Hendrick slump has foes talking
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jimmie Johnson had never run so poorly, not in any race in his six previous seasons and certainly not at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he'd won three-straight races.
Johnson's sluggish 29th-place finish Sunday came right before team owner Rick Hendrick addressed thousands of store managers at the national sales meeting for Lowe's, Johnson's corporate sponsor.
"I told them they had pretty good timing," Hendrick quipped. "To see that team run that way, they had just witnessed history."
It was rather unusual for the two-time defending Sprint Cup champion to have such a bad day, but it certainly wasn't history-making. Still, as Johnson failed to contend for a fourth consecutive win in the desert, many in NASCAR began to wonder what's wrong with mighty Hendrick Motorsports.
The team that couldn't be beat last season is now winless through the first three events of this year. That has sent a buzz through the garage that even Hendrick has heard.
"I'm actually kind of glad everybody thinks we are in trouble," the team owner said. "It gives us an opportunity to focus on what we need to do to start winning races."
It seems rather preposterous to call Hendrick's start to the season a slump. After all, all four of his cars have run up front at one point or another and it was just last month that they appeared poised to race each other for the Daytona 500 victory.
But aside from victories by newcomer Dale Earnhardt Jr. in two non-points events at Daytona, the cars have failed to find their way to Victory Lane. Most teams would trade anything for the way Hendrick Motorsports has performed this season, but when a team is used to winning everything in sight, the slightest struggles can send a shock wave through the garage.
"I think there's a lot of hype," said Jeff Gordon, Hendrick's four-time series champion. "There's a lot of expectations put on Hendrick this year, from bringing Junior into the mix. Jimmie had back-to-back championships and we finished second (in the points).
"I feel like it's just a matter of time before we can win. It's a good problem to have, people asking you how come you haven't won yet. That means that they expect it, and so do we."
Hendrick drivers won 18 of 36 races last season, put three cars in the Chase and finished first, second and fifth in the final standings.
This season, Earnhardt is the highest of the Hendrick drivers. With two top-10 finishes — and the Daytona exhibition victories — he's ranked 10th in the standings.
Johnson, who was wrecked out of the Daytona 500 after starting from the pole and had the poor Las Vegas run, is 14th. Gordon, who has two DNFs this season, is 22nd in the standings. And Casey Mears, a victim of the wet track in California two weeks ago, is 34th.
But Hendrick argues those stats don't paint an accurate picture.
His drivers have led 198 of 717 laps this season, including a dominating performance by Johnson and Gordon at California in which they combined to lead 144 of the 250 laps. Although Carl Edwards won the race, Johnson and Gordon were second and third.
And Earnhardt and Gordon were both running up front at Las Vegas. Gordon crashed on a restart, and Earnhardt settled for second after cold tires prevented him from chasing down Edwards on a restart two laps from the end.
Overall, Hendrick has had a pretty decent start with at least one top-10 finish in all 2008 points-paying and non-points events, including runner-up efforts in the last two races.
"I'm just tickled with where we are — we're real competitive every week, with all the cars," Hendrick said. "If you had asked me (in January) if you could win the first two (non-points) races of the year with Junior, sit on the pole at Daytona and run strong every week, I would have said 'Hell yeah.'"
