Elliott Sadler says it was a “difference of opinion from which way the sport is going” that led to his decision to leave Robert Yates Racing at the conclusion of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season.
Sadler met with the media Friday at Pocono Raceway to address his departure from RYR after four seasons. He said he notified team owner Robert Yates earlier in the week, a two-hour meeting that he called, “one of the hardest two hours of my life.”
“I’ve definitely enjoyed driving for those guys,” Sadler said. “But pretty much [we] have just come to differences of opinion on which way the sport is going. This is not the first meeting we’ve had, we’ve had meetings all year long to try to meet in the middle, try to make some good decisions on what we think we need to do to make our race team better. We just could never get going in that direction.
“I just had a difference of opinion on which way the sport’s going from those guys. I couldn’t really make myself buy into the system and which way I think the company is going. So we just decided to split ways and do something different.”
