Gordon: Hendrick Motorsports working to get back on top
By Lee Montgomery - Associate Editor
Friday, May 16, 2008
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Chris Trotman / Getty Images for NASCAR
The struggles of Hendrick Motorsports during this Sprint Cup season have been well-documented. For a team that many thought would continue its dominance of last year, the team’s failure to win more than one race thus far comes as a surprise.
Many also figured the move of Kyle Busch to Joe Gibbs Racing was a poor move on Busch’s part. What? Leave Hendrick for Gibbs? That’s at best a step sideways – at worst a step down.
But Hendrick’s troubles on 1.5-mile ovals are such that even four-time champion Jeff Gordon admitted that Busch made the switch at the right time.
“He just wasn't in the kind of equipment that he's in this year,” Gordon said of Busch in 2007. “I'm saying that, knowing that, Hendrick Motorsports has the best equipment out there.
“But we're not up to par this year with the competition, not with Gibbs or Roush [Fenway Racing]. We're working diligently to turn that around and change that. It just shows you how competitive this series truly is.
“And the competition has gone to work, and they've gotten ahead of us. We just don't have that edge that we had last year, and we're working hard to get it back.”
Who has that edge? JGR, clearly.
“So in a lot of ways, I know that Kyle wasn't happy about the way things turned out at Hendrick, but it's really fallen into place for him,” Gordon said. “And he should probably be thankful. Because, I mean, he wouldn't be in the position he's in right now if he was still at Hendrick. We just, we have some work to do to get to that point.”
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That’s saying a lot for a team like Hendrick, which not only has won the last two championship but also has visited victory lane 27 times in the past two years.
Saying there is something wrong with Hendrick Motorsports is like saying something is wrong with an NFL team that makes the playoffs year after year but stumbles to a, say, 1-5 record to start the season.
Gordon has seen plenty of ups and downs at Hendrick, and even if this is a down time, he knows the team is strong enough to bounce back.
“You could have gone off last year's stats and success that we had and said, ‘Oh, boy, Jimmie Johnson's going to win the championship again, and Jeff Gordon's going to run good. Dale [Earnhardt] Jr.'s going to run. All the Hendrick cars are going to be strong,’” Gordon said. “But it just is proof that that just isn't always the case. You can't predict these things. You don't know which teams are going to hit on something, and that's going to really fall into place for them, and which teams are going to rise to the occasion, which ones are going to fall by the wayside.
“The one thing I know about Hendrick is that … I don't feel like we're going to fall by the wayside, just sometimes we're going to get behind – and behind for us is to be a team that wins a few races or are in the top five, top 10 in points. But we're always going to be able to be in a position to get it back.”
The peaks and valleys of Hendrick, Gordon said, won’t be as high or as deep as some other teams, simply because the organization has plenty of talent, depth and resources.
“But I think that it just shows you how competitive things are out there when a team as strong as ours is getting beat,” Gordon said. “We know that we've got the ingredients and tools to get it back. I applaud those other teams out there for getting the jump that they have and being as strong as … they are right now.”
There is hope, of course, and it comes in the form of Chase For The Sprint Cup. Last year, Gordon had a terrific 26-race “regular season,” perhaps the best in the history of the Chase era.
But the Chase erased his lead, and Gordon eventually succumbed to Johnson for the title.
This year, though, maybe Gordon can do the reverse: Erase someone else’s lead and win the title.
“That's what I love about the Chase,” Gordon said. “This is the flip side to what we've had in past years, for our team, anyway, with the Chase where the Chase is kind of gotten the best of us.
“This year, I hope it actually falls in favor of the type of season we've started out with – a slow start. Hopefully, we can get ourselves solid in the top 12, and, be the team to beat when it really counts, which is in the last 10 races.”
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Jeff Gordon
Comments
2 responses to "Gordon: Hendrick Motorsports working to get back on top"
George Brinn said:
May 16, 2008 at 1:59 PMI feel that the reason that Kyle had such a hard time at Hendrick was the attitude of Jeff Gordon. I've run into a lot of people like him with that clickish attitude and it divides people. I don't know if its insecurity or that he could see that Kyle was a major threat. Rick Hendrick lost a great talent by letting Kyle go and i am sure he's smart enough that he won't let something like this happen again. General Motors head people need to look at how they treat their teams, JGR was one of their two top teams, what a foul up looseing them to Toyota. GM is having the same trouble they had in the IRL , they couldn't keep up in engine development they were down 50 hp to the Japs and had to get Cosworth to bail them out.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportTim Edick said:
May 17, 2008 at 6:43 AMEven in a disparaging year Jeff still talks with all the class that has made him one of the best Champions ever. He tells the truth even when it admits failer on either his part or at HMS. He gets critizied often for being the decision maker for HMS but in reality he does support his team mates. To finish second to Jimmie last year was disapointing to say the least but his class allowed him to show nothing but respect for Jimmie. Some hint that he got rid of Kyle when in reality Jr. got rid of Kyle. Yes HMS wanted the most popular driver and gave up the most talented driver to get him just to get him.
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