Rick Hendrick (center) has compiled a stable of driving thoroughbreds: (left to right) Casey Mears, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
(file/Chuck Burton/Associated Press)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Rick Hendrick already had a pretty good team.
The successful NASCAR Sprint Cup car owner with the syrupy Virginia drawl had assembled as strong a lineup of sponsors, cars, and drivers as any team in the sport.
There was Jeff Gordon, four-time champion with 81 career wins and $93 million in earnings, in the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet. Jimmie Johnson, the two-time defending champion, with 33 career wins and $59 million in earnings, in the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy. And Casey Mears, a veteran of 180 races and winner of $21 million, who recorded his first career victory at Charlotte last May in his first season with Hendrick Motorsports.
When NASCAR’s most dominant team last June added the sport’s biggest free agent and most popular driver to its ranks in Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports suddenly loomed as something more than just a pretty good team with a shot at a third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series championship and eighth overall.
Hendrick Motorsports loomed as a Super Dream Team.
With Earnhardt replacing the talented but recalcitrant Kyle Busch in the four-car stable, Hendrick had a four-pronged powerhouse that was capable of delivering results not only on the racetrack but in the marketplace for its Chevrolet manufacturer as well x as its sponsors and business partners.
Hendrick set the standard last year after its four drivers combined for 17 wins (10 by Johnson), which was as many as Earnhardt had in nine seasons at Dale Earnhardt Inc. Hendrick, though, seemed caught off-guard recently when he was asked if his success had bred any resentment.
‘‘I know it is there, but I don’t see it,’’ Hendrick replied. ‘‘I am friends with a lot of the guys in the garage area. I have been in the position to watch other guys have success and I know that feeling — it motivates you to want to go beat them.
‘‘I’m sure it is there, but everybody is still speaking to me and we are getting along great,’’ he added. ‘‘I think [the competition] is so tight, it is almost like we have just come up a little bit better, but I am sure there is frustration there.’’
Hendrick’s rivals no doubt threw their hands in the air, as if to say, ‘‘Here they go again,’’ when Earnhardt, with his cousin Tony Eury Jr. atop the pit box as crew chief, won last Saturday’s Budweiser Shootout in his first race in the No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard Chevrolet.
But Earnhardt wasn’t able to win without drafting support from all three teammates to stave off the Toyota of runner-up Tony Stewart.
‘‘The chemistry is unbelievable,’’ Hendrick said. ‘‘That is the hard part. You see all those other three drivers come in Victory Lane and you see [Earnhardt] come down here early for the test, the commitment these two guys [Earnhardt and Eury] have put in.
‘‘I mean, he has answered the question to me with a bold statement.’’
The question had to do with Earnhardt’s desire to compete at the highest level and whether he still had the goods after going through a two-year winless drought at DEI.
‘‘He is as hungry and committed as anybody that has ever sat down in one of my race cars,’’ said Hendrick, placing Earnhardt among a group that includes Geoff Bodine, the late Tim Richmond, Darrell Waltrip, Ricky Rudd, Ken Schrader, Terry Labonte, and Gordon and Johnson.
‘‘Rick has been real supportive of me,’’ said Earnhardt. ‘‘This deal, it has some pressure. This whole situation can be difficult for me and Rick, for my teammates, for everybody, really, that’s close to it.
‘‘There’s times when I feel a whole lot of pressure and I just get a word or two from Rick and I know where everything is and I’m cool.’’
‘‘He has an awesome amount of talent,’’ Hendrick said. ‘‘I used to hate to see him come to the front when I had a car down here. I mean, when you would see him get lined up, you knew you were going to have to deal with him. It is a whole lot better having him in our car, I will tell you that.’’
Out in front
When the green flag is unfurled today for the 50th running of the Daytona 500, Hendrick cars will occupy four of the top nine spots in the 43-car field: Johnson will start on the pole position; Earnhardt is in the third starting spot, by virtue of his victory in the first qualifying heat of Thursday’s Gatorade Duels; Gordon is in the No. 8 spot; and Mears has the No. 9 spot in his No. 5 Kellogg’s/Carquest Chevy, which Busch drove last season.
It’s not happenstance that Hendrick cars consistently run at the front of the pack. It is part of the culture of success Hendrick promotes, emphasizing teamwork and hard work above all else.
So why have his competitors struggled to beat Hendrick?
‘‘It’s Rick’s commitment to the sport,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘It’s not just something that is a business opportunity. This is what he loves to do. Yes, it is a business and he runs it like a business, but his heart is in it because he loves motorsports. He loves racing. He loves winning. And I think that really sets him apart.’’
Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus no doubt will take their cue from their car owner when they go for their third consecutive championship.
‘‘I think that Jimmie and Chad and those guys are in such a different position,’’ said Gordon, when asked to compare Johnson’s chances for a third title in a row with his own in 1999 when it seemed his Rainbow Warriors were beginning to come apart at the seams and crew chief Ray Evernham was looking to start his own Dodge-backed team. ‘‘I feel like, yeah, there’s pressure but they’re so together, they’re so on top of their game, and Hendrick Motorsports is on top of their game a whole lot better than we’ve ever been.
‘‘The only thing that can throw a kink into it is this new car. That, to me, is the variable we really don’t know 100 percent about. I have a lot of confidence in our organization, but I’ve seen what Jimmie and Chad and that team can do. I would pick them to be the team to beat for the championship this year and give them a very good shot at doing three in a row.’’
Johnson’s biggest competition may not come from the rival camps of Richard Childress Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, or Roush Fenway Racing, but from within his own team. Of course, adding Earnhardt to the mix only seemed to shift the balance of power in favor of Hendrick Motorsports.
‘‘It’s going to make Hendrick stronger,’’ Childress said. ‘‘He’s sitting there now with four really top teams. I think they’re going to be someone to reckon with, but we’ve just got to go out and figure out how to beat them.
‘‘We can’t depend on them to beat themselves.’’
Super Dream Teams don’t often give the opposition the opportunity.
Michael Vega can be reached at vega9@globe.com.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
