Hendrick Finds Speed at the Perfect Time

Back in June, Dale Earnhardt Jr. stood in front of the media gathered on a Friday afternoon and told the throngs gathered there that the Hendrick cars “were getting close” to catching up with the Gibbs cars. It took a couple months for the rest of us to notice. We are noticing now.

Even before Jimmie Johnson sent a warning shot across the bow of the other drivers dreaming of capturing the 2016 Sprint Cup Championship, there were all sorts of signs indicating that the Hendrick Motorsports garage had found the speed that seemed missing for much of the season. The previous week, the 48 team seemingly threw away a victory at Dover International Speedway when a “too many men over the wall” penalty ruined his day. Sunday at Charlotte, Jimmie Johnson and his team put it all together ending a 24 race winless streak.

Losing a star such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. certainly impacted the on track performance but I’d argue the problem was more an equipment issue and not a driver issue. The past several races would support that argument.

Before Dover, the signs were all there that the Hendrick Garage was on to something. We saw race after race that the gap between the 2016 class of the field, the Gibbs cars, and the Hendrick cars was closing and closing fast.

Rookie Chase Elliot, the most consistent car in the Hendrick stable was seen nearly every race running up front. Getting caught up in somebody else’s mess Sunday deprived us from a possible Johnson vs Elliot battle. The point is the speed was there. Racing luck wasn’t.

Even Kasey Kahne, whose season is among the top 2016 Sprint Cup season’s disappointments, had suddenly found himself running towards the front. Kahne, after running far back in the pack for much of this season has averaged a 7th place finish in his last 6 races. This coming after averaging a nearly an 18th place finish in the previous six races. A remarkable turnaround for that #5 car and its team.

As for the #48 bunch, the last three races saw finished of 8, 7, and the win at Charlotte. His previous three? A 12th, an 11th and a 33rd. See a trend here?

There’s an old adage in sports. It’s not how you start but how you finish. Back in 2011, Tony Stewart was on racings life support. He was having a miserable season and needed a small miracle to even get into the championship. Stewart caught fire, winning the first two races of the Championship and eventually nosed out Carl Edwards in a tiebreaker to win the Championship.

I always take with a grain of salt the sometime hyperbole we often hear out of athletes mouths. There was something in the sincerity in which Dale Junior delivered his optimistic message at Pocono Raceway that day back in June. Come to find out he was telling the truth. Now we all know it

Thanks for reading. Listen to WTBQ radio on Monday and Friday mornings at 8:45 as I join Frank, Taylor and the Morning Show gang to discuss all the current happenings in NASCAR. You can also follow me on twitter @JimLaplante