Category: NASCAR Cup Series

Homestead-Miami, November 2009.

Denny Hamlin climbs out of his No. 11 FedEx Toyota in victory lane and proudly proclaims, “I promise you within the next two years this team is going to win a championship.”

The impending offseason brought predictions of Hamlin being the favorite in 2010. NASCAR nation marked he and his Joe Gibbs Racing team as the ones to dethrone Jimmie Johnson. Everything looked good on paper but preseason favorites had hardly risen to the occasion in the past, I.E. Carl Edwards.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]Why would Hamlin be any different?

In January came the much-publicized torn ACL and how it was going to affect his season. Then came the waiting of when he would have surgery: during the season or after the season?

No matter what it was, there is no denying that NASCAR and its fans saw a growth in Hamlin over the 2010 season. From Homestead of 2009 to Homestead of 2010, a different driver graced the racetrack.

No more were the days of thinking of what could have or what should have been on the results sheet. The potential was finally met.

It was there all along, however Hamlin was spoiled when he entered the Sprint Cup Series in 2006. Success came early and often. Things appeared easy and he expected them to be and it wasn’t until the 11 team started to fall on hard times that the attitude began to change.

At Dover in 2007 he and veteran Kyle Petty got into a war of words in the garage after the two wrecked on the track. Hamlin hadn’t even been in the NSCS a full year yet, certainly not enough time for a kid to start throwing his weight around. Standing up for what he believes though, has always been one of his better qualities even when it rubbed others the wrong way.

Ironically it would be at Dover in 2010 where Hamlin again wasn’t holding back. This time it would be with Richard Childress Racing, who he was battling for in the championship.

But, there were times when Hamlin pushed too hard on the racetrack and ended up costing his team the finishes they deserved. Instead, he faulted them and said they weren’t good enough to get the job done or make the Chase.

When Tony Stewart left JGR at the end of the 2008 season, the company went through an identity crisis. They needed a leader and Hamlin, being the senior member of the company was in prime position to step up.

Joey Logano was about to embark on his rookie season and had too much learning to do; he wasn’t in a position to do anything but listen. But Hamlin, along with Kyle Busch, was more concerned with winning races than much else.

Looking back, he admits he didn’t handle things the way he should have.

Communication with Mike Ford improved, so did his trust in his crew chief. Ford has the experience and the knowledge, Hamlin the talent and once the two came together, the team hit their stride. The confidence in what was around him led Hamlin to the racetrack with the confidence that he could win every week.

That’s the Hamlin who showed up each weekend this past season and became Johnson’s worst nightmare. And as Hamlin changed, some of the fans perceptions did as well.

According to the Virginia native it was because he finally figured it out.

He finally knew what it took to contend on a consistent basis and be a championship driver. It was more than just getting in the car and driving, it was about putting together a whole race, a whole season.

All he had to do was show he knew what that was and make sure that it didn’t turn into another driver falsely predicting his own destiny.

The first test of Hamlin’s championship ability came not when he won at Martinsville in April as his knee continued to get worse, but 10 days later when he climbed aboard his car at Phoenix. Before hand Hamlin said he wasn’t “going to be stupid,” and would most likely get out of the car at the first caution to give his knee more time to heal from surgery.

Call him stupid, but he didn’t get out of the car. The fans responded with admiration, as did his fellow competitors.

Gutting it out and stepping up for his team was more important to Hamlin than any pain. Through thick and thin the team was going to stick together and their bond was growing stronger.

Knowing that many were ready to write him off for the season, Hamlin wanted to send a message – not so fast. His No. 11 team saw Hamlin wasn’t going to quit on them and in turn they became one of the top teams on pit road.

The following week they were in victory lane at Texas, winning where Hamlin’s never won before, making him a threat on many different types of tracks. The wins were huge because it brought legitimacy to the team, showing they could win on tracks that weren’t named Martinsville or Pocono.

Said Hamlin on the knee surgery in the beginning stages of the year, “I did it for the long run. I did it for the Chase. I did it for the championship.”

Three weeks later Hamlin was being praised by his competition. Not only did he conquer the toughest track on the circuit, Darlington, he swept the weekend. On Friday he beat teammate Busch in the Nationwide Series and on Saturday he beat the two Jeff’s, Burton and Gordon.

It had Gordon in awe, “That’s impressive, especially with his left knee.”

