Hendrick's slump
Everybody is worried about Hendrick! They are in a slump and something is wrong! Folks, I just have one thing to say about that, "April Fools!" Before I continue this blog, let's just mention that Dale Earnhardt Jr is 5
th in points, Jeff & Jimmie 13
th-14
th, & Casey 33rd. To go further let's put it in context just a bit.
The context (a little background)
First of all, every year we find Hendrick's in the game! At the same time every year looks different, but the one thing that always remains the same is that Hendrick
Motorsports is in the hunt by years end. Last year was so over the top for Hendrick that even a good year will end up looking like a slump. Also, they had a jump on the rest of the field in regards to the car of tomorrow! While the rest of the field worked on catching up towards the end of the season, Jeff Gordon & Jimmie Johnson were concentrating on a Championship. As far as Earnhardt goes, we will get to him further on in this blog! Oh, yeah Casey, we will mention him as well. We have established a little bit why Hendrick at this point hasn't dominated, but what about wins?
Wins
We understand that the rest of the field has caught up, but why hasn't Hendrick won a race yet? Even that little statistic is a bit deceptive! Hendrick had some things roll their way last year in the added luck department, where this year they haven't. In
Daytona, Hendrick was overshadowed by Toyota, otherwise they would have looked like the class of the field with Jeff and Dale! Even with out
teammates left in the race, Dale was only a few moves away from sweet victory! I can only wonder what would have happened if Casey wouldn't have pulled out
in front of Stewart as Earnhardt was pushing him to the front! Or if Junior would have started in front of Newman instead of behind him on the restart! Would that have been Junior in victory lane instead of Newman? We can only speculate, but the point is that Hendrick could have had a win! Plus, Jeff Gordon had a great car as well, but had rare race ending car issues! What about Jimmie, would he have come to the front at the end if it weren't for the wreck? On to California, would Jimmie Johnson won had Carl not had such a hot rod? Don't even ask me about what might have been under the 99 hood? Not to mention, that Jeff Gordon finished right behind Jimmie! Track issues caused
Mears to wreck and this collected Earnhardt! Where would Earnhardt have finished? We will never know! Let's go to Vegas! Earnhardt was robbed and should have got himself a championship belt, not Edwards! Don't even get me started! Nevertheless,
Earnhardts toughness, great attitude, and handling it like a man made me feel a whole lot better!
Ok, on to
Hotlanta! Earnhardt, was the class of the field at Atlanta, but I think they might of tweaked themselves out of the game a bit as far as winning the race. A great top 5 finish, though! Bristol, top 5 finish, but could have had the win in my opinion, had they pitted for fresh tires! Jimmie had a car that could have contended for the win, but late race contact changed his car enough to take him out of the game! Now let's take a look at the stats, had the wind blown our way a bit (yes I'm a confessed Earnhardt and Hendrick fan!)
Had the wind blown our way a bit
Pick one, either Junior pushes Stewart to the front, then beats him to win, or was declared ahead of Newman before the caution was waved (starting ahead of Ryan on the restart)! Dale Jr wins
Daytona!
Ok, let's take out the Carl factor (gang I like Carl, but I'm not so sure he didn't have things juiced up underneath the hood, so I want to play the what if game for a second). Jimmie Johnson wins California! Dale Earnhardt Junior wins
Las Vegas baby!
Ok, another what if! What if the 88 had been on their A game at Atlanta as far as adjustments go? Dale Jr, wins Atlanta and his second in a row! One more what if for ya! What if Dale Jr went in for 4 fresh tires? I think he would have won folks! Dale Jr wins 3 in a row folks and gets his 4
th win of the year! Talk about dominance! Oh yeah, by the way, Hendricks has won every race so far! Point is let's be very careful before we join the bandwagon and decry that Hendrick is in a slump! Guys, know this has been won long article, but we are not done yet! Now we are going to take it driver, by driver.
