Elliott Sadler is as giddy as a school kid this week. Even though the 26-year-old Emporia, Va., native is in the midst of his fourth Winston Cup season, this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway will mark a few firsts for him.

"They say that some of the parking passes have my picture on it," Sadler said of the Food City 500 credentials, which feature Sadler after winning last year's race. "I don't know what the program is gonna look like, but hopefully we've got a picture in there somewhere, too. That's gonna be pretty cool, man. It's my first defending Winston Cup win kind of thing, so I'm looking forward to going back to Bristol."

	Sadler became the first Wood Brothers driver to find Victory Lane since Morgan Shepperd in 1993.

Sadler still exudes a wide-eyed innocence about being a big-time racer that is refreshing in these days of sports stars becoming too big for their britches. He takes pleasure in the simple things about being a driver. After all, Bristol was his favorite track for a simple reason, well before he guided his No. 21 Ford to his one and only Winston Cup win there.

"The fans are right on top of you," he said. "That's one of the places that you can really hear the fans and you can really feel it when they cheer for their favorite driver or when they say, 'Gentlemen, start your engines.' It's just a complete roar."

Although Sadler's hometown is a couple of hours drive away from Bristol, his car owners -- the legendary Wood brothers -- are from right down the road in Stuart, Va. That's why that roar he loves so much has so often been for him. But this year, the roar will likely be louder than ever.

Sadler's improbable victory at Bristol last year would have been the feel-good story of any other year than 2001. After the death of Dale Earnhardt, last season felt more like a formality than a joy until Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. both warmed the NASCAR Nation's hearts with their own successes -- but in the process managed to overshadow Sadler's own heartwarming moment.

Sadler was the straggler, you see. He entered the Winston Cup ranks in 1999, the same year as Tony Stewart. But while Stewart put together the greatest rookie campaign in modern-era history, winning three races, two poles and garnering fourth place in the standings, Sadler mustered just one top-10 finish and ended the year 24th in the points.

The next year, as 2000 rookies Matt Kenseth and Earnhardt Jr. got off to fast starts, Sadler continued to struggle -- again posting just one top-10 finish and ending the season 29th in the points race.

Quickly, times had changed for Sadler. Rookies were now expected to jump right in and mix it up with the veterans. And here he was a bit of a late bloomer. But, just as folks started to wonder about his potential, Sadler snagged that Bristol checkered flag and waved it with relief. True to his man-of-the-people style, he wore the same goofy grin on his face that his fans at home wore, too.

For a guy like that, who loves racing because he's a fan himself, it just seemed like this success was overdue.

"I think it helped all of us on the team," Sadler said. "You can always pat yourself on the back and say, 'We can do this, we can do this. One day we'll get a win.' But until you actually get a win, it's tough. After we got that win at Bristol, we said, 'Hey, we can do this thing. If we just work hard and stay together and stay focused, we can do this stuff.'

"I don't think you can put into words what your first win means. Man, when I made that left-hand turn to go up the hill in Victory Lane and to see the Wood Brothers there with smiling faces and all the Motorcraft people ... that was pretty cool. To be able to give back to those guys was pretty neat. That's worth more than anything else that you could ever expect from a person -- a paycheck or anything like that. It's a good feeling to be able to give back to someone who has given to you."

	“	You can always pat yourself on the back and say, 'We can do this, we can do this. One day we'll get a win.' But until you actually get a win, it's tough. After we got that win at Bristol, we said, 'Hey, we can do this thing. If we just work hard and stay together and stay focused, we can do this stuff.' ”
		— Sadler

That the victory itself came by accident is sometimes forgotten. The tire manufacturer for NASCAR, Goodyear, had just outfitted all teams with a new style of tire. Nobody knew exactly how they would run on different surfaces or how long they would last. So when Sadler was out on the track, lap after lap just trying to put off having to pit as long as he could so as not to lose position to the rest of the field, nobody on his team knew exactly how long it would be before his tires gave up on him.

But, with the team running in first and some 20 cars behind him on the lead lap waiting to jump in front of him as soon as he came down pit road, the guys on the 21 crew decided to roll the dice with Goodyear. They knew if Sadler came in he would certainly lose the lead. But what if he didn't come in? What if he stayed out and these new wheels actually held up?

"Finally, my crew chief (Pat Tryson) just said, 'Look, you're done for the day. You're out there. There's no need complaining about the car anymore because you're not coming in to get it fixed,'" Sadler said. "I was starting to think it was a pretty cool idea because I didn't want to get back in all that mess anyway. There were a lot of wrecks going on and there were so many cars on the lead lap, who would want to go back and start all over again? I'm sitting here thinking, 'OK, maybe we can get out front a little bit and then everybody will catch us and we might get a top-five or a top-10,' and then the laps starting to run down and I thought, 'OK, maybe a top three or four would be good.' And then, 'Holy cow, man, we could win this thing.'"

And so he did, and then drove straight into Victory Lane and smiled for the cameras. Sadler had most of the film developed from that day, but there are still a few pictures he hasn't seen.

"I'm looking forward to seeing my picture on a ticket," he said.

Rupen Fofaria is a beat writer for the Raleigh News & Observer.