Joe Gibbs Racing Claims 1st-2nd-3rd and 5th

Starting from the second position, Elliott Sadler was among his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates who combined to sweep the first four starting positions at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway for the VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200.

Running second behind eventual race winner and teammate Kyle Busch, Sadler reported under the first caution on lap 22 that the No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota was a little tight on exit. The team called Sadler to pit road for four tires, fuel and a slight air pressure adjustment. The race restarted on lap 27 with Sadler in second.

Slipping to third on the restart, Sadler opted to stay out under a quick caution on lap 32 and after the race restarted again on lap 37, he quickly moved back to second on lap 38.

Fighting a loose car, Sadler clipped the apron on lap 49 and spun the No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota to bring out the third caution of the race. With no contact and no damage to his Camry, Sadler pitted on lap 51 for four tires, fuel and an air-pressure and a trackbar adjustment. The race restarted on lap 54 with Sadler in the 11th position.

Picking off one car at a time, Sadler moved back in to the top five on lap 95.

With a long green-flag run, teams began making green-flag pit stops on lap 107. Sadler brought the No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota to pit road on lap 108 from the fourth position for four tires, fuel and adjustments. After the field cycled through stops, Sadler returned to the fourth spot.

The final caution of the race waved on lap 118 and the No. 11 crew again visited pit road. This time, taking only right-side tires. Sadler restarted the race on lap 124 from third and was able to gain one spot to finish the race second.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch earned his fifth victory of the season followed by Sadler, teammate Brian Vickers, Joey Logano and teammate Matt Kenseth.

When asked what happened when he spun early in the race, Sadler said, “I just got a little loose. That Kyle Busch is pretty good and I was trying to chase him down there and just got a little loose on the apron and spun. Lady luck was with me tonight and my mom is with me so she helped me not hit the wall I guess there. We came in, took two tires at the end there. The JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) cars were one-two- three and overall a great night -- just needed a little more for the 54 (Busch).”

When asked if he could catch Busch, Sadler stated, “Kyle (Busch) did a better job in traffic than I did. I just couldn’t catch the traffic where I wanted to, but my car handled so I really had to pick and choose and was also trying hard those five or six laps. I could not be more proud of these guys these last few weeks. A great night for us -- we’ll rebound from this. We have a test coming up at Charlotte and we’ll go up there and race them. A great night for SportClips, OneMain Financial

-- just a great group effort tonight.”