He hopes this one helps him go from just contending for a championship to winning a title.

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After finding himself without a Sprint Cup ride following a 2010 season with Richard Petty Motorsports, Sadler finished second but winless in the Nationwide Series for Kevin Harvick Inc. in 2011. After that team was absorbed by Richard Childress Racing, he finished second again in 2012 with four victories.

Over his past two years driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, Sadler had one win with finishes of fourth and third in the standings.

Now Sadler moves to Roush Fenway and is taking the OneMain Financial sponsorship with him.

“I’m looking forward to next year a lot,” Sadler said. “I really am. Ford really supports me and they believe in me, and they want me to be a part of their program.”

Sadler has long ties to Ford from his days competing for the Wood Brothers and Robert Yates Racing.  Even when he wasn’t driving for other manufacturers, Sadler said Ford board member Edsel Ford III would come up and shake his hand.

“That has always been special,” Sadler said. “He came up to me in Phoenix and told me welcome back.

“To me, it means the world to me. I feel like I’m going back home.”

Sadler also has ties to his new crew chief, Phil Gould, who was his car chief at RCR and was crew chief at RCR for Brian Scott the last two seasons.

While the past two years have been very good, it would be hard to classify them as great for Sadler. When Gibbs landed sponsorship from telecom company Arris to sponsor Daniel Suarez for a full-time Nationwide car (as well as races for Carl Edwards in Cup), Sadler said that it was time for him to look elsewhere.

JGR hasn’t announced its full Xfinity plans for next season but will run Suarez for a full season and is trying to put together a full schedule for JGR development driver Darrell Wallace Jr.

The team ran two cars in addition to Sadler’s this year, one primarily for Kyle Busch and another that was used for Matt Kenseth and a mix of drivers. Both those cars are expected to return in some capacity next year.

“Sponsors have a big footprint in this sport,” Sadler said. “I think when the whole sponsorship stuff changed and started to go in a different direction at Gibbs, it kind of changed my situation there with Arris and stuff coming in.”

Sadler said having seen the speed of the Penske Fords, especially at restrictor-plate tracks, and seeing improvement in Roush Fenway rookie Chris Buescher last year, he feels confident he is entering a championship-caliber situation.

“Daytona we’re going to be in really good shape,” Sadler said. “(I told them) let’s start working on Atlanta.

“Because Daytona with the engine stuff we’re going to have, we should be in good shape when we get there. It’s just going to be up to the driver to make all the right passes in the race.”