Image details: Coke Zero 400 Qualifying served by picapp.com

Ever since we learned that Hendrick Motorsports scheduled a press conference this weekend at Daytona, most people believed that they would announce Mark Martin as the driver for their no. 5 car next season, and they were right. What was unclear, however, was whether it would be on a full-time basis, or if Mark would engage in another driver / mentor program to bring the young Brad Keselowski up through the ranks of the Sprint Cup Series … it turns out it may have been both.

With Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. both on-hand for Friday’s announcement, team owner Rick Hendrick announced that the team had signed Martin to a two-year deal to drive for the team. Mark will run a full schedule in 2009 in his last-ditch effort to win his elusive first Sprint Cup championship, and then he will run a 26-race schedule in 2010. Mark has finished in the top-five in points a record 12 times, and has finished runner-up on 4 occassions. Even though he will turn the ripe age of 50 years old in January, a run with Hendrick Motorsports may just give him his best shot yet to win the title.

With many moves in NASCAR’s Silly Season still up in the air, the second and third order effects of this announcement could be astronomical. Had Hendrick signed Mark Martin to just a 1-year deal, then the prospect of Tony Stewart taking over the car in 2010 after his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing expires would still be in play. However, as it now looks as though Hendrick will be grooming that seat for the future of Brad Keselowski, the only other GM team out there that could satisfy Stewart solely as a driver would be Richard Childress Racing, but heading there would be a very unlikely scenario for the two-time champ. That means that the potential deal to take over partial ownership of Haas CNC Racing could be back in play as early as next year

While it’s easy for some of us to say that Tony should just ride out the rest of his contract with Gibbs and take another look at the deal with Haas CNC sometime closer to the 2010 season, the fact of the matter is that this could be a “now or never” situation. With both Haas CNC cars currently outside of the top-35 in owner points and the sudden crisis in NASCAR sponsorship, there’s a good chance that without Tony Stewart or a name like Ryan Newman driving their cars, this team might not make it to 2010.

Joe Gibbs has stated that the talks between the team and Stewart are still focused on 2010 - not next year - and, that despite popular belief, GM has not made an offer to buyout the remainder of Tony’s contract. Yet, reports still indicate that Tony has reached an agreement that would make Office Depot the primary sponsor of his car should he make the move over to Haas CNC next season.

Another possibility that we could see play out if Tony is unable to get out of his contract with JGR early would involve either Ryan Newman or Martin Truex Jr. Newman is in his contract year with Penske Racing and has told the team that he will not re-sign unless the team’s performance improves over the next couple of months. Truex, on the other hand, had his 2009 option picked up by DEI, but Martin has since disputed the legality of the contract, which means he, too, could be available in the offseason. Both drivers have been rumored to be involved in the potential Haas CNC deal, so what we could see happen is one of those two drivers head over to Haas in 2009 to keep the team afloat until Stewart arrives in 2010.

Stewart is rumored to possibly be ready to make an announcement a few weeks from now when the series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the running of the Allstate 400. That reace is scheduled for July 27th.

By now, most of you are probably familiar with the many rumors surrounding the status of Casey Mears and the no. 5 team over at Hendrick Motorsports for 2009. Several sources are indicating that Rick Hendrick may have notified Casey last week that his tenure with HMS was coming to an end at the conclusion of this season, and already, the rumor mill has been lit up once again with all sorts of speculations.

The most intriguing, and for once, make-sense of these rumors comes from Lee Spencer over at Fox Sports, where she throws out the notion that Hendrick may be looking to promote Brad Keselowski from the Nationwide Series ranks, where he currently drives for Hendrick affiliate, JR Motorsports. Keselowski, who earned the first NNS win of his career earlier this season, could be Hendrick’s long-term solution to the Joe Gibbs Racing phenom, Joey Logano, but if these sources hold true, Hendrick would likely take a much different approach.

Whereas we could see a fourth team car implimented by JGR next season just to get Logano a full-time ride, Hendrick would approach it from a different angle, engaging Keselowski into a driver/mentor program, pairing him with the guy that’s done just that for a living since retiring from full-time action in 2006 … you guessed it, Mark Martin.

I never thought I’d see the day that Mark Martin would get behind the wheel of a Hendrick-branded car, but I’m seeing it now. ESPN is reporting that Mark has already confirmed that he will depart DEI after this year. In an odd twist to the story, though, they are also reporting that Martin will join the no. 5 team in an effort to make one last full-time run at the championship. That part of it I’m having a tough time buying off on for a couple of reasons. Aside from ESPN’s shakey and somewhat unreliable NASCAR reporting this year, I really feel that if Mark was going to take on another full season of racing, it would’ve been last year when he was well in position to make a bid for the Chase before finally stepping out of the car at Bristol.