Jeff Gordon
Oh how the mighty have fallen! Yeah, if you buy into all the articles being spit out lately! Jeff would have had at least a top 5 at
Daytona (at worst a top 10) had it not been for his suspension problem! He finishes third at California! Had a top 5 in the bag at Vegas, but kind of got a raw deal! Point is that Vegas for Jeff was due to a racing incident, not a bad
race car! At Atlanta Jeff Gordon got a top five! Bristol saw Jeff Gordon just miss getting a top 10 with an 11
th place finish! If that is considered a bad race and for Jeff it is, than watch out! What I find scary is the fact that even with some bad luck, Gordon is only 2 places from 12
th in the point standings! Plus it is still early!
Jimmie Johnson
At
Daytona, he was coming before he got caught up in a wreck! California saw the 48 team finishing second! They had one bad race and that was Vegas! Normally, a good track for them, but with all the changes with this new car totally missed the setup. Even the best have a bad day and in my opinion the 48 team is the best! Notice, I didn't say driver, but rather team! Jimmie is one of the best drivers, Chad
knaus in my opinion is the best crew chief period and the 48 team has been the best unit in all of
Nascar for the last several years! In Atlanta, Jimmie finishes in 13
th place a lap down b/c the front cars where lapping the field. It is hard to sneak into the top 10 a lap down and rare to be a lap down while in 13
th place! At Bristol, Jimmie had a top 5 car easy, but his encounter with Burton, changed his car for the worse! Don't be
surprised when you see the 48 back on their A game, because they will be!
Dale Earnhardt Jr
Beyond, what I have already mentioned about potential wins and dominance above, the facts are good enough! Fact, Dale Jr is the best Hendrick driver going right now! Fact Dale Jr is 5
th in the points and moving up! Fact, Dale
jr has 3 top 5's in a row and we will never know about California due to ineptness on the part of the Track owners! Fact, even though
Daytona didn't blow his way, he still came out of it with a top 10! Fact, the 88 has been the most consistent team in the field! Watch out, b/c it will not be long before the 88 will be ripping out the wins!
Casey Mears
I'm sick of people indicating that he doesn't fit the Hendrick mold. Is he 33rd in the point standings? Yes! Is their more to that story than meets the eye? Yes! First, let me state one thing! Casey has had 3 different crew chief's for three different seasons in a row, so let's keep that in mind before we throw him under the bus! Now, let's take a look underneath the hood of Casey's season so far!
Daytona, should have at least been a top 10 for Casey, maybe even a top 5! He got a little impatient and made a bit of a mistake. He tried to make something happen and it resulted in a crash that gave him a bad finish. Was it Casey's fault? The spotter's fault? I really don't know? What I do know is that Casey will learn and improve at the
restrictor plate tracks. California was not Casey's fault in my book, but it really made his stats look bad. Sometimes we just look at the stats and not the why behind the stats!
Las Vegas, saw him kind of collide with Jeff Gordon a bit, but he managed to hang on to finish 13
th. Even though he finished 17
th at Atlanta, it really wasn't that bad of a finish if you consider
Tiregate! Finally, Bristol saw
Mears having a good day before his car got tight and he got collected in a typical Bristol wreck. Allan is good crew chief and
Mears can drive, so let's not be to hard on Casey yet!
The conclusion, April Fools!
I'm going to use the phrase look under the hood one more time here gang! B/c when we look under the hood of Hendrick's season thus far it reveals a different story then what we have been hearing!
Everyone's thinking slump, but we will soon see the wind change! Hendrick
Motorsports is about to bust out of the gate and when they do the story will change! Is Hendrick
Motorsports in a slump? April Fools, they are a coming!
winning team! How Ironic would it be if Earnhardt won his first race with Hendrick Motorsports at Texas!? I think it would almost freak me out, to tell you the truth. Folks, it might just happen! Then we would be saying first Nationwide (Busch) win, first cup win, and first win for Hendrick all summed up in one word, Texas!
like quality! He is Jimmy C and his blog is Jimmy C's Nascar! Check out his site, b/c I promise you as a Nascar fan you won't regret it! Anyways, he has several articles from different angles on the breaking RCR/General Mills news, but my favorite was, Bobby Labonte to RCR in 2009?
