hendrick 2019

Tony Stewart when interviewed recently by Jr said "everybody cheats" and they all laughed. ;) HMS was fast at Daytona, had terrible luck, looks like they missed the setup at Atlanta. Two races and some are ready to throw in the towel. Good to see Larson throwing shade and keeping his name up there. He put on a show at Atlanta, plenty of side by side racing for the lead, and he wanted to dice it up with Harvick even more. Nascar needs more drivers like him. I think he is going to have some fun this year and win some races..not much of a stretch to say that, this kind of racing is more his style.
 
Remove the non-charters, Rick Ware Racing, Spire, Go FAS, StarCom, Premium (the backmarker class), Front Row, the Petty 43, Leavine, Germain (the next class up from that), there are 24 cars in the field.

Out of those 24 cars, Hendrick went 15, 17, 19, and 24. David Ragan for Front Row finished 16th and Ryan Preece for JTG Daugherty DNF'd. So Jimmie Johnson was the worst car running Sunday once you remove the bottom 2 classes of cars.

Every remaining team organization on the grid Sunday other than the ones I excluded above, Hendrick were worse than them except for Childress (20-21).
 
StandOnIt said:
Tony Stewart when interviewed recently by Jr said "everybody cheats" and they all laughed. ;) HMS was fast at Daytona, had terrible luck, looks like they missed the setup at Atlanta. Two races and some are ready to throw in the towel. Good to see Larson throwing shade and keeping his name up there. He put on a show at Atlanta, plenty of side by side racing for the lead, and he wanted to dice it up with Harvick even more. Nascar needs more drivers like him. I think he is going to have some fun this year and win some races..not much of a stretch to say that, this kind of racing is more his style.
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LMAO. Comical.
 
Whay has surprised me about the Chevys in general is the under performance. I recall awhile back it was big news that Alba Colon was leaving GM to join Hendrick as their lead engineer. Something is still amiss. Yes JJ is aging and has nothing to prove, Chase is very established, Byron and Bowman are works in progress. It not just Hendrick that's down, Ganassi ain't setting the woods on fire either. Kurt Busch may be the best of the Chevys right now. It's a little odd to me, with over a year in the Chevys are still out to lunch, but the new Ford offering is bad out of the box . Then throw in, the Supra won its first outing in Xfinity last weekend. Things just look down for the Bowtie brigade.
 
SlicedBread22 said:
I wonder if the reduction in hp is hurting Jimmie.. he never did very well in Xfinity
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His driving style has taken a massive hit, similar to Stewart, it will be interesting to see how much more mid-pack results he can handle without improvements.
 
4 Chevy's in the top 12, I think people forget that Hendrick has three young drivers and the fourth is on the back side of his career. Bowman 11th and Elliott 9th compared to the other young guns looks a heck of a lot better.
 
something is bad wrong at hendrick. I don't don't if rick is getting too old or lost his drive as an owner or what. something has changed at HMS. The only place they are fast is restrictor plate qualifying. they blow everyone away at that but then come the race the cars aren't all that fast even there. I do feel they have had to discount sponsorships heavily compared to the glory years. I wonder how much impact this is having.
 
I have no doubt that the 9 will improve and be in it come the fall, the killer is that they keep having to hit the reset button every offseason. With HMS already being behind, it seems like it takes them a lot longer than the other teams to adjust to the new rules every year and by the time they do catch up it's time to start all over again with something different. Rinse, repeat. I would have loved to have seen what the 9 could've done this year with the same rules from last year after catching up to everyone. The lack of bonus points throughout the regular season last year is what did them in come the final round, you can't afford to do that again.

I think the folks expecting the 88 and 24 to win this year are in for another rude awakening. It just doesn't seem to be there. It may happen on a plate track but outside of that I don't see it just as I saw it as a long shot last year. Jimmie at least has places like Martinsville to sneak one in, and came close at the roval.
 
Chevy got screwed when NASCAR changed the rules after the Camaro was submitted. Ford knew to design the Mustang around the OSS, free pass.
 
hidesert cowboy said:
something is bad wrong at hendrick. I don't don't if rick is getting too old or lost his drive as an owner or what. something has changed at HMS. The only place they are fast is restrictor plate qualifying. they blow everyone away at that but then come the race the cars aren't all that fast even there. I do feel they have had to discount sponsorships heavily compared to the glory years. I wonder how much impact this is having.
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You might not agree with me, but here is my take. It is the drivers.
Chase Elliott is doing OK, I compare him with Blaney and his performance is the same if not better.
Jimmie is ready for retirement
That leaves Byron and Bowman whom both are not the type of drivers that are going to set the world on fire. When it was announced they would be cup drivers I doubted they would even get a win. Bowman and Byron have both improved their average finishing positions since they have been in cup. I am not sure ie either of them would run with Penske, Gibbs or SHR. Too bad because I like both of them.
 
DIDIT said:
You might not agree with me, but here is my take. It is the drivers.
Chase Elliott is doing OK, I compare him with Blaney and his performance is the same if not better.
Jimmie is ready for retirement
That leaves Byron and Bowman whom both are not the type of drivers that are going to set the world on fire. When it was announced they would be cup drivers I doubted they would even get a win. Bowman and Byron have both improved their average finishing positions since they have been in cup. I am not sure ie either of them would run with Penske, Gibbs or SHR. Too bad because I like both of them.
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I pretty much agree. The drivers Hendrick has they are betting on the come with them. They may or may not pan out on the long run. A bit off topic, but here is what a seasoned driver is doing with a decent team in a Chevy

Kurt Busch buoyed by strong start
Kurt Busch was the top-finishing Chevrolet driver for the second straight week, while picking up his second top-5 finish at his home track.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver finished fifth in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after leading 23 laps. But Busch surprised many in the way in which he paced the field, holding off Kevin Harvick and others while on older tires.