Of course, we haven’t thrown nearly enough names into the fire to get the spicy rumor mill that we’ve grown quite accustomed to this year, so nascar.com decided to make sure we all took notice to the comments made by Juan Pablo Montoya on Sunday.

“Is it really true that Casey Mears is out of the 5 car?” was the first thing he said when confronted by reporters following the Toyota Save/Mart 350 at Infineon.

I’ll admit - I’m not too privy to the details of Montoya’s current contract with Chip Ganassi Racing, but that deal’s about to expire, then Juan is a name that has floated under the radar with flying colors, and would certainly add a little more flavor to the silly season gossip. He’s already holding his own over at Ganassi - even in the midst of working with three different crew chiefs during the first 16 races of the season. You have to wonder what the former Formula One star could do in some Hendrick furnished equipment!

So, is Mears on his way out of the Hendrick camp? Yeah, I think he is. It’s a notion that we’ve toyed around with all season long - even before the recent rumors - and, to me, the deck is stacked against him on this one. It’s a make-sense move for HMS to let him go. Bringing Keselowski up through the ranks would allow them to concentrate their championship efforts on the trio of Gordon, Johnson, and Jr. next season … and, even a longshot deal like Montoya would expand their merchandise and fan base even more.

Now, where he could wind up is anyone’s guess. The fourth car over at Richard Childress Racing would be my first inclination, but there are several other possibilities still lingering out there. Even with Greg Biffle expected to announce a re-signing with Roush-Fenway Racing this weekend, a potential slot could still open up there if Jack were to release Jamie McMurray from the organization, as many people were speculating on just a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, issues still do not appear to be resolved between Ryan Newman and the Penske Racing organization, and I’ve even heard talk about Casey headed somewhere like Haas CNC Racing, or even a return to Ganassi.

Yes … Silly Season is still a mess.

*Credit photo to Newscom.

Image details: LifeLock 400 served by picapp.com

It took 15 races with Hendrick Motorsports, and 76 races since Richmond in 2006, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. has finally once again reached Victory Lane - silencing his critics and giving Junior Nation something to cheer about. Earnhardt led five times on the day, last taking the lead from Jamie McMurray on lap 195. With the majority of the field making green flag stops for fuel in the last 20 laps of the race, Earnhardt fans watched nervously as the no. 88 team decided to stretch their fuel. Originally guesstimating themselves to be 2 laps short of the pit window, they were hoping that Dale had saved enough fuel during the last run to make the tank last … and then the caution flag waived on lap 197 when Sam Hornish Jr. spun through the infield, sending the race into overtime for a green-white-checkered finish.

Lining up for the restart for the 2-lap shootout, Earnhardt led the field to the green flag followed by Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin (both of whom were also gambling on fuel mileage), and then Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth. Junior was able to get a monster restart, putting some distance between he and the no. 9 car of Kasey Kahne. Mark Martin ran out of fuel on the first lap of the restart, making Earnhardt fans even that much more nervous. Then, on the final lap, contact between some cars a little deeper in the field sent Michael Waltrip and Patrick Carpentier spinning. The caution came out, and just like that, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had finally snapped his winless streak. He coasted to the finish, and then ran out of fuel heading down pit road.

The win is very symbolic for Earnhardt Jr, being that it came on Father’s Day. As car owner, Rick Hendrick, joined him in Winner’s Circle to celebrate the win, and the two hugged, Dale took the time to wish a Happy Father’s Day to everyone. This is now the 8th Father’s Day since the passing of Junior’s father, the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.

Last week’s race winner, Kasey Kahne, went onto finish 2nd as he was hooked up on the same fuel strategy as Earnhardt Jr. Matt Kenseth was perhaps the most dominant car in the second half of the race, but was forced to settle for 3rd. Brian Vickers started the race in 18th, but moved up inside the top-five by lap 15, and then took the lead for the first time on lap 34. The strategies, however, did not work in his favor, and he finished fourth, giving the team their second consecutive top-five finish. Tony Stewart had a very quiet day and led only 1 lap during the race, but he grabbed a much needed 5th place finish.

