Now that Jimmie Johnson won his first Sprint Cup race of the 2008 season, all the headlines read, 'Hendrick Motorsports Is Back'.
Well, where are they back from? Where did they go?
After winning the Subway Fresh 500 at Phoenix, Jimmie Johnson boasted 'We are back!'
Johnson enduring two mediocre races in a row is not struggling; it is the reality of NASCAR racing. Take a brief look at Hendrick Motorsports’ top drivers in 2008. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was a contender at Daytona in February, and Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson dominated the early portion of the Auto Club 500 at California a week later. At Las Vegas, Earnhardt, Jr. finished second and Jeff Gordon was running in the top five before his late-race accident.
At Atlanta, Earnhardt, Jr. and Gordon finished in the top five and at Martinsville, all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers finished in the top ten. Johnson finished second at Texas, and Earnhardt, Jr. won the pole for that race. So exactly, where was Hendrick Motorsports? Well, if you watched the races, you know that they were a contender in every race with the exception of Bristol.
After winning eighteen of thirty-six races in 2007, expectations were for them to duplicate that nearly impossible feat. Some members of the media tend to embellish at little, or a lot, in order to write an intriguing story. ‘The struggles of Hendrick Motorsports’ will absorb interest from HMS fans and detractors. However, they have yet to face on-track impediments that would warrant the term ‘struggling’. They may not be the supreme team in 2008, Joe Gibbs Racing and Roush Fenway Racing are vying for that accolade, but they are by no means struggling or toiling.
Richard Childress Racing struggled in 2004 and 2005. Penske Racing struggled in 2006. Yates Racing is struggling today. Hendrick Motorsports has never struggled.
Speaking of struggling, two past NASCAR Sprint Cup champions had rough nights at Phoenix, especially Matt Kenseth. Kenseth dropped to 43rd on the track before he smacked the outside wall. Kurt Busch encountered another rough outing as he finished 23rd in the 500-kilometer event. He has seemingly disappeared since his second place finish in the Daytona 500.
Quote of the week
Bobby Labonte on Carl Edwards’ frustration of the complaints regarding the Car of Today
“We really fought it all night. I don’t want to say that these cars don’t drive good, because they can drive better. My car just didn’t drive good tonight, so I just don’t want to piss Carl Edwards off. We just didn’t do the best job that we could do.”