Suddenly Hamlin wasn’t being written off, he was being written as the next NSCS champion. As for his team, they also shined. In May they won the Sprint Pit Crew Challenge, firmly establishing themselves as a team to contend with – Johnson and his team found that out a few times later in the year during the Chase.

The 11 team not only continued winning, Hamlin would end the year with a series and career high eight wins, but he put himself in better situations on the racetrack. When trouble found the No. 11, Hamlin didn’t get over excited on the radio. He could have and in years past he said he probably would of. At New Hampshire in the first race of the Chase he rallied back from being spun by Carl Edwards. And in Talladega he again rallied back from going a lap down.

Maturity and patience.

The most important change: equipment wasn’t being torn up. Driver errors, such as wrecking himself at California in 2009, became a thing of the past. Patience became the name of the game, knowing when he should push the car or when he needed to take what he could get.

Hamlin even grew into his place in the sport, becoming more outspoken. A driver of the people, some called him.

Mid-year he was fine by NASCAR for comments he was making about the sport, both publicly and on his Twitter page. Twitter in fact, was another major part of his year, as he shared his journey through the season with fans. He posted pictures of traveling home with winner’s trophies or attending basketball games.

He was open and honest, just want the fans wanted: an anti-Johnson.

After longing for a driver who wasn’t vanilla or robotic, someone who could be entertaining and engaging, Hamlin stood up. What you saw was what you got. Hamlin was himself and he didn’t apologize for it, the complete package.

Not all fans were sold; there were those that called him arrogant and cocky. Far from it said Hamlin. It was just when he came to the racetrack he knew both his cars and team were going to be great and he expected to win.

It’s the same attitude that drivers such as Johnson have had the last five years. Or even Tony Stewart, who won his second title in 2005.

It’s a champion-like attitude.

In the end, Hamlin didn’t leave Homestead in 2010 with the championship. Second place in the final point standings is nothing to be ashamed of. Not after a year that was far from smooth.

He grew as a driver and an individual. He won and then he lost. He got hurt and then came back better than ever and ready to write the next chapter in his career. The lessons of 2010 should guide Hamlin into the future as he attempts to again unseat Johnson.

In a way, Johnson winning the title when he couldn’t sits well with Hamlin. Next year is another chance for him to be the guy that stops the No. 48 juggernaut. The promise he made a year ago is still alive and well and there’s no reason to believe his team won’t pick up in 2011 where they left off in 2010.

Johnson may have taken home the title, again, but it was the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing who grabbed all the headlines.

This was the year of Denny Hamlin.

This is a question that will be bothering RCR Racing this offseason, Are they ready to try it again? I am referring to RCR trying to run a four car operation again after a botched attempt in the 2009 season. The driver filling the fourth seat will be Paul Menard and he will be driving the #27 Menards Chevrolet next season. RCR was one of the heavy favorites coming into the 09 season because points wise Jeff Burton did well enough to finish 5th in the standings and Harvick did enough to finish 6th. Unfortunately, I don’t think Mr. Childress planned this one out too well. At this point there was a down economy and less money and fans were flowing at the race track and we still have this problem. Clint Bowyer was moved from the 07 car to a brand new team and the #33 General Mills Chevrolet and taking his old car was Casey Mears, who had just left Hendrick Motorsports after a tumultuous season.

[media-credit name=”Tammrae Benscoter” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]According to points, Kevin Harvick is coming off his first championship and his teammates Bowyer and Burton came in 9th and 11th respectively. This is a chance for Paul Menard to prove the critics wrong that he is a force to be reckoned with. Most critics just credit his father for him being a race car driver. Enough with the father nonsense. His father is not racing the car! Obviously Paul knows something about turning a wheel. We need to give the kid a chance. Do you think he had great equipment down at Richard Petty Motorsports? Absolutely not. Take a look at RPM now. They have gone from a 4 car operation to a 2 car operation, leaving just Marcos Ambrose and AJ Allmendinger and the future of that organization is up in the air. Menard finished 23rd in points for the year with Allmendinger in 19th, Sadler in 27th, and Kasey Kahne was 20th despite leaving the team early for Red Bull Racing.

