This was supposed to be the year for Elliott Sadler, the season during which he'd break from mediocrity and take his place alongside the young guns of Winston Cup racing.

On paper, it was a done deal. He jumped from the underfunded and underperforming Wood Brothers Racing team to one of the premier teams in Cup for the last several years, Robert Yates Racing. He'd finally have the cars, equipment, personnel and especially lucrative sponsorship from M&Ms/Mars candy to step out from the pack.

Instead of finishing 24th, 29th, 20th or 23rd as he had the last four seasons with the Wood Brothers team, Sadler seemed a shoo-in to challenge for an overall top-10 finish in 2003.

But things have gone sour. Sadler is ranked 20th in the standings, having gone winless this season and amassing just two top-five and nine top-10 finishes in the first 28 races. His bright hopes dissolved into a season of mediocrity.

However, Talladega offers a ray of hope for Sadler and his team. This weekend's EA Sports 500 could well be an event in which Sadler makes a statement.

Why at Talladega? Simple: Sadler ran his most successful race to date this season at Talladega in April, qualifying and finishing third in the Aaron's 499, propelling him into the top-10 (10th place) in the Cup standings at that time.

It was the first time in Sadler's career that he did well at Talladega, an important breakthrough for the young driver. And the momentum he earned helped keep his hot hand warm, as he went on to finish fifth the following week at Martinsville in his home state of Virginia.

"I'm really looking forward to going to Talladega," Sadler said. "We've got the same exact car we finished third with there and qualified third in the first race. We think we've made it a little bit better and we think we're pretty good on the engine package also, so we're looking forward to a good run this weekend."

	Elliott Sadler's season hasn't gone the way he hoped, but success at Talladega could fix things.

Sadler heads into Talladega with two top-10 finishes in his last four starts, which he hasn't done since Talladega and Martinsville earlier this season.

Could history repeat itself for Sadler and the No. 38 Ford this weekend?

"You have to have a good car and a good strong engine," crew chief Todd Parrott said. "We've had a lot of success at Robert Yates Racing at Daytona and Talladega and we're looking forward to going to Talladega this week. We ran really strong the last three or four weeks and we're just excited about going to the next race. This team has a lot of momentum right now and I think we should walk away with a good one."

Sadler echoes his crew chief's comments. For a driver who used to hate coming to Talladega because it usually meant he crashed out or finished poorly, Sadler is chomping at the bit to take the track this weekend.

The biggest target Sadler and 40 other drivers will have in their sights is the DEI tandem of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and teammate Michael Waltrip. Between them, they've won eight of the last 11 restrictor plate races. Earnhardt Jr. has been particularly tough at Talladega, winning the last four Winston Cup events there (plus a Busch Series win this past April).

Still, Sadler seems confident that if anyone can unseat Earnhardt Jr. and Waltrip from their superspeedway dominance, it could be the No. 38 Ford.

"Dale Earnhardt Inc., cars have really ruled the plate tracks, but this weekend I think our M&M's Ford can get it done," Sadler said. "Dale Jr. is going to be hard to beat -- he is a great drafter and he uses the air so well. He and Michael Waltrip work so well together and have really raised the bar on restrictor-plate racing."

NASCAR has implemented new rules changes for this Sunday's race calling for larger aspiration holes in restrictor plates to allow more air into the carburetor, as well as allowing a larger and slightly more elevated rear spoiler. The changes are aimed at spacing out the pack mentality of racing at Talladega that all too often contributes to "the big one," multi-car wrecks that can instantly turn a 43-car field into a field of 25.

Will the changes affect Sadler's quest to equal or better his spring performance at Talladega?

"I don't think you're going to see much difference at Talladega because it's not really a handling track," Sadler said. "The only thing I hope it does is where drivers can use their head more since we have more throttle response now they don't feel like if they let off a little bit to let a car in line, they won't lose a lot of spots -- they'll only lose that one spot."

But even with the changes, which face their first crucial test Sunday, Talladega is still Talladega, and racing around NASCAR's largest racetrack (a 2.66-mile oval) at 180 mph-plus for three hours can be both grueling from a physical standpoint and mind numbing from a mental standpoint for both drivers and crew chiefs.

"What does it feel like racing at Talladega?" Sadler said. "It's like getting in a three-lane highway, setting your cruise control on 60 and trying to get to the front. It's a chess game and I really, really cannot wait to see that checkered flag, because it's hard to tell 43 human beings to be perfect for three hours and not make any mistakes.

"It's a very, very stressful race mentally and physically. Usually I'm pretty happy when I see the checkered flag at Talladega. If I'm able to see it, I'm going to call it a really, really good day."

And who knows, maybe Sadler will be the first to see the checkers on Sunday.

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@MSN.com.