hendrick cars an embarrassment at Darlington

ChexOrWrex said:
Doesnt matter where you run. Matters wherw you brought it home.
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I was listening to his scanner on raceview as usual and he was wearing out his left rear. They were threadbare on the outside edge on every pit stop. They were glad to get an 11th.
 
Johali said:
I was listening to his scanner on raceview as usual and he was wearing out his left rear. They were threadbare on the outside edge on every pit stop. They were glad to get an 11th.
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I personally think he's getting everything he can out of his cars right now. Except at the Glen. That was on Alan.
 
48 dominated 3 of 4 first chase races last year, after running horribly all summer.

They turned it on like that. Until they struggle in the first round, no one should be taking what they are doing now seriously.

Don't forget, the earlier part of the season the 48 and 24 were top 4-8 cars. 48 got three wins, hasnt run top 10 since. That organization of HMS takes the sport as a joke
 
I enjoy watching the HMS cars struggle ...... makes Nascar worth watching again !!! watching the Penske cars and the SHR struggle is icing on the cake. Toyota has worked very hard for quite some time ... they deserve what they have .. now the others need to catch up
 
people saying hendrick is sandbagging are crazy. The sandbagging if there is any I say is very rare and basically involves a driver probably not trying to lead the race by too much over the rest of the field. but make no mistake if a team has something fast enough to win a race they are going to use it!!!! The problem at this level with turning it on only for the chase or playoffs if you will is that the whole team is used to running 15th. The pit crew, even the pit stall selection all that, none of it has been in contention or competing to win. you need success to expose weakness in other parts of the team. Its why drivers who haven't been running up front suddenly are and they are taken out of contention before the race is done by some problem or another. Teams need to be running up front to win.........usually. flukes always happen. when trying to win the title you don't want to rely on a fluke you want to just outrun everyone else.

The hendrick cars frankly suck right now. They are getting beat by cars that have no business beating them. The team is one of the best funded in all of the sport. They have largely avoided the sponsorship crunch up till this point. Hendrick needs to find something and find something big. don't get me wrong they could find something but the problem is they need to find something just to keep up, much less actually outrun any cars of significance. its not dale jr. being out of it or concussed. I knew they would be slow this week. When they post something like the 13th fastest 10 lap average in the final practice they aren't going to be fast. I will update this thread if and when I think HMS has a shot at it during a race weekend. but I don't plan on being able to do it for a while.

for what its worth Truex who has a prior history as a driver. Lets just say they have found something very special for making the cars go fast seemingly anywhere. I do think Martin has gotten better simply because he has been in contention and the only way you learn how to close the deal on a race is to be put in that spot a LOT. But beyond that he is still the same driver. They have just hit on something and the surprise is how long its lasted. pretty rare in this sport.
 
kyle18fan said:
I enjoy watching the HMS cars struggle ...... makes Nascar worth watching again !!! watching the Penske cars and the SHR struggle is icing on the cake. Toyota has worked very hard for quite some time ... they deserve what they have .. now the others need to catch up
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Toyota was well ahead of the curve last year too though. Probably more so than this year, with wins more wide spread amongst them. Then the chase started and HMS shined. Well at least the 24/48 did.
 
AdoubleU24 said:
Toyota was well ahead of the curve last year too though. Probably more so than this year, with wins more wide spread amongst them. Then the chase started and HMS shined. Well at least the 24/48 did.
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I remember Kyle Busch blowing 3 engines in as many races ........... Toyota has done an amazing job
 
StandOnIt said:
those stats aren't right. His average position was 13th, mid race 10th, his finish was 11th. Came up from a 20th qualifying. And there ain't no way he isn't making the playoffs unless he crashes out early and a non race winner besides JMac or Kenseth wins the race. It has to happen in that order which is a bit far fetched odds wise.
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I copied the numbers straight from NASCAR. I don't know what to tell you. While I agree that it is unlikely, it would be a LOT easier for Chase to miss the Chase than you are saying. If we get a new winner, Chase would only have to finish four positions behind Kenseth and McMurray to miss out.
 
The 48 is posting career lows across the board. If they are sandbagging they are doing a helluva job.
 
jaqua19 said:
48 dominated 3 of 4 first chase races last year, after running horribly all summer.