Jimmie Johnson led the most laps on the day, but a bad pit stop on lap 182 forced him into a 6th place finish. 7th place went to Carl Edwards who run up in the top-five for almost the entire day. David Ragan ran outside of the top-ten for most of the day, but as things shuffled out in the end, he found himself in 8th and just 10 points out of the Chase field. Elliott Sadler had a quiet and solid day. After starting in 27th, he went onto finish in 9th, giving the no. 19 team only their third top-ten finish of the season. And, Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-ten after looking as though he could finish 1st or 2nd until the lap 197 caution forced him to pit for fuel.

Points leader, Kyle Busch, got lost in the shuffle of things. After starting the race from the pole position and running near the front in the final segment of the race, he found himself in 13th when the checkers waived in the air. It was still enough to add to his points lead, however, as Jeff Burton finished in 15th. The run was a disappointing one for Burton, who started the race in 2nd, but it did keep his streak alive as he is still the only driver in the series to finish every race running inside the top-15. Busch now leads Burton in the standings by 32 points, while 3rd place, Dale Earnhardt Jr, has closed the gap between he and the leader to just 84 points.

Late race mishaps cost the cars of AJ Allmendinger, Greg Biffle, and Sam Hornish Jr. some very valuable track position. After climbing into the top-ten, Allmendinger overshot his pit entrance during the last round of stops and wound up finishing 19th. For Biffle, it was another costly penalty late in the race. After running inside the top-ten all day long, Biffle made his final stop with just 15 laps to go. Greg received the command to go as soon as the jack dropped, so he did just that, but he ran over the air hose, and NASCAR penalized him with a drive thru penalty. He finished 20th. Sam Hornish Jr. led the first laps in his Cup career and was running inside the top-ten until he spun on lap 197 to bring out the sixth caution of the day, resulting in a 22nd place finish.

Earnhardt Jr’s victory gives Hendrick Motorsports only their second victory of the season - both of which were won on fuel mileage (the other being Johnson’s win at Phoenix). As previously mentioned, it also snaps a 75 race winless streak for Earnhardt and gives him his first points victory since making the move to HMS at the beginning of this year.

Michigan Grades:
the Race: 85%
the Drama: 99%
Coverage: 85%
Pre-Race: 84%

Overall Grade: 87.7%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):

When I think of Fontana, CA, it doesn’t necessarily strike me as a track absolutely dominated by Hendrick Motorsports. Do they own the best track record there over the last few years? Of course they do. But, just about everytime the series visits here, you can also count on the fact that the Hendrick drivers are going to be challenged by Jack Roush’s boys.

Last year was a prime example – In the Spring race, Matt Kenseth brought home the checkers for Roush with HMS’s Jeff Gordon & Jimmie Johnson finishing right behind him. In the Fall competition, it was Hendrick with the win thanks to the Johnson / Kyle Busch combination (1st & 3rd) taking out Carl Edwards – who finished 2nd – and Kenseth, who finished a more distant 7th. From 2004 to 2006, both teams had 2 wins apiece at Fontana, while Roush had 9 top-five’s and 13 top-ten’s as opposed to Hendricks’ 7 top-five’s and 10 top-ten’s.

Of course, while these have clearly been the two most dominant teams at this particular track over recent years, their drivers are certainly not the only ones that have consistently run well here.  Joe Gibbs Racing will once again put the Toyota brand to the test with their three drivers this week, as they all coincidentally have excellent numbers here as of late. In four starts at Fontana, Denny Hamlin has only one top-ten – a sixth place finish in the Fall of ’06 – but, his worst finish is only 19th, which came in the Fall of last year. Tony Stewart has shown a great level of consistency, as he has at most tracks, with an average finish of 16.7 over fifteen races, and his only finish outside of the top-fifteen in the last five California races was a 43rd in 2006. But, the real buzz in the Gibbs garage this week will be around the guy that’s taken the west coast by storm these last few years, Kyle Busch. The youngest of the Busch brothers heads into this weekend with five consecutive top-ten Fontana finishes, including a win in 2005.

Other names to keep an eye on this weekend include: Kurt Busch – an average finish of 11.3 over eleven races and a win back in 2003. Kasey Kahne has raced here eight times and finished outside of the top-fifteen only twice, and also won here in 2006. And, if you’re looking for a darkhorse this weekend, look no further than Brian Vickers. Even in the worst season that Toyota could possibly imagine for themselves – that year being 2007 – Vickers managed top-ten finishes in both Fontana races.