Menard has plenty more talent in my opinion than Casey Mears will ever have. Yes, his uncle won the Indianapolis 500, but that doesn’t help you succeed in NASCAR. Menard has 1 career NASCAR win and it came at a Nationwide in Milwaukee over four seasons ago. We will have to wait and see how Menard fares in 2011, but my prediction is that he will do better with Richard than he did with Petty. Is RCR financially ready to try this again? Remember that RCR didn’t dump Casey Mears after the 09 season because of performance, but of lack of funding and the lack of funding affected their performance on and off the race track. Mears had four Top 10 finishes and 0 Top 5’s.

Always follow the money. Despite his championship season, Harvick lost his primary sponsor Shell after four seasons and had to switch to Budweiser for the next year. The current instability of the economy always seems to show up during silly season. Now, who is going to be the lone duck at RCR? Childress knows from experience what happens when things go wrong with a big team.

The lone duck is going to be Jeff Burton in the #31 car. When they last tried this, Clint Bowyer looked really strong at the start of the season and even was second in points to Jeff Gordon at one point in the season. The lone duck that year was Casey Mears. Childress focused a lot of his time on the operations of Burton, Bowyer, and Harvick. Like I mentioned earlier, Bowyer moved to the brand new team after 2008. Childress neglected Mears and unfortunately had to leave after one season. It was pretty obvious that Mears was going to be leaving after Childress swapped crews.

Now, why is Jeff Burton going to be the lone duck? Lets break it down. Harvick is the #1 driver following his championship year. Clint Bowyer would follow him in second. Childress doesn’t want to neglect the new driver Menard because they know that he is definitely a better investment long term than Jeff Burton and he is a smart enough man to know that neglecting their newest driver would ultimately lead to decreased morale amongst the entire organization, not just Menard. Team members don’t want to hear the bad news. I see this as a good move for RCR and it will work this time as long as they focus on all members, but I expect Menard to have a better season than Jeff Burton.

Finally, this is my prediction. Harvick finishes highest in standings of all RCR drivers in 2011. Paul Menard will have a breakout year and come home 2nd, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton will take the other honors.

It’s that time of the year again. The NASCAR themed media will be rewinding the clock to present us the highlights of the recently concluded 2010 season. This year’s trip down memory lane will be unusually long because all three of NASCAR’s national touring series were loaded with memorable moments.

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]Certainly one of them, guaranteed the make the top ten listing, will be Kyle Busch’s one finger salute to a NASCAR official while parked on pit road at the Texas Motor Speedway. This single digit act cost the controversial driver $25,000 in fines and a probation period.

A perfect example of public reaction to the “Rowdy” one’s single digit came from “Sweetie” the in house girl friend, aka the card carrying T shirt wearing member of the Junior Nation. During the championship weekend, at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, Busch won both the NASCAR Camping World and Nationwide Series races. Following the Nationwide Series win, a member of the ESPN broadcast team announced “Kyle Busch is now two for two at Homestead.” Sweetie, with the middle fingers from each hand fully extended, said ” yeah, and I bet he’s counting the wins like this: one-two.”

That cute moment from our living room pretty much exemplifies the current public perception of this driver. That’s a shame, because Kyle Busch had an amazing year and compiled some staggering statistics in the process.

Beginning with NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series, Busch began the season launching his self owned Toyota Truck team. He entered 16 races which led to eight wins, 13 top five finishes, 14 top tens and collected $616,110 in prize money.

Kyle Busch Motorsports also won the coveted series owner’s championship in its debut season a feat that is considered quite remarkable. This is especially true in light of the fact that the team lost its primary sponsor three weeks before the season started. In January Miccosukee Indian Gaming had a change in corporate leadership and with that came a change in their marketing strategy. The Busch team spent the 2010 season piece mealing sponsorship programs virtually one race at a time.

The team was also creating a successful season residing in temporary headquarters while waiting for their new race shop to be completed. The new home of Kyle Busch Motorsports officially opened on October 15th, in Mooresville-North Carolina. The new shop is considered to be a state of the art facility and quite possibly the first ever race shop in the motorsports industry that completely complies with the environmentally “green” philosophy.

If Busch’s truck series stats were impressive then his stats in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series were simply awesome. In 2010 Busch has 29 series starts, 13 wins, 22 top fives, 25 top tens and won $1,364.510 in prize money. He also led a series high 2,229 laps this year.

