LONG POND, Pa. -- As far as race car drivers go, Elliott Sadler is about as laid back as they get. When some are stressing over whether their crews are making the proper adjustments to their cars, Sadler is chilling in his motor coach playing video games. He trusts his boys' skills.

He takes things in stride, rarely letting the hustle and bustle of the racetrack get him worked up.

But Friday, the man was straight-up freaking out. Winston Cup practice was almost two hours old for Sunday's race at Pocono and his car was dragging.

"It was the worst hour-and-a-half of my life, the first hour-and-a-half of practice," Sadler said. "I mean, I was like 40th on the sheet and after we qualified so good here in the first race I was about to commit suicide during practice."

But his crew, with the help of teammate Dale Jarrett and Jarrett's crew, came to the rescue, giving Sadler even more reason to chill on the bad days and put complete faith in the team.

"The guys worked on it and we got some help from DJ and the 88 guys and then we made a really good qualifying run right there at the end of practice and finished sixth-quickest," Sadler said. "We relayed that message back to him and adjusted on it a little bit more and now all of us are sitting here in the top 10. That's what teamwork is supposed to be about.

"We don't always want to try to do it this way because I'm going to have a lot more gray hair than I want the next two or three years, but it's great when teammates can work that well together. Now both of us have something to smile about."

Sadler's smile is even bigger than Jarrett's, as he wound up qualifying third and Jarrett eighth.

Sadler and Co. had planned on tweaking the setup they used for their No. 38 Robert Yates Racing Ford during the first race at Pocono this season -- but after testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last week and getting off-the-chart results, they made a last-second decision to use the Indy setup. Pocono and Indy both have long straightaways, so cars are often similarly setup.

"I can tell you right now that does not work for our race team," Sadler said. "We decided to come with something different because we were not on the pole last race. We wanted to try something different and it did not work out for us, so we had to really go back to the basics and get back close to our first race setup for qualifying and just kind of go from there.

"I'm just really proud of my guys. I've never been many places that you can be that horrible in practice and actually work on it and make it that much better. For them to give me a car able to qualify third and for the eighth time this year we are the fastest Ford on the grid on Friday ... I'm very, very proud of Raymond (Fox) -- a first-year crew chief -- for that."

Fox, along with the considerably powerful engines Yates provides the No. 38 with for this race, have made Pocono a favorite spot for Sadler. Once a stop which elicited a groan or look of disgust, the Pennsylvania spot is now one where Sadler looks forward to laying the hammer down -- knowing he's got more horses under his hood than most of the 42 others he'll line up with on Sunday.

"We were very fortunate to lead a lot of laps here the first race (at Pocono this year) -- I think the second-most out of everybody -- so I do have a lot more confidence coming back to this track now the second time," he said. "This is a place I did not like to come to before this year, but Robert and Doug (Yates) have persuaded me that this is one of their favorite tracks to come to and I think I understand why when I get to get on the gas pedal on these long straightaways.

"I'm looking forward to good things. I think I've got just as good a chance as anybody to win this race."

A win would prove to Sadler that his gut feeling is correct. Right now, like a lot of drivers, he's got that hope-springs-eternal thing going for the second half of the year. But he swears he's not just pushing a line. He truly believes something's going right with the entire Yates organization -- an organization which has struggled to explain the sudden nose-dive of the 88 team.

"I think it's been tough on me personally because I look up to DJ so much as a driver and as a person," Sadler said. "So, yeah, it has drug us down some. ... You lose some confidence there because you're not sure if you're giving (or getting) the right information. Are you sharing the right stuff? It's just a hard deal to do. But I think they've got his train back on the tracks. I think you're going to see him run a lot better here the next few weeks.

"You've heard this from drivers before and, you guys know me, I don't try to blow smoke to any of you all, but I honestly feel like we had such a great test at Indy last week that it's going to change the way the 88 and the 38 run from here on out. I'm not just saying that because we both qualified well, I think you're going to see it come Sunday and everywhere else we go."

Rupen Fofaria is a beat writer for The Raleigh News & Observer and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at rfofaria@espnspecial.com.