in the morning to go test. So the alarm goes off at 12 o'clock at night and the lady calls. She says, 'You've been reported having a break-in ...' I said, 'Lady, I don't stay here enough, I have no idea what my code is to shut this thing off.' So I hit a bunch of numbers, hit a bunch of numbers and finally got the thing to shut off. Then the lady says, 'Now you've got to give me your code word.' I said, 'I have no idea what my code word is.' She says, 'Well, I'm going to have to send the cops.' I said, 'Yeah, go ahead, we'll talk about when they get here.'

To make a long story short, not staying in your new house a lot and having a nice alarm system, it can still go off a lot in the middle of the night if you don't know how to work it. I had a very loooong night that night.

Q: How'd the test go?

Sadler: The test didn't go very well, either. I wrecked my car! I went to Road Atlanta and wrecked my car for Watkins Glen. So not getting a good night's sleep definitely affected my performance at Road Atlanta.

Q: How many laps did you get in?

Sadler: I got in about 12, but it was a backup car. My guys are smart; they took a backup car to save my good one for The Glen. (Continued)