 TZ’s Six-Pack Challenge:

Winner – Carl Edwards
2nd Place – Jimmie Johnson
3rd Place – Kyle Busch
4th Place – Matt Kenseth
5th Place – Tony Stewart
6th Place – Kurt Busch

Lock of the Week – Jimmie Johnson
Sleeper Pick – Brian Vickers
Steer Clear of – Casey Mears

*Note – Lock of the Week, Sleeper, & Steer Clear of eligibility for the first five races will be determined by 2007 rankings. Lock of the Week can be anyone, Sleeper must come from outside top 15 in points, and Steer Clear of must come from within top 15 in points.

The buzz in the garage area and in the media prior to Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Daytona was all about – you guessed it – Dale Earnhardt Jr. The crew for Junior’s no. 5 Chevy tinkered with the deck lift after the initial round of inspections and were soon caught, causing him to start the race from the back of the field. Junior did manage to climb his way up through the 43-car field to finish the race in third place, but the team wasn’t left with as much of a sense of accomplishment when NASCAR issued their penalties on Wednesday.

Earnhardt himself was docked 50 driver points, which are probably of little concern to NASCAR’s most popular driver since he has no intentions of running the full Nationwide schedule. What does hurt the team, however, is the fact that NASCAR additionally dinged car owner Rick Hendrick with 50 owner points and not only fined Crew Chief Chad Walter in the sum of $25k, but also suspended him for the span of the next six races and placed him on probation for the remainder of the season.

The Nationwide Series cars of David Gilliland, Johnny Sauter, Kertus Davis, Cale Gale, and David Stremme were found guilty of rule infractions of their own. All of them have been docked 25 points and their Crew Chiefs also suspended for the next six races.  Click here for the complete story.

In similar news, after making a spectacular run in the Daytona 500, Robby Gordon was penalized for an unapproved front bumper cover that was caught in the opening day inspections for the race during speedweeks. Robby was hit with the loss of 100 driver points and his Crew Chief, Frank Kerr, was fined $100k and suspended for the next six races in the Sprint Cup Series.  Click here for the complete story.

At this point, I’m not really sure what can be said about Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports that hasn’t already been stated a million times by now. It’s safe to say that Rick hasn’t built race teams or simply just an organization, he’s crafted and molded together a dynasty in oh, roughly twenty years time. To put it mildly, they’re NASCAR’s version of the New York Yankees … and, like I said – that’s putting it mildly.

In addition to the countless records that HMS has to their credit, they’ve also won 7 Sprint Cup Championships (4 with Gordon, 2 with Johnson, and 1 with Terry LaBonte) and also sit second on the all-time list for winningest teams in NASCAR with 167 Cup victories. Having won 6 Daytona 500’s would probably make any other car owner blush, but Hendrick Motorsports may be the only organization with a resume’ thick enough to make that accomplishment run second-fiddle to a list of others.

Moving away from the historic data for a moment – because quite frankly, we could go on with that for days as it pertains to this particular team – the recent success of HMS has been simply earth shattering. In 2006, Rick’s four teams combined for a 9 wins and three of the teams made the Chase field – Jimmie Johnson, who won the Championship, Jeff Gordon (finished 6th), and Kyle Busch (finished 10th). Brian Vickers was the only of the drivers not to make the playoff field, though he did finish the year off in a very respectable 15th … yet, those numbers paled in comparison to 2007. Last year, HMS compiled a total of 18 victories – half of all the points races run on the schedule – and, again placed three cars in the Chase field, this time finishing 1st, 2nd, and 5th with Casey Mears – who replaced Vickers in the no. 25 car – coming home in 15th. As if that all weren’t enough, another tidbit you may find interesting is the fact that in both of those seasons all four of the race teams won at least one race.

In 2008 the organization loses Kyle Busch but replaces him with the most popular driver in all of motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Between the four drivers that now compile the Sprint Cup roster at Hendrick Motorsports, they have a combined 132 wins in 1200 career starts, giving them a history of winning approximately 11% of their starts. It’s a star-studded lineup, and you’re going to have to search high and low to find any race fan that doesn’t believe that they’ll produce a star-studded season in 2008.