They turned it on like that. Until they struggle in the first round, no one should be taking what they are doing now seriously.

Don't forget, the earlier part of the season the 48 and 24 were top 4-8 cars. 48 got three wins, hasnt run top 10 since. That organization of HMS takes the sport as a joke
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I watch HMS as if it were my own, and I'm telling you, this does NOT feel like last year or any other recent year. NOBODY runs this bad by design. You can't even get any meaningful data for the Chase running where they are running.
 
The only reason I care about Hendrick is that Kahne went there. Now that he's leaving I can go back to being a Hendrick Hater!
 
Maybe they were an 'embarrassment' at Darlington. The question at this point in the year isn't how did they do at the next-to-the-last 'regular season' race, it's how will they do at Chicago, Loudon, and Dover. That #48 has thrown the magic switch too many times to be embarrassed yet.
 
3/4 mile track, downforce won't be huge there.
Formerjackman said:
I copied the numbers straight from NASCAR. I don't know what to tell you. While I agree that it is unlikely, it would be a LOT easier for Chase to miss the Chase than you are saying. If we get a new winner, Chase would only have to finish four positions behind Kenseth and McMurray to miss out.
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finish behind Kenseth OR McMurray..wrong again.
 
If you get a new winner that is not Kenseth or McMurray, , then there is only two spots for three drivers. SOMEBODY is out.
 
Formerjackman said:
If you get a new winner that is not Kenseth or McMurray, , then there is only two spots for three drivers. SOMEBODY is out.
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yep and Elliot would only have to finish better than either one, not BOTH, and technically he doesn't have to finish ahead of either one.He is a couple of points ahead of Kenseth. But yeah without a "new" winner it all is moot anyway.
 
48 wins again, and I see a lot of faces with egg
 
Yeah looking forward to the first round of the playoffs to tell the tale about Jimmie and Chad this year. Blow my mind if he gets 8
 
aunty dive said:
As much as it pains me to say so, I agree.
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why? no one is saying they are finished or they are done certainly not me. what I am saying is when the cars are that bad even for jimmie to have trouble running the top 15 with them you know they really suck. They can hit on something but right now they need to hit on something just to keep up. there is no sandbagging, which is a joke anyways. the only sandbagging is a driver during a race making sure they aren't leading the race by too far. If a team has a car to win a race they will use it every and I mean every time.

an example would be denny at darlington, was he out front leading the race and pacing himself and not running as fast as he could? I say of course he was. When there was 20 seconds to make up and the win was on the line, that is when we got to see how fast the car really was. in nascar that is the only sandbagging you get. I am going to say anyone with a car that is quite a bit faster than the competition is going to do that. Why have even a 7 or 8 second lead? it will just be erased at the next caution. you have ran harder than you need to. every driver if given a really really good car is aware of this.
 
hidesert cowboy said:
why? no one is saying they are finished or they are done certainly not me. what I am saying is when the cars are that bad even for jimmie to have trouble running the top 15 with them you know they really suck. They can hit on something but right now they need to hit on something just to keep up. there is no sandbagging, which is a joke anyways. the only sandbagging is a driver during a race making sure they aren't leading the race by too far. If a team has a car to win a race they will use it every and I mean every time.

an example would be denny at darlington, was he out front leading the race and pacing himself and not running as fast as he could? I say of course he was. When there was 20 seconds to make up and the win was on the line, that is when we got to see how fast the car really was. in nascar that is the only sandbagging you get. I am going to say anyone with a car that is quite a bit faster than the competition is going to do that. Why have even a 7 or 8 second lead? it will just be erased at the next caution. you have ran harder than you need to. every driver if given a really really good car is aware of this.
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You haven't been watching Larson. At Darlington he had over a 4 second lead almost 5. Somebody needed to make him aware, he couldn't hear me yelling slow down though. Personally I think Chad has been testing the limits at tracks that are in the playoffs. Just how loose they can run, or is tighter better. many times they practice all by themselves. they don't give a care after they get a win. Sometimes they experiment, sometimes they go out to win. Same thing, even worse was being said last year Only one car has more wins the Johnson this year, 4th in playoff points. Sorry I don't get bad and suck.
 
aunty dive said:
As much as it pains me to say so, I agree.
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I wish I could see what you guys are seeing. I haven't seen any signs of life at HMS since the spring. yes from time to time a team can get hot at the right time, but I don't think you can plan it, and I don't think you can just turn it on at will. It's one thing to try some odd setups or try some weird fuel strategy and get some poor finishes, but HMS as a TEAM has been unloading slow, practicing slow, qualifying slow, racing slow and finishing slow.
 
