Rick Hendrick

NASCAR – Gordon Wins and Hendrick Scores With All 4 Cars in Rain Shortened Pennsylvania 400 from Pocono

August 6, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk 1 Comment

After the season he has had so far this year, Jeff Gordon will take a win anyway he can get it. Having everything that could possibly go wrong already happen to him so far this season, a little bit of good luck was bound to finally blow his way. And blow it did, as a major weather system blew in dumping torrential rain in Pocono, effectively ending the Pennsylvania 400 62 laps short of a full race, only 18 laps past the halfway mark, making it a complete race in the books. Not only was this a win for Gordon on the track, the points race looks a whole lot better from his perspective with this win. Moving into 13th in points + the win puts him in place for the wild card spot to get into the chase for the 2012 Sprint Cup, a spot he knew he needed a win to get to.

“It’s nice to know that things can still go our way,” Gordon said. “The way our year has gone, we’ll definitely take it like this. I tell you what, with all the things that have gone wrong for us this year, I’m hoping that this is the one that makes up for it all.”

Gordon took the lead when his teammate Jimmie Johnson got loose on the final restart of the race, sliding up the track into Matt Kenseth causing them both to slide back on the track and taking out Denny Hamlin’s #11 car as well.

“I’ve never seen the seas part like that,” said Gordon. “I got a good restart, so I really got up to fifth as we were getting into the braking zone going into 1. I don’t know what happened to the 48. I just saw he got loose, and when he got loose, it took everybody that was in front of us up the race track or into the wall.

“I just made it right to the bottom, stood in the gas and drove out … and we were leading.”

Hendrick teammate Kasey Kahne also got the benefit of the wreck moving up into the 2nd spot on the track and as the caution came out they realized that his left rear tie was flat and would need changing should the race go back to green, which of course never happened.

And to make the rain soaked miracle even better, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had been knocked back to 32nd because of a blown transmission and was looking at a loss of 3 positions in the points, retained the top spot as Matt Kenseth slid backwards in the wreck with the 48. Greg Biffle was also moved backwards allowing Johnson to finish well enough to retain his 4th place standings in the points as well. All 4 Hendrick teams are now in contention to make the chase because of Jimmie Johnson’s accident. Funny how things work out like that.

Dale Jr had what looked to be the fastest car on the track. Johnson had just taken the lead away from him when his transmission issue happened.

“We had a good run going,” he said. “This Chevrolet was pretty fast. Jimmie [Johnson had] the quickest car out there. But we felt like we might be able to work on ours and get a little better.”

“We put it in [Saturday] and during qualifying it was fine,” said Earnhardt. “When we restarted [on Lap 23], it was kind of aggressive, and then [we experienced] a bit of a vibration. The car was just really out of time, and it just kind of started missing some shifts and [was] difficult to get in gear.

“Finally, in third and fourth [gear] coming out of the tunnel, it didn’t have any fourth. Then I didn’t have third.”

After Jr. lost his transmission, Kahne started feeling vibrations in his gear box as well. At first he was worried, but his fears were laid to rest when his crew chief talked with Letarte and they advised Kahne it was not the same issue.

“I don’t think I really had much of a problem,” Kahne said. ” I think I was worried because Junior broke one or broke something with the transmission, I’m not sure what. I was struggling with mine a little bit when that happened … so I just quit shifting for a while, and I was a lot slower.

“[Earnhardt’s crew chief] Steve Letarte said it wasn’t a big deal. What happened with them was not what I feel was going on with mine. So from that point on, I focused on shifting again and didn’t even have an issue. Once I quit worrying about it, we were flying.”

So it appears that Mother Nature is indeed a fan of racing, and her team of choice is none other than Hendrick Motorsports. Why else would all of the bad luck the Gordon has experienced all season be wiped out by a single rainstorm just when the timing was perfect?

NASCAR – Kahne Takes The Checkered Flag in Charlotte For His First Win in the #5

May 28, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Kasey Kahne takes a celebration drink after winning the Coca~Cola 600 at Charlotte Motorspeedway

600 grueling miles in almost 90 degree heat, saving equipment until the end, making changes to keep up with the track as the sun goes down, and strategy to gain track position at just the right time. Kasey Kahne had all that working for him. Kenny Francis made all the right changes to his car and stayed ahead of the track, while Kasey took care of his car, keeping it off the wall, saving his brakes, and finding the speed he needed right at the best time to find it, in the final 25 laps.

After a rough start to the 2012 season Kahne has had a solid run for the last 6 weeks finishing top 10. He never gave up despite the string of DNF’s early on, he kept any complaints he may have had to himself, and forged on. The end result of that patience it seems is a win at one of NASCAR’s marquee races.

