Elton Sawyer

Elton Sawyer
Born	Elton Everett Sawyer (1959-11-05) November 5, 1959 (age 65) Chesapeake, Virginia, U.S.
NASCAR Cup Series career
29 races run over 2 years
Best finish	38th (1995)
First race	1995 Hanes 500 (Martinsville)
Last race	1996 NAPA 500 (Atlanta)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
392 races run over 20 years
Best finish	5th (1998, 1999, 2001)
First race	1983 Cardinal 250 (Martinsville)
Last race	2002 Ford 300 (Homestead)
First win	1994 Cardinal Pride/Budweiser 250 (Myrtle Beach)
Last win	1999 Busch 200 (Loudon)
Wins Top tens Poles 2 131 2
Statistics current as of November 2, 2013.

Elton Everett Sawyer (born November 5, 1959) is a former NASCAR driver. He is married to former NASCAR driver Patty Moise, and is the older brother of Roger Sawyer, who has also competed in NASCAR. ^[1] Sawyer is currently the senior Vice President of competition of NASCAR, having previously been the Vice President of Officiating and Technical Inspection. ^[2]

Early career

Sawyer began his career in the NASCAR Busch Series. He ran a handful of races in 1983, 1984, and 1985, scoring 8 top tens while running his own team. From 1986 to 1989, he ran full-time seasons with Lewis Motorsports. Sawyer ran competitively, scoring many top tens, while finishing between 14th and 18th in points in all of those years. Sawyer left the Lewis organization, after not winning in his four seasons with the team, and headed to the team owned by A.G. Dillard. In 1990, Sawyer ran his best career season, scoring 4 top fives and finishing 13th in the points. However the following year, the Dillard team faced sponsorship problems, which kept Sawyer from completing the whole year. He salvaged a 20th-place finish in the points that year. The sponsorship issues that affected Sawyer in 1991 also caused problems for him the next two years. He was not able to find a solid ride, and only competed in 4 races.

Mid-1990s

However, luck changed for Sawyer in 1994 when he found a solid ride at Sutton Racing. He would go on to win his first Busch Series race at Myrtle Beach Speedway. He would only have six more top tens the remaining of the year, finishing 14th in points. In 1995, Sawyer continued driving in the Busch Series full-time for Sutton, but he was named to replace Loy Allen Jr. in the No. 27 Winston Cup car Junior Johnson & Associates. ^[3] Sawyer's Cup season did not fare too well, but his Busch year was his best of date, finishing 9th in points. In that same year, Sawyer competed in the Winston Select, driving the No. 27 car of Junior Johnson that made it in, thanks to Jimmy Spencer winning twice the previous year.

Sawyer started the 1996 Cup season driving for David Blair Motorsports. However, after sponsorship problems, he was released from the team. He then decided to jump back down to Busch, however he did not grab a solid ride until 1997, when he rejoined Sutton. Sawyer would go on to finish 8th in points. In 1998, he had a great year, finishing 5th in points, after scoring 10 top tens. In 1999, Sawyer joined Akins Motorsports in the Busch Series. Sawyer had one of his most competitive years, winning a race at New Hampshire International Speedway. He also scored 14 top tens, and finished 5th in points. 2000 was also a great year for Sawyer after he scored once again 14 top tens and finished 6th in points.

2001–present

2001 turned out to be Sawyer's last full season in NASCAR. He raced competitively, scoring his career high of 19 top-tens in a season, while finishing 5th in points. Akins had sold the No. 98 car to Michael Kranefuss in April 2001, however the team was unable to secure sponsorship after the season and folded, causing Sawyer to search for a ride for 2002. Sawyer did race 3 races in 2002 for the ailing Jeff Purvis at Brewco Motorsports. However, David Green received the ride in 2003. Sawyer continued looking for a ride; however, he was unable to find one due to the trend of teams wanting young drivers with sponsorship money.

