Hendrick Motorsports Trending Down This Summer

Hendrick Motorsports is usually known around NASCAR as the sport’s premier team, owned by Rick Hendrick himself. Over the years they have had tons of success and won so many Championships to live up to their hype. 2015 brought more high hopes for the team as all four drivers (Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne) made it to the Contender 12 round of the 2014 Chase.

Going into the month of June, Hendrick Motorsports had already captured five wins, four from Jimmie Johnson and one from Dale Earnhardt Jr., but since then they have been struggling mightily and only have one win (Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Daytona). NASCAR has been trying out some new packages which has caused some issues within the team but, for the most part, drivers just doesn’t seem to be performing at their peak level right now, and it has been evident since the beginning of the summer.

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Jeff Gordon, in his final season, has not had the year he has hoped for. Despite an incredible 2014 season that ended in heartbreak, his 2015 season has been full of mediocrity. He started off with a few poles at Daytona and Las Vegas but he had bad finishes in both. After that, he heated up and finished 9 out of the next 11 races in the top-10, then summer came. To start off the month of June, Gordon had issues at tracks such as Pocono, Michigan and Sonoma, all tracks that he has historically been good at.

Even though he had a few more top 10’s after that, the struggles came back at Indy where he was the victim of an early wreck that caused him to finish 42nd. Gordon was destined for another finish near the 20’s at Pocono in August before he had some major luck with drivers running out of gas. Then, at his next race at Watkins Glen, he suffered from break issues and finished in 41st.

Gordon is hovering right on the bubble of missing the Chase so if he doesn’t win a race before it begins, his chances of making the Chase will go down. It would be devastating for Gordon to miss the Chase in his final season but his bad finishes in the summer could really hurt him.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been the best Hendrick Motorsports driver this summer. He picked up another restrictor plate race win in Daytona and has, for the most part, been solid, earning top 10 finishes in 6 out of 10 summer races. Problems at Kentucky and Indy caused him to place in the low 20’s but he has still been racing well.

Dale Jr. already has his spot locked in the Chase so there isn’t a high level of urgency, it just opens up more opportunities to experiment and get ready for the Chase. He has been able to relax and worry more about fine-tuning his skills to get ready this season as rumors have been floating around that he might not be far from retirement as well. One thing is certain, Talladega will be a big Chase race for him since both of his wins have been on restrictor plate tracks this season.

Jimmie Johnson won his last race on May 31st, just before the summer months began. Since then, he has been in a bit of a funk. He had a few solid outings in July but has gone through a few tough races at places like New Hampshire and Indy. His frustrations swelled up at Michigan when he had tire issues, drove through his pits and eventually spun out near the end of the race.

Though Johnson doesn’t have anything to worry about, there are signs of trouble because of the uncharacteristic things we have been seeing out of his team lately. Overall, he is still a 6-time Champion and has 4 wins this season so he should be fine. He is most likely just working through his issues and trying different things, like I suggested with Earnhardt Jr., in order to get ready for the Chase.

Kasey Kahne is in real trouble at the moment and things are not getting better for him. He is currently a few spots out of the Chase and hasn’t finished in the top 10 since Sonoma back in June. In 2 of his last 3 races, he has been involved in wrecks, causing him to finish 42nd and 43rd, not something you want when you are trying to make the Chase.

Besides his 8th place finish at Sonoma, he hasn’t finished higher than 13th this summer and has just been on the unfortunate end of a lot of bad situations during races. At this point he basically needs a win to make the Chase. He faces tough odds with a few challenging tracks coming up. Out of all of the Hendrick drivers, Kasey Kahne needs to improve the most.

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Though some drivers like Dale Jr. and Jimmie Johnson have not exactly been racing poorly, they just have not been racing exactly the way we are used to seeing them race. Hendrick Motorsports, as a whole, just hasn’t been able to stay on the same pace as teams like Joe Gibbs Racing.

All of this is most likely something that will be sorted out by the time the Chase gets here, but the lack of wins out of the team has been a concern from within lately. Questions still remain for Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne as to whether they can make the Chase or not and if they don’t step it up, they just might not. What has happened to Hendrick Motorsports this summer is an example of what can happen to a teams success if they don’t capitalize in the summer. It’s safe to say the summer is the most important period in NASCAR’s regular season.

Next: Jeff Gordon's Road Course Legacy

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