There were other accolades from the 2010 Nationwide Series season as well. In 2008 Busch tied the legendary Sam Ard for most wins in a season with ten. His record shattering 13 wins this year is a mark that may never be matched. He also reached a new series record of 9,466 laps led which more that surpasses the previous record, 8.082 laps, established by Mark Martin. All of these numbers led to his team, Joe Gibbs Racing, winning their third consecutive and record tying, owner’s championship. Busch finished third in the Nationwide Series’ driver’s standings despite only entering 29 of the 35 events.

The driver’s final stats for the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season saw Busch collect three wins, 10 top fives and 18 top tens. He finished eighth in the final driver’s points and won $6,732,738 in prize money.

Just to prove how incredible Kyle Busch’s season really was, let’s do some math. His 2010 stats, from all three of NASCAR’s national touring series, totals to: 81 starts, 24 wins, 45 top fives, 57 top tens and a whopping $8,713,358 in earnings.

Sadly, when the best of 2010 is compiled, it’s Busch’s moment in time at the Texas Motor Speedway that’s going to get the most attention. A single digit, from this driver’s left hand, is going to completely diminish a season filled with amazing numbers.

It takes a lot to make Junior Nation happy.

Those would be the thousands if not millions of Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans around the world that have sat through two years of disappointment from the driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.

In reality, what would make them happy isn’t that much. After all they’re just like every other NASCAR fan: they want their driver to win.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]On Tuesday, Junior Nation became very happy and it didn’t come from anything that happened on the racetrack. Team owner Rick Hendrick announced that Earnhardt Jr., along with teammates Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon, would all be getting new crew chiefs. As soon as Earnhardt Jr.’s name was mentioned, all the focus immediately went to him because of his performance the last two years and by passed the changes on the 5 and 24 cars.

Just two days after the 2010 season ended and nearly two months before the 2011 season starts, members of Junior Nation are saying they already feel like winners.

Lance McGrew moves on and will no longer have to endure the numerous unflattering names that were bestowed upon him. In comes Steve Letarte who for the last five years had been atop the pit box of Jeff Gordon. The two nearly won the championship in 2007.

Included in the crew chief move is the change in scenery for Earnhardt Jr. as he will now be receiving all of Gordon’s old cars. Hendrick made it clear in his Wednesday teleconference that everything was staying intact with the three teams except who the drivers were.

That means Martin receives Earnhardt Jr.’s old team and Gordon receives Martin’s old team. For Earnhardt Jr. and Gordon, they will also be switching shops, as Earnhardt Jr.’s cars will now be prepared in the same building as five-time champions Jimmie Johnsons.

What wasn’t to be excited about?

Knowing that Chad Knaus will never leave Jimmie Johnson, to Junior Nation it’s as if they are getting the next best thing. Letarte has worked side-by-side with Knaus in the same building and many have said what is now the former 24/48 shop has always stood above the 5/88 shop.

The move brought so much discussion on social networking sites such as Twitter, that ‘Hendrick’ as in Hendrick Motorsports or Rick Hendrick became a trending topic. Meaning that it was being used in status updates so much it was recognized by the site as something that had many peoples attention and a large number of people were talking about.

Junior Nation was certainly paying attention and they were talking. So was Letarte, who even formally introduced himself to Junior Nation in a video message that was posted on Earnhardt Jr.’s Web site on Wednesday.

Said Letarte, “Hey, I’m the new face in town. I’m Steve Letarte, the new crew chief of Dale Jr. and the AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet. I hope you’re as excited to have me as I am excited to be included in the whole Junior Nation.”

No worries for Letarte, he’s already been welcomed with open arms and hailed a hero. All four HMS cars are being predicted to win races and contend for the Chase and Letarte will lead the charge for the No. 88 team in their big turnaround.

Was it mentioned that the season is two months away?

With finishes of 25th and 21st the last two season, and winless sine June of 2008, this was a spark that Junior Nation needed to even have the desire to watch in 2011. Things needed to change and after months of calling for them, Hendrick gave Junior Nation what they wanted and now the countdown begins.

A few immediate reactions were much like Corey Rutten’s, who said he was for the move and is excited about the years to come. Upon reading up on Letarte and how he’s looking to immediately establish a relationship with Earnhardt Jr., it has made Rutten like him already.

Lacy Keyser has already started calling Letarte, “Steve LeAwesome.” She echoed the sentiments of many other Junior Nation members that were pleased to hear Letarte say that he has faith in Earnhardt Jr.’s abilities. Publicly backing their driver and speaking about the possibilities of a successful season are what they needed to hear, to feel as though someone from the team also believes that their driver can get the job done.