The Car chief is covering for Ives this weekend. I wish Rick had said "screw it" and dialed Ray Evernham to see what he was doing this weekend. Jr needs a prayer anyways to get in the Playoffs.
 
Hendrick isn't cheating. That's why his cars are performing the way that they are in each race. That's about all I can take from this year.
 
Formerjackman said:
I watch HMS as if it were my own, and I'm telling you, this does NOT feel like last year or any other recent year. NOBODY runs this bad by design. You can't even get any meaningful data for the Chase running where they are running.
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Not running bad by design. Just not bringing their best stuff. They also tested at Chicagoland. Again, this is nothing new.
 
Formerjackman said:
I wish I could see what you guys are seeing. I haven't seen any signs of life at HMS since the spring. yes from time to time a team can get hot at the right time, but I don't think you can plan it, and I don't think you can just turn it on at will. It's one thing to try some odd setups or try some weird fuel strategy and get some poor finishes, but HMS as a TEAM has been unloading slow, practicing slow, qualifying slow, racing slow and finishing slow.
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How do you explain the 48 being the dominant car the last 10 races last year, after being a "first round exit" all summer? No one thought he was making it out of the first round. This is nothing new
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Maybe Hendrick Motorsports is just sandbagging? :idunno:

Plenty of that going around this season from what I understand.
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I'm not saying anybody is or isn't sandbagging, but there is a BIG difference between not showing everything, and not showing ANYTHING. And, regardless what the 48 might be doing, it doesn't explain the other three cars. The 24 is SQUEAKING into the Chase the hard way, the 5 is only there because of plain dumb luck and the 88 has been out to lunch all year. If that qualifies as some sort of grand strategy, you can have it. If Johnson top 5's every race in the Chase, it would STILL be a career low in top 5's and top 10's. I fail to see how ANY of this makes them better in the Chase. If they are never bringing their best stuff, how would they know it WAS their best stuff? If they are experimenting, so far NONE of it is working.
 
jaqua19 said:
How do you explain the 48 being the dominant car the last 10 races last year, after being a "first round exit" all summer? No one thought he was making it out of the first round. This is nothing new
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Mostly dumb ass luck, just like when Stewart went on HIS streak. I have been a Johnson supporter from day one in ASA and Knaus from day one on the 24. I think they are two of the greatest to ever participate in the sport. I do NOT think they are THIS CLEVER though. Yes, three wins last year in the Chase, but one was Martinsville, which almost doesn't count for him, and Homestead was a gimme after the leaders took themselves out. Other than the wins, he only had one other top five. I don't call that dominant. They have been playing with fire, and this is the year it burns them.
 
Formerjackman said:
Yes, three wins last year in the Chase, but one was Martinsville, which almost doesn't count for him,
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ChexOrWrex said:
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A good performance at Martinsville doesn't really translate to ANYWHERE else, and Johnson could probably win there in a golf cart. If Johnson makes it to the third round, this could be the difference maker. I don't think he gets there though.
 
Formerjackman said:
A good performance at Martinsville doesn't really translate to ANYWHERE else, and Johnson could probably win there in a golf cart. If Johnson makes it to the third round, this could be the difference maker. I don't think he gets there though.
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Don't wrinkle that $20 bill.
 
Formerjackman said:
A good performance at Martinsville doesn't really translate to ANYWHERE else, and Johnson could probably win there in a golf cart. If Johnson makes it to the third round, this could be the difference maker. I don't think he gets there though.
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NASCAR can set up the points however they want.

Until they change the final 10 race tracks, Jimmie will reign.
 
Jr is barely in the top 10 right now in the xfinity race.

Yeah, Ives isnt the #88's major malfunction.
 
Brad gracefully allowed Junior to stay on the lead lap at the end.
 
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