On February 2, 2015, NASCAR announced that Sawyer would become the managing director of the Camping World Truck Series, replacing Chad Little, who was moved to a new role within the organization. Sawyer had previously served as the director of team operations for Action Express Racing in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. ^[4]

Sawyer, along with John Probst, helped the design of the Next Gen car that debuted in 2022.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1995	Junior Johnson & Associates	27	Ford	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR 20	TAL 27	SON DNQ	CLT 25	DOV 41	POC	MCH 23	DAY	NHA 23	POC 29	TAL 14	IND 41	GLN 29	MCH 21	BRI DNQ	DAR 32	RCH 38	DOV 40	MAR 33	NWS 34	CLT 28	CAR 31	PHO 30	ATL 28	38th	1499	[5]
1996	David Blair Motorsports	27	Ford	DAY 25	CAR DNQ	RCH 30	ATL 19	DAR 30	BRI 37	NWS 32	MAR DNQ	TAL 37	SON	CLT 21	DOV	POC	MCH	DAY	NHA	POC	TAL	IND	GLN	MCH DNQ	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	PHO		43rd	705	[6]
	Ranier-Walsh Racing	20	Ford																															ATL 23

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
1996	David Blair Motorsports	Ford	18	25

Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NBSC	Pts	Ref
1983	Zervakis Racing Team	01	Pontiac	DAY	RCH	CAR	HCY	MAR	NWS	SBO	GPS	LGY	DOV	BRI	CLT	SBO	HCY	ROU	SBO	ROU	CRW	ROU	SBO	HCY	LGY	IRP	GPS	BRI	HCY	DAR	RCH	NWS	SBO	MAR	ROU	CLT	HCY	MAR 30	141st	73	[7]
1984	Sawyer Racing	02	Pontiac	DAY	RCH 7	CAR	HCY	MAR 5	DAR	ROU	NSV																												38th	577	[8]
		0										LGY 9	MLW	DOV	CLT	SBO	HCY	ROU	SBO	ROU	HCY	IRP	LGY	SBO	BRI	DAR
	Lewis Motorsports	42	Pontiac																								RCH 9	NWS	CLT	HCY	CAR	MAR 2
1985				DAY	CAR	HCY	BRI	MAR 8	DAR	SBO	LGY 4	DOV	CLT	SBO	HCY	ROU	IRP	SBO	LGY 9	HCY	MLW	BRI	DAR	RCH 27	NWS	ROU				MAR 20									38th	577	[9]
			Olds																								CLT 23	HCY	CAR
1986				DAY	CAR 29																																		15th	3046	[10]
			Pontiac			HCY 12	MAR 8	BRI	DAR	SBO 6	LGY 3	JFC 14			SBO 8	HCY 15	ROU	IRP 21	SBO 4	RAL 20	OXF	SBO 10	HCY 8	LGY 9	ROU 7	BRI 12		RCH 6	DOV	MAR 9	ROU 11	CLT		MAR 5
			Chevy										DOV 12	CLT 12													DAR 39						CAR 27
1987				DAY 14	HCY 13	MAR 27	DAR 25	BRI 25	LGY 3	SBO 24	CLT 39	DOV 11	IRP 2	ROU 11	JFC 14	OXF 32	SBO 14	HCY 20	RAL 18	LGY 3	ROU 2	BRI 4	JFC 24	DAR 24	RCH 12	DOV 28	MAR 26	CLT 43	CAR 36	MAR 8									14th	2955	[11]
1988				DAY 28	HCY 21	CAR 38	MAR 21	DAR 23	BRI 22	LNG 6	NZH 34	SBO 15	NSV 25	CLT 36	DOV	ROU	LAN	LVL	MYB 7	OXF 35	SBO 8	HCY 12	LNG 15	IRP 16	ROU 9	BRI 15	DAR 17	RCH 29	DOV 36	MAR 3	CLT 34	CAR 15	MAR 7						16th	2686	[12]
1989				DAY 23	CAR 15	MAR 3	HCY	DAR 32	BRI	NZH 24	SBO			CLT 32	DOV 21	ROU 6	LVL 3	VOL 23	MYB 5	SBO 12	HCY 15	DUB 24	IRP 18	ROU 17	BRI	DAR	RCH 35	DOV	MAR 30	CLT	CAR	MAR 15							18th	2202	[13]
	Huffman Racing	70	Olds									LAN 11	NSV
1990	A.G. Dillard Motorsports	41	Buick	DAY 5																																			13th	3442	[14]
	Roy Hill Racing	4	Buick		RCH 8
	A.G. Dillard Motorsports	27	Buick			CAR 19	MAR 2	HCY 10	DAR 27	BRI 30	LAN 27	SBO 10	NZH 14	HCY 23	CLT 19	DOV 9	ROU 17	VOL 2	MYB 22	OXF 29	NHA 25	SBO 24	DUB 28	IRP 6	ROU 5	BRI 31	DAR 41	RCH 12	DOV 25	MAR 18	CLT 34	NHA 6	CAR 13	MAR 15