“I never doubted myself,” said Kahne. “I was upset at some of the things that may have happened. I made a huge mistake at Phoenix and hit the wall there, but other than that, we were solid — we were fast.

“It was just a matter of getting past those [six] weeks and moving on and putting some solid races together.”

“I think the biggest thing for myself was just to figure out the cars, figure out how they drove,” Kahne said. “It’s been a little bit different for me. We’ve had speed. Even the last five, six races, we’ve been in the top 10, but not near as fast as Jimmie Johnson or a couple of those guys who have been winning races.”I just knew for myself, I needed to step up. Our team is solid. Our car is solid. Mr. Hendrick gives us everything we need to win races and run up front. [Sunday] night we were able to put it all together.”

Denny Hamlin did everything he could to chase down Kahne, even coming to within a second of him after the final restart, but Kahne could not be caught as he just kept pulling away right up to the checkered flag.

“As the track cooled off, it freed up for us — the car got better,” Hamlin said. “Ultimately, it gave us a shot to win. … The first 10 laps of the last run, we got to them [Kahne], but we wore our front tires trying to get around them.

“Everything was executed great [Sunday], the pit calls, getting on and off pit road, the pit crew themselves. We had a very, very solid day.”

Greg Biffle had been the dominant car all day, leading 204 laps, and looking like the car to beat, until Kahne got by and never looked back.

“It’s so frustrating,” Biffle said of his fourth place finish after having the event’s dominant car. “You’re driving your heart out, you’re wondering, ‘Am I doing something wrong? Come on, come on.’ You’re doing all you can do, but the car won’t do what you want it to do. You just take what it gives you, otherwise you wreck it. And I just about wrecked it a half a dozen times trying to get forward.”

Other notable finishers were Carl Edwards who charged from the back of the field towards the front gaining more than 20 positions to finish in in the top ten in 9th place. Dale Earnhardt Jr also did well, running in the top 15 for most of the race and climbing to as high as second on a call by his Crew Chief, Steve Latarte, to stay out on 12 lap tires when the leaders came in to the pits. The gained track position was what he needed to stay inside the top 10 to finish in 6th place. Good enough to stay within 18 points of the points leader Greg Biffle in 4th place overall.

NASCAR – Jimmie Johnson Takes Home Hendrick’s 200th Win in Darlington

May 14, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk Leave a Comment

Jimmie Johnson took home to trophy for the Southern 500 from Darlington, and the 200th win for the Hendrick's stable.

200 wins. Now there’s a lifetime achievement to be proud of. But in typical Rick Hendrick fashion, while the mile stone is great, he is already looking towards the next one.

”That guy’s something,” Johnson said about the owner. ”He said, `We won 200. Let’s get 250.”

Jimmie Johnson could not have been more proud as he beamed his trademark smile around everywhere after the race. Johnson presented his owner with a helmet signed by the 15 drivers who ran for Hendrick since he began his operation. ”Thanks, buddy,” Rick Hendrick said with a smile. ”This will definitely be the centerpiece of the mancave.”

The win brings Johnson’s personal total up to 56 wins, and he is the 8th different winner out of 11 races so far this season.

Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart each did their best trying to postpone the 200th victory celebration but we’re simply unable to run down Johnson in the late stages of the race.

Tony Stewart did everything he could to postpone the 200th Hendrick win, but lost fuel pressure and held on for a 3rd place finish.

“I was trying to postpone [No. 200] for another week by trying to get to Jimmie, but I just couldn’t do it,” said Tony Stewart. “The closer I got to him, the tighter I got. That was one of the best runs we’d had, but still I wasn’t strong enough.

“He had plenty of car left. He was just riding, trying to save fuel. They won it in dominating fashion. To win a 200th race, you don’t want to back into it. They dominated and took it the way they should.”

“I think it’s phenomenal, especially with the competition over here getting tougher and tougher,” said Stewart, who lost second position to Hamlin when his car temporarily lost fuel pressure coming to the final restart. “It’s getting harder and harder to win these races.

“Especially for it to happen in the Southern 500 — it’s such a historic race. It’s a pretty cool milestone.”

When asked how he felt about bringing home a third place finish at a track where he still has yet to mark a W in the win column, Stewart said he was happy with the way things worked out for him and his #14 Office Depot team.

“You know, considering the hurdles of the day, I’m pretty happy with a third-place run,” Stewart said.

“We kind of struggled there the first half of the race,” Stewart said. “We fought loose in [Turn] 1 and 2, really tight in 3 and 4. So it’s really hard to fix the balance of the race car when it’s doing two different things on two different ends.

“Really proud of [crew chief] Steve Addington. He just kept throwing things at it to try to get a direction.”

“It’s why we won a championship last year,” he said. “We never give up.”

Johnson was a bit worried when he saw the grille of the 14 car in his rear view mirror.

