Who is Elton Sawyer? Everything about NASCAR's Senior VP featured on Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s show

The latest episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast featured Elton Sawyer, the Senior Vice President of competition for NASCAR, who was also a racing driver early in his life. He is also widely known for contributing to the development of the Gen-7 Next Gen cars.

Sawyer was born in Chesapeake, Virginia, in 1959. His racing career started in the 1980s in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, then called the Busch Series. He was not a permanent driver but took part in a handful of races between 1983 and 1986, scoring a second-place finish at Martinsville with Lewis Motorsports in '84.

His first victory triumph came in 1994 at Myrtle Beach. Elton Sawyer won only two races throughout his Xfinity career with his final victory in London, in 1999. He also raced briefly in the Cup Series in 1995 and 1996, which was called the Winston Cup Series.

Sawyer raced the three final races of the 2002 Xfinity Series to mark the end of his racing career with Brewco Motorsports. In 2015, he was announced as the managing director of the Camping World Truck Series (Craftsman Truck Series).

He is also married to a former NASCAR driver Patty Moise. She raced in Xfinity between 1986 and 1998, also serving a three-year stint as a temporary driver in the Cup Series from 1987 to 1989.

Elton Sawyer currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Competition in NASCAR. He overlooks the operations and the workings of the sport. Earlier this season, he shared his opinion on the new tire that Goodyear had provided at Richmond.

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Elton Sawyer impressed with Goodyear after wet stint at Richmond

Earlier this season during the Toyota Owners 400, drivers faced a damp track at Richmond, forcing them to use the wet tire for the first time on the oval track. Although issues with the tire grip were obvious at Bristol prior to this race, Goodyear's compound at Richmond proved extremely efficient.

While talking to SiriusXM, Elton Sawyer spoke of the impressive tire that Goodyear provided for the race. He said:

"This is a vision that Mr. France has had for three or four years now and he tasked the R&D Center in Goodyear to come up with a tire that we could run on short ovals. So, credit goes to the guys at the R&D Center in Goodyear for being able to get that tire.

"The positive was we were able to get our race started maybe 15 minutes late where five years ago we'd have been an hour, hour and a half where we could have got the race started. So, all in all, huge success with the wet weather tires. We're looking forward to getting back, downloading the things that you know we learn from this, the things we need to get better."

The race at Richmond was a success with Denny Hamlin heading into the victory lane.