1991				DAY 15	RCH 26	CAR 25	MAR 5	VOL 12	HCY 12	DAR 29	BRI 27	LAN 11	SBO 7	NZH 11	CLT 38	DOV 23	ROU 23																						20th	2481	[15]
	Henderson Motorsports	75	Olds															HCY 24
	Laughlin Racing	45	Pontiac																MYB 26	GLN	OXF	NHA
	Fred Harris	67	Pontiac																				SBO 7	DUB DNQ	IRP 14	ROU 27	BRI 12	DAR 23	RCH 34	DOV 21	CLT DNQ	NHA	CAR	MAR 30
1992	Huffman Racing	77	Buick	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	MAR 16	DAR	BRI	HCY	LAN	DUB	NZH	CLT	DOV	ROU	MYB																					81st	179	[16]
	Owen Racing	91	Buick																GLN 33	VOL	NHA	TAL	IRP	ROU	MCH	NHA	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	MAR	CAR	HCY
1993	Akins-Sutton Motorsports	38	Ford	DAY	CAR	RCH	DAR	BRI	HCY	ROU	MAR	NZH	CLT	DOV	MYB	GLN	MLW	TAL	IRP	MCH	NHA	BRI	DAR	RCH 25	DOV	ROU	CLT 36	MAR	CAR	HCY	ATL								80th	143	[17]
1994				DAY 20	CAR 12	RCH 4	ATL DNQ	MAR 22	DAR 13	HCY 28	BRI	ROU 31	NHA DNQ	NZH 2	CLT 21	DOV 13	MYB 1	GLN 35	MLW 8	SBO 17	TAL 21	HCY 14	IRP 22	MCH 20	BRI 15	DAR 9	RCH 31	DOV 13	CLT 5	MAR 19	CAR 39								14th	2873	[18]
	Bobby Allison Motorsports	82	Ford				ATL 38
1995	Akins-Sutton Motorsports	38	Ford	DAY 39	CAR 32	RCH 15	ATL 10	NSV 30	DAR 38	BRI 18	HCY 26	NHA 2	NZH 8	CLT 27	DOV 12	MYB 10	GLN 22	MLW 14	TAL 10	SBO 7	IRP 2	MCH 13	BRI 26	DAR 8	RCH 10	DOV 17	CLT 20	CAR 14	HOM 12										9th	2952	[19]
1996	MS Racing	14	Ford	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL 33	NSV 12	DAR	BRI	HCY 17	NZH	CLT	DOV	SBO	MYB	GLN	MLW	NHA	TAL	IRP																		39th	1217	[20]
	Akins-Sutton Motorsports	38	Ford																			MCH 25	BRI 12	DAR 16	RCH 22	DOV 8	CLT 19	CAR 14	HOM 15
1997				DAY 16	CAR 12	RCH 11	ATL 2	LVS 31	DAR 17	HCY 6	TEX 11	BRI 32	NSV 17	TAL 42	NHA 4	NZH 23	CLT 43	DOV 9	SBO 5	GLN 19	MLW 6	MYB 5	GTY 4	IRP 3	MCH 16	BRI 34	DAR 13	RCH 31	DOV 16	CLT 22	CAL 19	CAR 12	HOM 32						8th	3419	[21]
1998				DAY 28	CAR 14	LVS 30	NSV 10	DAR 11	BRI 4	TEX 27	HCY 27	TAL 10	NHA 27	NZH 36	CLT 8	DOV 8	RCH 18	PPR 4	GLN 11	MLW 2	MYB 11	CAL 12	SBO 25	IRP 8	MCH 8	BRI 18	DAR 12	RCH 33	DOV 3	CLT 13	GTY 38	CAR 32	ATL 13	HOM 26					5th	3533	[22]
1999		98		DAY 21	CAR 7	LVS 26	ATL 8	DAR 2	TEX 12	NSV 8	BRI 3	TAL 41	CAL 7	NHA 1	RCH 34	NZH 32	CLT 8	DOV 9	SBO 23	GLN 11	MLW 34	MYB 7	PPR 8	GTY 13	IRP 8	MCH 26	BRI 7	DAR 14	RCH 16	DOV 26	CLT 19	CAR 14	MEM 3	PHO 15	HOM 13				5th	3891	[23]
2000	Akins Motorsports			DAY 30	CAR 12	LVS 25	ATL 18	DAR 9	BRI 12	TEX 28	NSV 13	TAL 18	CAL 9	RCH 34	NHA 9	CLT 9	DOV 9	SBO 3	MYB 3	GLN 7	MLW 6	NZH 2	PPR 25	GTY 10	IRP 6	MCH 31	BRI 29	DAR 3	RCH 19	DOV 33	CLT 29	CAR 19	MEM 2	PHO 11	HOM 40				6th	3776	[24]
2001				DAY 43	CAR 29	LVS 8	ATL 35	DAR 9	BRI 17	TEX 21	NSH 5	TAL 6	CAL 12	RCH 40	NHA 9	NZH 11	CLT 19	DOV 6	KEN 4	MLW 6	GLN 6	CHI 8	GTY 8	PPR 30	IRP 4	MCH 7	BRI 5	DAR 2	RCH 8	DOV 11	KAN 16	CLT 9	MEM 26	PHO 38	CAR 10	HOM 2			5th	4100	[25]
2002	Brewco Motorsports	37	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	DAR	BRI	TEX	NSH	TAL	CAL	RCH	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI	GTY	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	ATL	CAR 22	PHO 20	HOM 22		70th	297	[26]

