NASCAR: What Hendrick Motorsports and Team Penske won't do after Dover

Despite having three of their NASCAR Cup Series playoff contenders knocked out of race contention at Dover International Speedway due to mechanical failures, you won’t see Hendrick Motorsports or Team Penske doing what another team recently did.

The Monster Mile proved to be rather tame in its two races on the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, as both 400-mile races at the track this year were run without anything more than slight taps of the wall or low-speed, single-car spins.

But Sunday’s 400-lap Drydene 400 around the four-turn, 1.0-mile (1.609-kilometer) high-banked Dover International Speedway oval in Dover, Delaware, the opening race of the round of 12 of the playoffs, was not tame as it pertained to its treatment of equipment.

Six of the 12 remaining playoff drivers finished this race in the top six. Three of the remaining six finished between 10th and 13th place. But the other three were knocked out of contention due to mechanical failures.

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Team Penske’s Joey Logano had to come to the garage before the race even began with a busted rear axle in his #22 Ford. He did get to compete eventually, but he finished in 34th place, 25 laps off the lead lap. Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott finished in 38th, marking just his second career last place finish, after an engine issue on lap eight caused him to bring his #9 Chevrolet to the pits. He did not get back out onto the track.

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney saw his race end early after running right around the top 10 all day long. On lap 297, he brought his #12 Ford into the pits with a suspension issue. Unable to get back out onto the track, he finished in 35th place.

All three drivers now sit below the round of 8 cut line with two races remaining in the round of 12. Logano sits in ninth place on the wrong end of a tiebreaker with Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron for the eighth and final transfer spot while Elliott sits in 11th, seven points below the cut line, and Blaney sits in 12th, 22 points below it.

But even if any of these three drivers ultimately end up failing to qualify for the round of 8 as a result of these mechanical issues, there is one thing that you can take to the bank.

You will not see Hendrick Motorsports or Team Penske do what a NASCAR team recently did after seeing two of its drivers fail to advance from one round of the playoffs to the next.

Following the round of 8 finale in the Truck Series playoffs, ThorSport Racing teammates Grant Enfinger and Johnny Sauter were the two drivers below the round of 6 cut line and thus eliminated from championship contention.

But because they were knocked out of the round of 8 finale as a result of engine issues, ThorSport Racing submitted a written request to NASCAR to have them reinstated to effective creating an eight-driver round of 6 before four, not two (presumably, barring another unforeseen request) drivers would be eliminated ahead of the Championship 4.

NASCAR ultimately declined this request, which was undoubtedly the right call given the circumstances.

Fortunately, they won’t have to worry about another ridiculous request at the Cup level if Logano, Elliott or Blaney are left outside of the round of 8.

Why?

Because Hendrick Motorsports and Team Penske are going to move on and try to get better as a result of this adversity.

They’re not going to resort to arguments such as “we’ve been eliminated from the playoffs and it was none of our doing”, arguments that simply aren’t true given the fact that there are plenty of ways in the modern playoff era to protect against the threat of such issues hampering a driver’s championship hopes.

I understand that the engine situations in the Cup Series and the Truck Series are a bit different and that’s where ThorSport Racing’s logic about their engine failures came into play, but that doesn’t change the fact that mechanical issues are a part of the sport, have always been a part of the sport and will always be a part of the sport.

In light of ThorSport Racing’s request, many fans supported the team by referencing the fact that Hendrick Motorsports did end up placing a driver, Jeff Gordon, in an “extra” 13th playoff spot in the 2013 season in a situation involving NASCAR altering the rules in favor of the team.

But these situations are simply not comparable with one another to suggest that Hendrick Motorsports would make such a request over a mechanical failure.

Gordon’s position was added as a result of “unprecedented and extraordinary circumstances resulting from several allegations of race-fixing” in the regular season finale, and such allegations ended up being proven true on multiple fronts, enough to justify Gordon as a would-be top 12 driver.

A mechanical failure is not an “unprecedented and extraordinary circumstance” no matter what kind of equipment you’re running and in what series.

Team owners Rick Hendrick and Roger Penske understand that enough not to submit ridiculous pity requests to NASCAR if their drivers are eliminated after the round of 12.

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Will any one or more of Joey Logano, Chase Elliott or Ryan Blaney fail to qualify for the round of 8 of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs? If so, we will get to see it in action: Team Penske and/or Hendrick Motorsports not requesting their driver/drivers to be reinstated because of mechanical failures.

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NASCAR: What Hendrick Motorsports and Team Penske won’t do after Dover

By Asher Fair | Oct 8, 2019

Despite having three of their NASCAR Cup Series playoff contenders knocked out of race contention at Dover International Speedway due to mechanical failures, you won’t see Hendrick Motorsports or Team Penske doing what another team recently did.