Cup Series Roster:

5: Casey Mears – With the departure of Kyle Busch from the HMS lineup, this year Mears makes the move from the no. 25 to the no. 5. In his first year with Hendrick Motorsports, Mears dropped one spot in the rankings from ’04 despite improving both in top-five and top-ten finishes, not to mention picking up his first-ever Cup Series victory (Spring race at Lowe’s). Despite having a career-high points finish of only 14th (2006), Casey continues to show extreme potential, and it goes without saying that if he could find a certain level of consistency, he’d undoubtedly be a very strong Chase candidate. Consistency isn’t a very hard commodity to find within the Hendrick organization, but with Junior replacing Kyle Busch this season, Casey will not only remain the fourth team in line in terms of priority, but it’s a very distant fourth. While some believe that the fourth car at HMS is better than the second car virtually anywhere else, I’m not often of the same opinion. Despite the fact that he deserves it, I believe that the attention HMS will give towards getting Junior off to a hot start, trying to get Jimmie back to a third consecutive championship, and the effort they’ll give to making Gordon a strong contender again this year will prove to be too much. Casey falls just shy of making the Chase class yet again this year.

24: Jeff Gordon – The man, the myth, the legend. Arguably the greatest driver this sport has seen in the last 15 years, and undoubtedly one of t he best of all-time, Gordon fell just short in his quest for his “Drive for Five” last year and heads into ’08 with only one thing on his mind … winning his fifth Cup Series Championship. After missing the Chase altogether in 2005, many fans had given up on Gordon and believed that he had passed his prime and was merely a shell of his former self. Well, he proved the critics wrong by bouncing back with a 6th place finish in 2006 with 2 wins, 14 top-five’s, and 18 top-tens, and then absolutely stunned the masses last year by finishing runner-up to Johnson in a season that brought him six victories, 21 top-five’s, and a record-setting 30 top-ten finishes. He also led the points standings by a wide margin for the majority of the year, and if not for a late-season rampage by Johnson, Gordon would have very-well accomplished his goal. This year I expect much of the same from JG, and I still expect him to fall shy of his goal yet again … barely. He finishes runner-up to the Championship yet again, this time losing it to Kenseth.

48: Jimmie Johnson – 15 victories, 33 top-five’s, 48 top-ten’s, and 2 Cup Championships. Those are Jimmie Johnson’s statistics for the last two seasons, and those two years alone already put Johnson into NASCAR’s elite driver class of all-time. This year he will attempt to become only the second driver in the sport’s history to win three consecutive championships, but I truly believe that quest will be denied. Will Johnson dominate parts of the season? Without a doubt. I just don’t see three-in-a-row for Johnson, though, just like I didn’t see a perfect season for the New England Patriots. I know most won’t agree with it, but Johnson finishes fourth this year.

88: Dale Earnhardt Jr – Junior has gotten off to a marvelous start with his new team already, and it’s started quite a buzz with the fans and media alike. He won the Budweiser Shootout and then the Gatorade Duel, and now he walks into the Daytona 500 as the heavy favorite to win … and, he is very likely to do that. It’s got many people believing that he can finally win his first Cup Championship this season, but I think that may be asking a little too much of the guy. I mean, he hasn’t won a points race in about two years, and now we want him to win a championship just because he has a new team? Junior’s performance will improve dramatically in 2008, no doubt about it … and, he will make the Chase for the Sprint Cup platform … he’s going to win races. But, win a championship he will not. There’s a lot of tracks that Dale will run well at, but the combination of the media frenzy surrounding everything that he’s done leading up to this season combined with trying to figure out the HMS setups and the COT, he’s going to have some difficulties that popup along the way. He will finish 2008 in the second half of the Chase field.

Driver Roster: A+
Off-Season: A
2008 Outlook: A+

The 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season officially got underway with the drop of the green flag Saturday night for the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway. Finally, after months of talking about whether or not Dale Earnhardt Jr would find success driving for Hendrick Motorsports. All the debate about if the Toyotas would be able to compete with the competition after adding Joe Gibbs Racing to the mix. And, all the doubts about the Car of Tomorrow being able to handle the monster speedway that is Daytona. Many question marks still linger, no doubt about it, but Saturday night’s Shootout gave us a small glimpse of what we might be able to expect in the highly anticipated 2008 NASCAR season, and the excitement level has raised to a whole new level as we gear up for the 50th running of the Daytona 500.

After an absolutely catastrophic weekend of practice heading into the Budweiser Shootout, the race itself actually had somewhat of a calm atmosphere to it. I spent the entire race just waiting to see if Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch would continue their Daytona feud and get into each other. I waited to see some of the guys that had to turn to backup cars completely lose the handling of their race cars. And, I waited to see if one of the Shootout virgins would make a bold move to get out front and cause a pileup behind him in the process. None of that happened. In fact, the only accident that occurred during the race as a result of actual contact between cars was when Jamie McMurray got into Denny Hamlin with 46 laps left on the ticker. Everything else that happened was the result of cut tires by Bill Elliot and David Gilliland.