References

1. "Langley Speedway's Roger Sawyer loves stock car racing, on the mountain top or at the grass roots". The Virginian Pilot. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
2. "NASCAR enhances competition executive team". Archived from the original on 2017-05-15. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
3. Pearce, Al (May 17, 1995). "Driver To Do Double Duty: Sawyer To Run Cup, Grand National Races". Daily Press . Newport News, VA. Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
4. "NASCAR moves Chad Little to inspection role; Elton Sawyer to lead Truck Series". Fox Sports . February 2, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
5. "Elton Sawyer – 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
6. "Elton Sawyer – 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
7. "Elton Sawyer – 1983 NASCAR Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
8. "Elton Sawyer – 1984 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
9. "Elton Sawyer – 1985 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
10. "Elton Sawyer – 1986 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
11. "Elton Sawyer – 1987 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
12. "Elton Sawyer – 1988 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
13. "Elton Sawyer – 1989 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
14. "Elton Sawyer – 1990 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
15. "Elton Sawyer – 1991 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
16. "Elton Sawyer – 1992 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
17. "Elton Sawyer – 1993 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
18. "Elton Sawyer – 1994 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
19. "Elton Sawyer – 1995 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
20. "Elton Sawyer – 1996 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
21. "Elton Sawyer – 1997 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
22. "Elton Sawyer – 1998 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
23. "Elton Sawyer – 1999 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
24. "Elton Sawyer – 2000 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
25. "Elton Sawyer – 2001 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
26. "Elton Sawyer – 2002 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved January 5, 2015.

External links

• Elton Sawyer driver statistics at Racing-Reference