HERMIE SADLER SHIFTS PRIORITY.

Byline: TIM HADDOCK Motor Sports

Hermie Sadler walked away from NASCAR three years ago to answer a greater calling.

He was one of the rising stars of stock car racing; a NASCAR Busch Series rookie of the year and part of a rich racing family. His brother, Elliott, is a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver and a championship contender with Robert Yates Racing.

But rising through the ranks of NASCAR took a backseat for Hermie when he learned his daughter, Hailie Dru, was diagnosed with autism.

A neurological disorder that affects language and social development, depicted in a movie role played by Dustin Hoffman in ``Rain Man,'' autism is a mysterious condition that baffles parents and doctors alike.

``The team I was driving for, I resigned because of what I didn't know,'' Hermie Sadler said. ``I knew she was different. Up to a year old, she progressed perfectly. At 18 months, she started regressing. There were little things I noticed that were different.''

Things like sitting alone in her room, flipping through pages of books for hours by herself.

``We didn't know which way to turn,'' Elliott Sadler said. ``We were lost.''

Hailie Dru turned 6 in July. She has gone through intense therapy for the past three years in and around the Sadler home in Emporia, Va.

She spends mornings at a school in Richmond, Va., and then two more hours a day in therapy at home. Her mother, Angie, usually drives Hailie Dru the 140 miles round-trip every day to get the treatment and therapy she needs.

Hailie Dru is the middle child of the Sadler daughters. She has an older sister, Cora, who's 7, and a younger sister, Naomi, who's 21 months.

Once Hermie Sadler ``got a full grip'' on Hailie Dru's condition, he decided it wasn't fair to either his family or his race team to split time between the two.

``I own some car dealerships, so it wasn't like if I didn't race, I couldn't make ends meet,'' Hermie Sadler said. ``It was a little bit of an easier decision for me. I spent a year deciding the best avenue to get what she needed.''

Once Hailie Dru started responding to treatment, Hermie decided to return to racing.

But the NASCAR he returned to was much different than the one he left.

His last year in NASCAR, 2001, was with Innovative Motorsports, a two- car team with Mike McLaughlin as the other driver on the Busch Series.

When he decided to return, he had to start his own team. With former NBA player Bryant Stith as a partner, he put together a NASCAR team in 2004 to run Busch and Nextel Cup series races. He will be trying to qualify his No. 02 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in Sunday's Pop Secret 500 at California Speedway.

But making and winning races isn't nearly as important to Hermie Sadler as it once was.

``Up until Hailie was diagnosed, I never thought I would be needed for such a cause,'' Hermie Sadler said. ``Everything happens for a reason. We're able to use the avenues we have to raise awareness.''

And money. At a charity event in May for the Autism Society of America and the Victory Junction Gang Camp, started by NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver Kyle Petty and his family, $86,400 was raised for both causes.

The Sadler brothers, Richard Petty, Dale Jarrett, Jimmie Johnson Sterling Marlin, Michael Waltrip, Jamie McMurray, Darrell Waltrip, Tony Stewart, Martin Truex and Casey Mears helped with the fund-raiser at the NASCAR SpeedPark in Concord, N.C.

Elliott calls his brother a hero for what he's done for his daughter, but Hermie doesn't see it the same way.

``I consider myself a dad,'' Hermie Sadler said. ``One of my jobs happens to be in front of millions of people on TV. As far as my daughters are concerned, I am just a parent.''

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