NASCAR: 5 most disappointing teams so far in 2020

Disappointing teams: #5 – Hendrick Motorsports

Rick Hendrick’s four cars continue to be a step behind their toughest competition from the Toyota and Ford teams. Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman have given the team their only two wins this year, but even their speed has been spotty.

Bowman won at Auto Club Speedway, but ever since NASCAR returned from the 10-week hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic, he has been on a downward slide. Since the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, all of his driver ratings have been below 100, according to Racing Reference.

Meanwhile, Elliott has been the flagship driver for Hendrick, but he has still been a step behind the competition. Elliott, who won the second race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, has nine top 10 finishes, but only one in the last seven races. The reason for Hendrick Motorsports’ disappointing results has little to do with the #9 team, though.

The bottom two drivers at the team, William Byron and Jimmie Johnson, are in a tight battle just to qualify for the playoffs. Johnson has four DNFs and missed a race after testing positive for COVID-19, while Byron has horribly underperformed in his third season with no top five finishes and an average finish of 17.9.

The Hendrick cars were expected to contend for wins more regularly this year after the 2019 season saw them close the gap to Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske and Stewart-Haas Racing. With two of their drivers floating around the playoff bubble and the other two lacking winning pace, they have work to do before they can say that they have met expectations for 2020.