SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — It has been almost seven years since Elliott Sadler last climbed behind the wheel of a race car in competition.
The former South Boston Speedway champion and NASCAR star will soon break out of his retirement from racing, strap on his helmet and compete in a form of racing he has never experienced before.
The Emporia, Virginia native will make his Modified racing debut and break a six-plus year hiatus to compete in the Third Annual Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds powered by Dominion Energy on Saturday afternoon, March 21 at South Boston Speedway.
The race is the headline race of South Boston Speedway’s season-opening URW Community Federal Credit Union Race Day event. Three races are scheduled for the season-opening event with the first race starting at 2 p.m.
Sadler, who has won races in each of NASCAR’s top three national series and is a four-time winner of the Most Popular Driver Award in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, will drive a Modified for Sadler-Stanley Racing which is co-owned by his brother, former NASCAR standout Hermie Sadler, and Senator Bill Stanley.
The car will carry the No. 16 and colors resembling the ones fans remember seeing when Sadler won the 1995 NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division crown at South Boston Speedway.
“It’s pretty cool to be able to get back in a race car after being retired for five or six years and being in a race for my brother in a Modified that I have never driven before,” Elliott Sadler said. “I’ve never driven a modified so that’s pretty cool.”
The Third Annual Pace-O-Matic King of the Modifieds powered by Dominion Energy at South Boston Speedway will be a homecoming of sorts for Sadler as the race brings him back to where he first became involved in racing and created a special chapter in his racing career.
Sadler won 11 regular-season races at South Boston Speedway enroute to winning the track’s NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division championship. His last NASCAR race at South Boston Speedway was a NASCAR Busch Series race on July 25, 1999.
“This (racing a Modified) is something new, and I’m also going back to where it all started,” Sadler pointed out. “I’m going back home where I grew up watching my uncles race. Then, I was on my brother’s pit crew, and later I won the track championship.
“South Boston Speedway has a lot of memories with my family, so this is only natural that we go back there for my first Modified race. I’m looking forward to being there and maybe eating a few bologna burgers along the way.”
Sadler’s return to competition is significant in that it both unites the Sadler brothers in a family-oriented racing effort and fits comfortably within the racing team’s plans for the 2026 season.
“As a co-team owner, this fits right into what our mission is this year with the 16 VA – put different drivers in the car that benefit our team and our sponsors and at the same time, draw some attention to the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic,” Hermie Sadler said. “But more importantly as a brother, I am excited to see Elliott back on the track, especially at South Boston Speedway, a place where he has so much history and a place that helped catapult him to a long and successful NASCAR career. I wasn’t sure we would ever see this, so I am going to enjoy it, and I hope the fans will pack the Elliott Sadler Grandstand at the track and enjoy it too.”
