It is one of the NASCAR season’s biggest mysteries: What is going on — rather, going wrong — at Rick Hendrick’s shops?
Hendrick is one of the most successful NASCAR team owners ever, the Chevrolet kingpin, the man whose top two drivers, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, blew everyone away down the stretch last fall to win another NASCAR Cup title.
This year has been week after week of zeroes. There was a win by Johnson at Phoenix, but that was followed by bad runs almost everywhere else, and there wasn’t much to show for Sunday at Dover — Gordon salvaged a fifth, two spots ahead of Johnson, after a big crash wiped out a number of top drivers.
In fact, Johnson’s seventh was his best finish since Phoenix, and it followed 13ths at Talladega and Darlington, a 30th at Richmond, and a 39th at Charlotte.
Johnson has only five top-10 finishes in the year’s first 13 races, a mediocre spring for him. It is surprising that Johnson sits seventh in the Sprint Cup standings, considering he’s averaging 15th-place finishes.
Will things be much different for the Hendrick guys this week at Pocono?
Salisbury Post/Wnston Salem Journal
Bookmark to:
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- Al and Bobby Unser Arrested for Ignoring Deputies
It’s called karma, good for them they deserve it!!!
Its nice to see the evil empire stumble.
Hope it lasts, but we all know it wont…..
Such Jealousy! They have to let someones else win once in awhile! Go Jimmie and Jeff!!
Haha, I agree 100%, Michelle.
And why do they deserve it, Anonymous? Because they win too much? That’s stupid.
Anonymous? Too ashamed to even put your name.
It’s not karma. It’s racing. If the same people won all the time, who would want to watch it? It’s like everyone pulling for the same driver…what’s the fun in that?
And for all of the Hendrick HATERS out there (Yeah, I said it. Because I know it gets under their skin)…
“I love being called out on my mistakes, it gives my haters a moment of glory and my competition false hope!”
Dont worry they will be back…if you remember the first part of last year they didnt do worth a crap and then they came back hard…….JIMMY WILL WIN AGIN THIS YEAR…….
Why do you think something is wrong? Last year was a dream year for them and no team can expect that every year. I don’t think having three teams in the top ten is a bad year. If it is alot of teams would love to have a bad one. I’m sure that by the chase, Jeff, Jimmy and Jr will all be fine. Hopefully Casey will be there with them.
wow, look at all the hate! No one wins all the time…..and that goes for shrub as well.
It’s JimmIE! and don’t worry haters, he will be back for a third cup this year!
It’s not as bad as 2005 where Gordon was out of the top 10. They have bad years and good years just like every other team does.
It happened with GEM in 2007. They were so dominant with Kasey in 2006, and then bombed in 2007. They’re JUST getting back up there now. It happens to every team at some point.
Exactly. It happend to Dale Sr. too. Every driver goes through it.
Let us not forget that in last years Hendrick Equipment, Shrub and Casey Mears had the same number of wins. Its just the ebb and flow of the sport, and its more the JGR cars than it is Kyle, Denny, or Tony. Same thing with Hendrick last years cars were just better, and right now they are just 1 step behind Gibbs.
i love how JR is the #1 HMS driver right now…yet not a word mentioned in that article…and they are all in the top 10 in pts (besides mears, who sucks anyways)….so i dont see waht the big deal is…as long as they make the chase, they will all 3 work together and 1 of them will win it
HAHAHAHAHAHA Hendrick fans are nothing but bandwagoners that act like 3-year olds when their team doesn’t win
Why bother to lead in points, during the first
26 races? Gordon led in points, by several
hundred, last year. The chase started, and
he lost all his points. They are probably using
the first 26 races, as a test session. Nascar
has to keep the fans of the other drivers happy,
by letting them win some races. Hendrick
fans are loyal to their drivers, with no wins.
Look at the following JR has, and he hasn’t
won a race in 2 years.
