NASCAR: Grading Every Team At The All-Star Break

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Hendrick Motorsports: (A-)

Jeff Gordon

The final season for Jeff Gordon hasn’t been amazing but it hasn’t been bad either. Gordon struggled out of the gate, wrecking in his first three races and not having a finish better than 18th. Gordon would rebound from that and have top-10 finishes in seven of the next eight races which moved him into the top-10 in the point standings. The disappointing thing through 11 races for Gordon and the No. 24 team is that they might have let two wins slip away due to pit road speeding penalties. Gordon looked to have the car to beat at Martinsville and Talladega but in both events he was caught speeding on pit road late in the race.

GRADE: B

Kasey Kahne

Kahne didn’t have the weight of the world on his shoulders coming into 2015 after signing an extension with Team Hendrick during the offseason. The result of that? Kahne has run pretty well in 2015 as compared to his start in 2014. After 11 races Kahne is inside of the top-10 in the point standings. Kahne has nine top-20 finishes in 2015 which is good because it shows that his consistency has improved from last season. Kahne has also showed some good speed this season which is also something that he lacked in 2014.

GRADE: B-

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

There used to be a time when consistency and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were never used in the same sentence, well that time has come and gone. In 11 races Earnhardt Jr. has seven finishes of 6th-place or better. Earnhardt Jr. also has a win to his credit in 2015 which almost guarantees a return to the chase for him. It might still be early but many are pegging Earnhardt Jr. as a potential dark horse to win the title in 2015.

GRADE: A

Jimmie Johnson

2015 has been a return to form for Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team. Through 11 races they already have three wins which leads the series. In the last five weeks Johnson has two wins and has not finished a race worse than third. Johnson is on fire right now and he is one of the two favorites this season to win a title, a title that would be his seventh.

GRADE: A+