So, now that you know what we didn’t see, here’s what did happen. The Toyotas of Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and Dave Blaney looked very strong throughout the race, and even Michael Waltrip’s car early on. In fact, the only cars that ever looked like they may be faster than the trio of Camri’s were the cars belonging to Rick Hendrick, who had all four of his teams in the race. With 38 laps to go, the restrictor plate duo of Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr finally hooked up and took control of the race. Earnhardt had actually been up at the front of the pack since he led his first lap in a Hendrick car back on lap 6, but Stewart had to work his way up all the way from the back where started the race as a result of Friday’s incident with Kurt Busch, and it took him quite some time to work his way to the front of the field. Meanwhile, Junior’s new teammates – Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson – had lagged toward the back of the field all night long. After being collected up in the big accident that took place during the practice runs, both drivers had to turn to backup cars to run in the Shootout. The problem was that their backup cars were actually cars that were used to run at Darlington and Richmond in 2007. After making significant changes to the car at the end of the first race session and during the first caution in the second session, though, the numbers 24 and 48 quickly started moving toward the front.

With 32 laps left - just six laps after Stewart and Junior initially hooked up – Gordon and Johnson caught up to the two race leaders and Junior pulled away from Stewart to run with his new teammates. Dave Blaney and Reed Sorenson fell in line behind Stewart, and we spent the next several laps watching Smoke try and lead a charge to pass the Hendrick dynasty, which he finally did.

After a late-race caution, the green flag dropped once more and it was a shootout to the end with only a few laps remaining. Junior and Stewart ran neck and neck with Johnson pushing the 88 car and Gordon pushing the 20. When Gordon pulled to the middle of the track and started to drop back in the field, Junior appeared to have the advantage over Stewart, who was now being pushed by Denny Hamlin … and, it stayed that way as Junior brought home the checkered flag – leading a record 47 of the 70 laps - and Stewart came home in second. Though there were no points involved and it won’t go down as an “official” race win for Earnhardt, he gave Junior Nation plenty to rejoice about and plenty to hope for in 2008.

Race Results (from nascar.com):

Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have been docked 100 points each, and their crew chiefs suspended for six races, as a result of technical violations discovered during inspections before last weekend’s race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. As you might expect, the drivers (both with Hendrick Motorsports) and NASCAR have slightly different views of the situation.

Quoth Nextel Cup Director John Darby:

Now if this penalty won’t stop it, we have no problems ramping up…. We can keep going, and we will until we get the results we’re looking for.

And, in the other corner, team owner Rick Hendrick had this to say:

We are disappointed in NASCAR’s decision and feel the penalties are excessive. Right now all of our options are being evaluated, including our personnel situation and a possible appeal to the National Stock Car Racing Commission.

Sounds like a power struggle to me. Good times…

Next year at this time, I wonder how Dale Jr. will be doing with his new team. He’s going to have his own personal expectations driving him, but you can bet that Rick Hendrick will be applying his own type of pressure, just to keep Dale Jr. focused.

Can Dale Jr. win in short order next year, or will he struggle with the new team? You can bet that this off-season will be plenty busy for Dale Jr. and his new team. They’re going to have work at not only building new cars, but doing some off-season testing as well. Dale Jr. will be using Hendrick horsepower, which will help him tremendously, but his biggest adjustment will probably be with the chassis and crew chief.

I do think he’ll win by mid-season, at least once. More interestingly, the more Dale Jr. wins, the less wins that Gordon and Johnson get. Will this affect team chemistry? Probably not, but each driver’s goal is to win races first, and team chemistry takes a distance second (as it should).

With the entire racing world consumed with the Hendricks-Dale Jr. saga, I have to wonder, what would Dale Sr. think about all of this? Yes, it’s a hypotheical question, but it’s still worth thinking about. Obviously, if Dale Sr. was still alive, Dale Jr. would still be at DEI…or would he?

That’s a tough question to answer because Dale Sr. would probably be retired from driving by now, and he would have had a more hands-on approch with DEI, ensuring that his cars would have the greatest resources available.

On the other hand, Dale Jr. is not the same kid he was when his Father was killed; he’s older, wiser, and definitely more experienced. I think Jr. and Sr. would have had a great approach to staying competitive, and more than anything else, I think Dale Sr. would have had more influence on Jr.’s psychological approach to driving.