Sadler’s position in the final four was tenuous for roughly a half hour after the race, as NASCAR found two lug nuts that were not properly tightened on Sadler’s No. 1 Chevrolet, forcing a suspension of crew chief Kevin Meendering for the Homestead finale.
However, no points penalties will be assessed for the infraction, meaning Sadler will race for his first series championship and have a shot at the title in Miami for the first time since 2011.
“We’re just going to have to pull together as a team,” Sadler said of Meendering’s suspension. “It’s not a secret that Kevin has made me (look like) a hero this year and has put great race cars underneath me, but we’ve got a lot of depth at JR Motorsports and those guys will rally around us to go to Homestead.”
“We’ve had a great season. We’ve saved all our eggs for this one basket, really, and our team will be ready for Homestead.”
Along with Koch, Ryan Reed finished sixth and was eliminated by seven points, with Darrell Wallace Jr. and Brendan Gaughan both eliminated from Chase contention earlier in the race via hard crashes that sent them to the garage area.
Wallace pounded the inside wall on the frontstretch after contact with Koch at lap 149, while Gaughan had a tire problem 11 laps earlier that ended his night after a fuel mileage gamble that would have put him in contention to potentially win the event.
Of note, Brad Keselowski finished ninth position and saw his eight-year streak of winning at least one XFINITY race per season come to an end, tied with Busch for second all-time in consecutive seasons with a victory.
The XFINITY Series concludes its 2016 season with the Ford EcoBoost 300 from Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 19.
Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman contributed to this story.