Trey wrote:
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It’s stupid Kyle Shrub wins too much too, there has to be a secret with Shrubs car that nascar hasn’t found yet, something modified☺☺☺
luv24car wrote:
the whole point of leading the points is that hopefully in leading the points after the first 26 races you win some races (remember each win b4 the chase is 10 points when the chase starts….therefore an advantage) and kyle busch has 4. If the chase started right now kyle would have a 30 point lead on jimmie johnson and a 40 point lead on Jeff Gordon and Jr. Also remember a few years ago when the chase was decided by less than 10 points? so you cant even say 10 points cant change the outcome.
and the only reason Jr. has such a big fan base is because women love the way he looks and they feel sorry for him because his dad passed away in the daytona 500 back in 2001.
ok, im not a big fan of Hendrick but come on everyone…even the evil empire has to stumble sometime and it’s this season. Don’t worry, Jimmie, Jeff and Casey….yes Casey…will rebound along with Junior and dominate once again but like clay said earlier, it’s the ebb and flow of the sport. I don’t like these guys but damn it there so fun to watch when there racing against your favorite driver and im not gonna be popular when I say that I am a die-hard Juan Pablo Montoya and Tony Stewart fan, LOL. (guys I watch open-wheel since i was 10 and when I saw tony pull off the 500 and the 600 and when I saw Montoya win the indy 500 and Monaco in ‘03 I was hooked on NASCAR) Anyway it wouldn’t be fun if everyone pulled for the same driver. This is why I love NASCAR and open wheel so much. Sorry for rant! For all of you Hendrick fans just ride it out and that team will see victory lane many times this season before you know it!!
James wrote:
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No they don’t feel sorry for Jr cause of his Dad passing on, women like Jr way before the 2001 mishap…
He is also a good racer as well, so that would count in there somewhere…
James wrote:
…That was the stupidest thing I’ve read on this post.
And there is a very large fan base of Junior’s that didn’t even watch
the sport when Sr. passed away.
Wow James thats rather offensive.
Roush was dominant in 2005 yet not so good in 2006…
Evernham were dominant in 2006 yet not so good in 2007
Hendrick dominated 2007 yet are “struggling” in 2008
Its pretty good when the word struggling is applied to a team
with 3 drivers in the top 10…
l0l
Im dad said that Gordon is put more money in Jr than The race car
kyle 18 wrote:
excuse my language but, what the hell are you talking about?
kyle 18 wrote:
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What are you smoking?
kyle 18 wrote:
i think he is trying to say that his dad said that gordon is putting more money into jr than the car witch = i don’t know what i’m talking about because hendrick owns jrs car gordon owns jimmies car if your gonna post know what your talking about
if you look at the facts JGR did not leave chevy until they got the new motor design
and they brought Kyle Busch from hendricks so they all got together and told each other
about how hendricks keeps his cars on top
you say my comment is offensive but its the truth……where was all this fan base of Jr.’s when he was in the Busch Series (thats what it was called at the time for those of you wo didnt know)
just call it nascar and let the performance of the motors and drivers do their thing !! GO JR
uwish24 wrote:
That is a great quote! Bummer of a year for the Hendrick boys…but it’s not over yet. Jimmie generally does better in the 2nd half anyway - they just have a harder road this season…on the flip side congrats to Khane in the midst of all this, he’s doing great (only non-Hendrick I pull for)…yeah OT sorry
Just for the record…I have been a Jr fan since he was Busch and I remember him winning his first championship there too. Just because they are struggling now….doesn’t mean they will be at the end…WHEN IT ACTUALLY REALLY COUNTS!!!!!!!!!! And before something else is said…Jr isn’t my only driver…and I actually can’t stand whinny Gordie boy….
What’s wrong?
Dale Jr!
DON’T FEED THE TROLLS!
wrote:
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Dale Jr has one hanging for ya Anonymous Gay Boy!!!
But he’ll probably kick your @ss if you tried anything on him…