“I still was really nervous with the 14 behind me,” Johnson said. “He’s been the guy week after week that can go the distance. I was trying to pace myself off of him. It worked out.”

It was fuel pressure however that, in the end, cost Stewart the position on the track and the chance to really give Jimmie a run for his money.

“We ran out of fuel coming off of [Turn] 4,” Stewart said. “It didn’t run all the way out of fuel, but it laid down enough that it didn’t run a 100 percent going down into Turn 1. Once we got into 1, we got the fuel to the pickup, and we just lost our spot doing it.”

NASCAR – Biffle Wins in Texas After Passing Johnson During the Longest Green Flag Run Ever

April 15, 2012 by Jay Tomchuk 1 Comment

Greg Biffle took the checkered flag in Texas to win the Samsung Mobile 500

Saving equipment and saving fuel while trying to run down the leader sounds like an impossible task with impossible odds, but that is exactly what Greg Biffle had to do in order to take the checkered flag in Texas last night for the Samsung Mobile 500. Johnson had led a total of 156 laps when Biffle finally passed him with only 34 laps to go, taking advantage of the only mistake Johnson had made all night when he brushed the wall and lost momentum after the pass to extend his lead to where Johnson could not catch him.

“I just dug deep,” Biffle said. “I knew I had to do it and kept trying and trying and trying. I knew the team would forgive me if I wrecked it trying to beat him, so I gave it all I had.”

This is Biffle first win since Oct 3, 2010 at Kansas breaking a 49 race winless streak, and the first win with crew chief Matt Puccia.

“I could say it’s about time,” said Biffle, “But I’m just thankful to be able to drive these cars, as fast as they are. We knew it was a matter of time that we were going to win one soon — we’ve been running so good.”

“I was a little short on fuel, so I kind of lifted a little early and let the car roll down through the corners. When he started catching a little bit of traffic, that’s when I started going.”

“I just pushed as hard as I could, and I was driving the thing sideways around the corner trying to catch him. I could tell I was catching him, and he had a little trouble with traffic.”

In fact Jimmie Johnson, who took his 5th runner up finish of his career in Texas, was taking offense to the way the cars who were laps down were racing him near the end.

Jimmie Johns ran for his 5th second place finish in Texas after leading the most laps for the day with 156.

“Man, second sucks — I wish we could have won,” Johnson said. “I’m definitely disappointed but we had a great race car and there’s a lot to be proud of here. Our pit stops were just amazing all night long. We had a very, very fast race car and a little bit more respect through some lapped traffic … it could’ve been a little different.”

“When I caught lapped traffic, some guys that were multiple laps down didn’t show much respect for myself, the leader,” said Johnson. “Before I knew it, the No. 16 [Biffle] was there inside of me and got by.

“We ran with him for the next eight or 10 laps, and then I made a mistake into [Turn] 3 and hit the fence. At that point, I just needed to make sure I brought it home. A great night, all in all. I certainly wish we could be in Victory Lane, but we’ll try again next week.”

“We’ve been really close over the last five or six months,” said Johnson. “You look through last year, even through different points, leading a lot of races and didn’t execute at the end for whatever reason.

“It’s nice to be running well. It’s nice to be in this position. But I want to get back to our winning ways really soon.”

Johnson led Team Hendrick with the best finish but all 4 Hendrick cars finished inside the top 10. Gordon finished 4th, Kasey Kahne finished 7th and Dale Jr, who has been the most consistent Hendrick driver this season, finished in 10th and tied for 2nd place in overall points now with Matt Kenseth.

Kasey Kahne had his best finish of the season so far in 7th, and inside the top 10 with all of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates.

Kasey Kahne was sure that the 48 car was going to get the 200th win for Handrick Motorsports but is just was not in the cards.

“I thought Jimmie had it [Saturday] night,” Kahne said. “I wasn’t worried about it, I thought it was over. Every time I looked up there the No. 48 was leading. Then, I guess 15 [laps] to go I looked up and the No. 16 was leading. Then I thought ‘well maybe not.’

“Those guys have been working hard since before I got here. They’ve been trying to get that 200th. It would be great to get it soon. Any one of the four, we need to get it done and get past that.”

Jeff Gordon is also feeling the pressure for wanting to be the driver who scores that win for Rick Hendrick.

“I’m thinking about it all of the time, and Rick reminds us all the time that it would be nice to get that out of the way,” Jimmie Johnson said. “Man, we’ve been all around it and had a lot of shots at it, and unfortunately just haven’t been able to pull it off.”

Jeff Gordon is feeling the pressure of getting the 200th win for the Hendrick Motorsports team.

“It’s on all of our minds. It’s pressure. We know that Rick doesn’t come to every single race, and right now he’s coming to every race, because he doesn’t want to miss that 200th, and none of us want him to,” Gordon said.

