Elliott Sadler has been in this position before, just not for as long.

Shortly after his first Nextel Cup Series victory in the 2001 season at Bristol, Tenn., Sadler bolted into the top 10 in points for two consecutive weeks. He eventually would finish 20th.

In 2002, Sadler started the year in second place in the points standings after the Daytona 500, but never made it back in the top 10 and ended the season in 23rd.

Last season, Sadler managed a three-week stretch in the top 10, but dropped to 22nd by its conclusion.

Once again, Sadler has earned an early-season victory — April 4 at Texas Motor Speedway — and he is in the top 10 in points, but this time he remains there.

In fact, Sadler is one of four drivers — Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart are the others — who have remained in the top 10 in points this season after all 10 races.

“I’ve been watching the points really, really close every week. I actually study them Monday and Tuesday to know whom I’m racing the next weekend and whom we should be trying to beat on pit strategy and things like that,” said Sadler, who is 10th in points, 203 behind leader Earnhardt Jr.

“The guys have given me great race cars, it’s just that the last three weeks we’ve had some terrible rotten luck. We had some brake fans break at Martinsville (Va.); we overheated at Talladega (Ala.); and we had a fuel line pickup problem at California.

“We’ve given up some points here and there on just some stuff not going our way. Our cars have been fast, now we’ve just got to figure out how to stop letting the little things bite us.”

Ending the season in the top 10 has long been a hallmark of success in NASCAR, but that threshold holds more meaning this year.

Elliott Sadler has begun the 2004 Nextel Cup season with four top-10 finishes and two top-five placings. He also has been in the top 10 in points all season.

The addition of the Chase for the Championship — a 10-race battle for the Cup title that includes the top 10 in points and those within 400 points the leader — has added additional importance.

“There’s a sense of urgency every single week. We’re one of only a few teams that have been in the top 10 the whole time, so we want to keep that,” said Sadler, 29.

“We want to do whatever we’ve got to do to make sure we can stay in that top 10 the whole time. We’re just over 200 points out from (Earnhardt Jr.). We need to try to finish in front of him as many times as we can to close that gap.”

Sadler’s success this season is evident in virtually every statistic.

Before this season, Sadler had never compiled more than two top-five finishes in a season. Through 10 races in 2004, he has matched that mark.

Sadler is also one of four drivers in the top 10 — Kevin Harvick, Stewart and Bobby Labonte are the others — to be running at the finish of all 10 races.

The addition last August of veteran Todd Parrott as crew chief has also brought some much-needed experience to the No. 28 Robert Yates Racing team.

“Todd has really surrounded himself with some great engineers and great people for this race team and we have a lot of security now. Nobody is going anywhere,” Sadler said.

Elliott Sadler celebrates his first victory of the season. He won the Samsung/Radio Shack 500 on April 4 at Texas Motor Speedway.

“Everybody is having a ball working with each other and we’ve got some confidence.”

That confidence and experience will be needed to help Sadler remain in the top 10 as the Cup series moves this weekend to Richmond,Va. — a track on which the Virginia native has not had much success.

“We’ve built a brand new race car just for Richmond for that point — to come and try to put on a great show in front of my hometown family and friends,” Sadler said.

“Right now, we’re pretty happy with everything and we’ve got some great momentum, so we think we’ve got a good shot at it. If the ball bounces the right way, we should have just as good a chance as anybody else to win.”