“I’m really happy with two top fives to start the year. We’re playing it smart. We haven’t had any penalties, and we will just keep chipping away at it.”

https://racer.com/2019/03/04/kurt-busch-buoyed-by-strong-start/
 
I really want Jimmie Johnson to win Championship #8 before he retires, but I don't think that's in the cards anymore. I dunno if his age is catching up with him or if maybe there's just been too many changes for Jimmie to keep up with.
 
SpeedPagan said:
I really want Jimmie Johnson to win Championship #8 before he retires, but I don't think that's in the cards anymore. I dunno if his age is catching up with him or if maybe there's just been too many changes for Jimmie to keep up with.
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I really wonder how much the fire still burns? After 7 titles, and a boatload of wins, how much is he willing to drive the deepest in the corner? Could be age, could be the Chevys are that bad. Who knows?
 
This year JJ has his first Cup CC not Named Chad Knaus. I think that has more to do with it than anything else. But it could be a combination of that and the HMS chevy's are lacking something this year.
 
Johali said:
This year JJ has his first Cup CC not Named Chad Knaus. I think that has more to do with it than anything else. But it could be a combination of that and the HMS chevy's are lacking something this year.
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I dunno, William Byron has Chad Knaus and he's not exactly creme of the crop in the Hendrick stable.
 
SpeedPagan said:
I dunno, William Byron has Chad Knaus and he's not exactly creme of the crop in the Hendrick stable.
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I honestly think it has more to do with Chevrolet . Chad and JJ and the rest of the Hendrick stable haven't forgot everything they know....surely.
 
mack said:
I honestly think it has more to do with Chevrolet . Chad and JJ and the rest of the Hendrick stable haven't forgot everything they know....surely.
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I dunno, I want to say that it's Chevy, but then you have Kurt Busch who placed 5th in Vegas in a Chevy and he was running for a team that should have inferior equipment compared to Hendrick.
 
SpeedPagan said:
I dunno, I want to say that it's Chevy, but then you have Kurt Busch who placed 5th in Vegas in a Chevy and he was running for a team that should have inferior equipment compared to Hendrick.
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Kurt has two top 5's so far. McMurray only had 2 all year. yeah it is too soon to tell, but so far I don't think it is the car that is Hendrick's biggest problem
 
SpeedPagan said:
I dunno, I want to say that it's Chevy, but then you have Kurt Busch who placed 5th in Vegas in a Chevy and he was running for a team that should have inferior equipment compared to Hendrick.
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Good point. I'm not sure Kurt is not the best driver in a Chevy right now. He's still an awesome wheel man.
 
i think cgr builds there own cars,they get motors,trans and reargear from hendrick,i think it really helps that cgr races in allot of other series.
 
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mack said:
I really wonder how much the fire still burns? After 7 titles, and a boatload of wins, how much is he willing to drive the deepest in the corner? Could be age, could be the Chevys are that bad. Who knows?
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If it will stick, he will drive it in.
 
Jimmie's lost his touch, as much as I root for Alex Bowman, him and the 24 are both 10th-20th place drivers if you ranked them (IMO). The only elite level talent at Hendrick that moves the needle is Chase Elliott.

Maybe they can prod away Denny Hamlin soon, or bring in a Larson or Kurt Busch even soon.
 
Taco said:
Chevy got screwed when NASCAR changed the rules after the Camaro was submitted. Ford knew to design the Mustang around the OSS, free pass.
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The Toyota was the first to change why are they doing better? Ford made minor changes and added the Mustang sticker and new tail light stickers. The problem is at HMS and I think it runs deeper than what we know. Kurt runs the same car and engine and he looks to be alright considering it is his first season in the chevy.
Maybe they should write off JJ and start building cars around other drivers. I also think since getting married, Chad is not as dedicated.
 
Spotter22 said:
If it will stick, he will drive it in.
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Ya know a lot of folks started writing Dale Sr off in 96 and 97. Said he'd lost his abilities and desire. Same for Bobby Allison in the mid eighties. Dale bounced back and won the 500 at 47 yrs old. Bobby won it in 88 at 50 yrs old. So JJ could well have some wins left in him. The longer he goes without, the hungrier he may get. He has nothing to prove. He would know if he's through. When they get the Chevys dialed in, he might get on a hot streak. Ya never know.
 
It's definitely something wrong with HMS and not Jimmie. Kurt is only a few years younger but has been driving an additional year longer. He also just switched to Chevy. Dude has two top fives already while Jimmie has been a total non-factor.

Let's not overlook how Byron and Bowman have been non-factors too. You can't call Jimmie washed up without also calling those two busts.
 
Team Penske said:
The Toyota was the first to change why are they doing better? Ford made minor changes and added the Mustang sticker and new tail light stickers. The problem is at HMS and I think it runs deeper than what we know. Kurt runs the same car and engine and he looks to be alright considering it is his first season in the chevy.
Maybe they should write off JJ and start building cars around other drivers. I also think since getting married, Chad is not as dedicated.
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Is it possible that Toyota already had a extra year development and knew their car better than GM?
 
mack said:
I honestly think it has more to do with Chevrolet . Chad and JJ and the rest of the Hendrick stable haven't forgot everything they know....surely.
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Kurt driving the same car is doing OK.
 
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