“We’ll keep digging, we’ll keep trying. And we know it’s going to happen — I mean, our teams are just too good, and we’re running too good. We know it’s going to happen, it’s just when. It would be nice to kind of get that one out of the way, because it is somewhat becoming this heavy load that we’re carrying.”

Next week takes us to Kansas for the STP 400, starting at 12:30 pm on Sunday. Coverage will still be carried by Fox.

NASCAR – Johnson Wins at Talledega – Is The 2 Car Push Here to Stay?

April 18, 2011 by Jay Tomchuk 4 Comments

Jimmie Johnsons during Driver Intros at Texas Motorspeedway - Image courtesy of JDTImages.ca

With all 4 cars at the front of the field to start the race it was still anyone’s game to get to Victory Lane.Ã‚Â Played out like a chess board with the pieces stuck together in pairs, Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talledega Superspeedway wasn’t as exciting as many of the races we’ve seen, or will see this season, with the exception of the final lap.Ã‚Â 8 cars rushing for the line and only one can take the checkered flag.Ã‚Â This time is was Jimmie Johnson’s turn to mark a win for his 2011 season and allows him to move into 2nd place in the points overall.Ã‚Â Dale Earnhardt Jr made the decision that the pair were faster when his car was doing the pushing, so in true team spirit Jr stayed there until Johnson took the win, finishing in 4th place himself, and moving into 3rd in the points standings.

Johnson felt the push from Earnhardt was so important that he tried to give Earnhardt the checkered flag after the race.

“Well I got it and gave it to him,” Johnson said. “He goes, ‘I don’t want it.’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve got to give you something — here. Thanks.’ He’s got the checkered flag over there, and I can’t wait to tilt a cold one back with him and thank him for a good job done today.” [Read more…]

NASCAR – Dale Jr to Get a Crew Chief Swap – RPM Finds New Funding

November 24, 2010 by Jay Tomchuk 5 Comments

For all their talk all season long about not making a change for the sake of making a change it seems that Rick Hendrick has decided that change must be exactly what he needs.Ã‚Â 3 out of 4 of the Hendrick owned teams are getting a shuffle on the pit box.Ã‚Â Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin will all swap crew chiefs for the 2011 Sprint Cup Season.Ã‚Â In the announcement made on TuesdayÃ‚Â this week has Steve Letarte moving to the #88 team of Dale Jr., Lance McGrew moving to the #5 team of Mark Martin which leaves Alan Gustafson who will be Crew Chief for the #24 car piloted by Jeff Gordon.Ã‚Â The team of Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus will be left unchanged due to their incredible success for the past 5 seasons.

Fans are hoping that this should breathe new life into Earnhardt’s racing efforts after suffering 93 win less starts over the past 2 seasons.Ã‚Â Earnhardt’s last win came at the spring race in Michigan in June of 2008.Ã‚Â He has had a few top 5 finishes, most recently his 4th at Daytona in July at the Coke Zero 400, 4th at the Sylvania 300 in September at Loudon and his memorable 2nd place finish at the Daytona 500 where he drove from 10th to 2nd looking very much like his Daddy as he moved through the field determined to get to the front. [Read more…]

NASCAR – Jimmie Johnson Goes Where no Driver has Gone Before.

November 22, 2010 by Jay Tomchuk 1 Comment

In the world of professional sports the ultimate goal is to beat all comers for a championship.Ã‚Â The best teams in the world will try to get another chance to repeat the following season.Ã‚Â Few have accomplished more than 3 and fewer still with 4, but winning 5 consecutive championships is a thing of legend no matter what sport you are talking about. In my research I found the Montreal Canadians of 1956-60in the NHL, and the New York Yankees from 1949-1953 in MLB , John Force (15 Consecutive NHRA Drag Championships) in the world of professional sports.Ã‚Â This is the league that Jimmie Johnson now finds himself in.

5 time consecutive NASCAR Champion.Ã‚Â Something no one has ever been able to say before.Ã‚Â Until now.Ã‚Â Jimmie Johnson has become the first driver ever to complete such a monumental task.Ã‚Â As anyone in the racing world will tell you, winning 2 or 3 of these in a lifetime is quite an accomplishment, but winning 5 of them in a row is beyond the biggest of accomplishments.Ã‚Â Throughout the race all of the contenders were shown in the lead at one point or another as they each suffered their own problems and mishaps throughout but it was Chad Knaus’s stoic leadership that held the #48 Lowe’s team together through it all and persevered to recover and grab a second place finish behind Carl Edwards to claim the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

“Jimmie, you are a rock star, my friend,” Chad Knaus radioed to Johnson after he crossed the finished line 1.608 seconds behind Carl Edwards. “You have proven it time and time again. And you damn did it my friend.” [Read more…]

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