Elliott Sadler was on the hunt for Victory Lane in the Daytona 500, eventually finishing fifth in his No. 19 Dodge for Richard Petty Motorsports.

There was nothing unusual about him hunting down something he wanted, as that is one of his favorite pastimes. He sat down and talked about one of the great off-the-track passions of his life -- the Walker Hound hunting dogs that he raises by the dozens on his land in Emporia, Va.

“

It's just something to get me as far away from racin' as I can, to kind of let my body and mind reset.

”

ELLIOTT SADLER

Q: So how many of these dogs do you have?

Sadler: Sixty or 65 of 'em. We use 'em for hunting white-tail deer. My dad and I bought our first 10 dogs probably when I was 10 or 12 years old. We kept messin' with them, and then I kind of decided I wanted to raise my own.

I've always been an animal lover. We've always had pets and stuff around the house. I just started my own kennel and raising dogs. They're like my kids. It's been a lot of fun -- using them, raisin' 'em, watchin' 'em grow. It's just something to get me as far away from racin' as I can, to kind of let my body and mind reset.

Q: Do you have a couple of favorites that you let sneak into the house to watch a little TV with you after a long day of running?

Sadler: These particular dogs are outside dogs. But I've got a nice kennel set up for 'em. We've got heaters for 'em in the winter time and we've got a water sprinkler system and fans in the summer time for 'em. So we definitely keep 'em spoiled as much as we can.

We let 'em run. We have what they call pens -- like fox-reserve pens -- that we let 'em go run in, and just let 'em get a lot of exercise. Pens are about 1,000 acres apiece, so they can run forever. The reason we put 'em in pens, No. 1, is so they won't get hit by a car -- and you can leave 'em out for a couple days and nobody will try to steal 'em or anything like that. You keep 'em locked up. So that's their exercise and playin' around until it comes time for huntin' season. Then from the beginning of November to the beginning of January, we run 'em pretty hard every day.

Q: How many do you take out at a time when you go hunting?

Sadler: We take about five or six at a time, and we turn 'em loose about five times a day. So we'll go through 30 dogs a day. So I'll run 30 on Monday, get a fresh group for Tuesday, then switch back up for Wednesday and do it like that.

Q: So it doesn't really matter who you pick?

Sadler: Well, I try to run brothers and sisters together, and stuff like that.

Q: Do these dogs have names?

Sadler: Oh yeah.

Q: How can you possibly remember all those names?

Sadler: I don't know if you have kids or not, but you probably remember their names -- at least most of the time. These dogs are just like kids of mine.

Elliott Sadler has Pedigree dog food brought in by the truckload.

One thing I try to do is if the dogs are born together, I try to give them names that are similar to each other. The last bunch, the three females were named after my nieces -- Cora, Hayley and Naomi. The three males I named after wrestlers -- so I've got Batista, Cena and Angle. You try to do things like that, so you can keep 'em together. The last set before that were all named after states -- Utah, Florida, Dakota, like that.

Q: Each of your dogs now comes equipped with a Garmin tracking device, right? How does that work?

Sadler: Garmin is a great sponsor of ours, and I've been working with them a lot to try to use GPS on the dogs so I know exactly where they're at all the time. The reason you do that, I don't want any of them to stay out all night, away from the home, if they don't have to be. I want to get 'em back home, especially during the winter time, where it's a nice, warm place -- and where I can have 'em refreshed and ready to go the next morning.

So I've been working with the GPS. It's pretty much a tracking device that you clamp around their neck, just like a collar does. I have a computer screen where I can keep up with where every dog is at. It's pretty neat.

In the old days, you just had to ride around until you found 'em. Then about 20 years ago, they came out with a tracking device that beeps -- like a homing device. And you had to use that with an antennae. Now, Garmin has come out with this tracking device for 'em; it shows you exactly where the dog is at. You know, we might be missing 50 to 60 dogs a night, at a time -- between me and my buddies that all have dogs. So when you have a system like that, it really helps you catch 'em and round 'em up as quick as you can, so you're not out all night lookin' for 'em.

Q: How much dog food do you go through in a day, or a week?

Sadler: That's a good question. I'd say we go through about 70 or 80 bags a week of Pedigree dog food. Pedigree was a sponsor of mine when I drove the 38 car, and they're still a sponsor of mine, now. They send me a pallet of dog food a month -- and it is a huge pallet. I can't remember how many bags are on it, but there are more than a hundred bags on there. That takes care of 'em pretty good.

Q: So you really don't have a favorite?

Sadler: I definitely have a favorite. Princess definitely is my favorite dog. She's the mom to pretty much all the puppies I have now. You know, we breed our dogs for the voice. A lot of people, when you breed different dogs, you try to get a different size or a different color. The way we use them in hunting, you want to be able to hear 'em bark -- you want to be able to hear the clarity of their voice.

She's by far the best dog I've ever had. She's definitely my pride and joy. She's very well-mannered and she eats good. She knows her owner. She comes to you; she's very easy to handle. She does all the good things a Walker dog should do -- but she's got one of the most beautiful voices that I've ever heard on a dog, so that makes her my favorite.

Q: And with all that, you're still not tempted to let her come in and lay on the couch and watch some TV with you?

Sadler: No. She has a will to hunt. Those dogs are not inside, lay-around dogs. They're all outside, very high-strung dogs.

Believe me, she's got a comfortable house to sleep in every night. Don't worry about that.