Will competition finally catch up to Hendrick Motorsports?
The final three races of the 2009 Sprint Cup season will be testing grounds for most drivers and teams, as they prepare for 2010. Kyle Busch begins a fresh tenure with his new crew chief, Dave Rogers. Brad Keselowski will get a head start with the Penske Racing team. We see the commencement of the Ford phase-in for Richard Petty Motorsports.
Even drivers in the Chase for the Championship are looking towards 2010. Greg Biffle, a true realist, admitted that they are going for wins and looking ahead to 2010.
“So right now all we can do is go out there and focus on winning and finishing the highest we can in the points standings,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson has turned this year’s championship chase into a one-man show. His teammates Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon are still alive, but barely. Trailing by 184 and 192 points respectively, they can still vie for the title, but they need Johnson to encounter some kind of misfortune…like that is going to happen.
Juan Pablo Montoya and Tony Stewart are on the life support as far as the championship is concerned, but strange occurrences could transpire in a three-race span…unlikely, but not impossible.
There is a strong possibility that Hendrick Motorsports will finish the season 1-2-3 in the standings, which would be a record-breaking feat. With still a glimmer of hope, Martin and Gordon are going to stick with what has been working for them in 2009 as opposed to experimenting for 2010. Obviously, Johnson and Chad Knaus are not going to risk a fourth successive title just to tinker around with new setups.
Meanwhile, other powerhouse teams are searching for an advantage. They are searching for that ground-breaking competitive edge in which no other team possesses. The fact that Roush Fenway Racing is preparing for 2010 already is a positive sign for hardcore Ford enthusiasts, as well as the fans that are just sick and tired of HMS. This organization won ten races in 2002 while placing four drivers in the top twelve in the standings.
This organization placed all five teams in the 2005 Chase for the Championship when it was only a ten-man show while winning eleven total races. Oh yeah, they won the 2003 and 2004 championships. Clearly, they have the capability to outperform the Hendrick contingent. It is just a matter of finding the magic setup, and unlike most teams, they have the resources.
Joe Gibbs Racing is another team that will be dangerous in 2010. Denny Hamlin’s performance is right up there with Martin, Gordon, and Montoya. Mechanical failures and self-inflicted mistakes have cost Hamlin dearly. However, he has momentum as far as performance is concerned, and in many cases, a driver carries that momentum into the following season. Kyle Busch and Joey Logano have been looking towards the new season for weeks now.
There is one team that has flown under the radar so to speak, but the performance has vastly improved over the course of the last two months. Richard Childress Racing failed to place one driver in the Chase for the first time since 2005. What happened the following season? RCR won six races in 2006, and placed two cars in the Chase. Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, and Jeff Burton have displayed considerable improvement, especially Bowyer. It is possible that Harvick becomes a lameduck driver in 2010, but he could still be a factor. Expect Bowyer and Burton to reemerge as weekly contenders.
Casey Mears and the No. 07 team seem to be spending a lot more time in or near the top ten. That group is clicking right now, and it is a shame that they will likely part ways in 2010 due to sponsorship issues. I know Mears takes a lot of heat from fans, but he has not spent consecutive years with the same team since 2004 and 2005. That could be a contributing factor as to why he struggles so often. If this team had another season together, Mears could be a sleeper.
Dale Earnhardt Jr is the only HMS driver not in championship contention, which leads one to believe that he could be the so-called R&D driver in that camp.
I am sure that Jack Roush, Joe Gibbs, Richard Childress, Roger Penske, Michael Waltrip, Richard Petty (and George Gillett), Chip Ganassi, and that dude at Red Bull with the strange and lengthy name, among others, are tired of watching Rick Hendrick sit at the head table, toasting his paramount organization on an annual basis.
Diligent effort will be exercised within these organizations from now until February, as they intend to have one of their drivers unseat Johnson. Herein lies the problem; on the cusp of another title, Johnson and the No. 48 have proven that they do not need a head start for the following season.
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Will competition finally catch up to Hendrick Motorsports?
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