Others have stated that Letarte will be an authority figure that Earnhardt Jr. needs to keep him calm on the radio. Gordon is a driver that also gets very animated during a race, giving Letarte plenty of practice. Former crew chiefs Tony Eury Jr. and McGrew just didn’t stack up in that department.

Tony Eury Sr., who was crew chief from 2000-2004 when at Dale Earnhardt Inc., may have been the only guy that could put Earnhardt Jr. in his place. At least, Junior Nation believes so and has been calling for his return ever since but Eury Sr. doesn’t want to be a cup crew chief ever again.

So here’s Letarte, ready for the challenge and all that Junior Nation has to offer.

Of course, there are some that are still skeptical. A few, including Dave Marshall, who says a new crew chief isn’t going to help. To him, Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t know how to properly communicate with his crew chiefs.

The negativity however, is going to have to wait until next year. This is Junior Nation’s moment and they love every minute of it.

The offseason isn’t even a week old and the season-ending stories haven’t even been published yet. The ones about how much Johnson is celeberating his fifth title and what he plans to do during the offseason. They don’t care about how Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin plan to take down Johnson next year and stop his quest for a sixth straight title. Or even about the many other sponsor and team changes around the garage for other organizations.

When those pieces are published however, they’ll continue to be pushed to the backburner as the continues to be around what the future holds for all four HMS teams. Will they be as successful as many are already predicting and expecting?

One thing will be for certain when the season arrives in Daytona Beach for Speedweeks, Junior Nation will announce their presence to be alive and well. And they’ll let everyone know that they’ll be stronger than ever and have a new reason to be the passionate fans that NASCAR knows them for.

The 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season will go down as the most competitive in its 62-year history of NASCAR.

[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]The average lead changes and leaders per race numbers were all broken this season. There was an average of 25.4 lead changes per race, which broke the previous record of 24.9 back in 1981 and the more recent 11 leaders back in 2006.

Another record that was broken is the amount of drivers who led a race this year. 55 different drivers led at least one lap. The previous total was 51, in both 2005 and 2007.

There were 1,299 green flag passes for the lead, which blew the previous total out of the water from 2006 with just 994. The total amount of green flag passes topped 116,327, which broke the record set last year with 110,626.

Talladega– Spring race set record with 88 lead changes among 29 drivers. That is 67% of the field! The fall race was great too, but didn’t exceed the numbers from April.

Daytona– 21 lead changes at the Daytona 500 set the record for that track.

Infineon– 12 lead changes in the race at Infineon set the record there.

Phoenix– 13 different leaders tied the record.

Texas– 33 lead changes during the last race set the track record

And finally some humor,

Marcos Ambrose became the first driver in NASCAR history to lose a race because he stalled the car during a caution flag playing with the ignition switches.

After little or no consideration, I have come to the conclusion that expanding the Chase to 20 cars would be ridiculously preposterous. If the Chase didn’t work with then or twelve what in your right mind would make you think that the Chase would work with twenty? Why would NASCAR fans buy into this idea? There are some reasons and after I state them here later, you will not be surprised. The idea is a joke.

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]Lets break this down. Why would NASCAR fans buy into an idea like this? First, do some calculations and see who would actually make the cut for the twenty man Chase. What a shocker! Dale Earnhardt Jr. would actually be in the Chase and would have finished 18th if the system were run.(Sarcastic Applause) Sorry guys, Jimmie Johnson would still be the champion. I have an idea! Lets just get rid of the Chase! We would not have this problem if it weren’t for the Chase itself. Why did NASCAR fans wait until 2003 to complain about the points system? Yes, Matt Kenseth won one race, but consistency wins championships, not ten race lotteries. You also have to ask the question, Where were Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick, or Jeff Gordon when Kenseth started to have some trouble? That’s right. They didn’t capitalize. That is their fault, not the points system. Kenseth did his job and built big enough points lead that he didn’t have to worry about one accident.

NASCAR is NOT the NFL. There is a reason why sports like baseball, hockey, football, and basketball have playoff systems! They work! They do not work in auto racing! A lot of fans have driven away from the sport because the most popular driver is not in it, I understand that, but having him a part of a twenty man Chase would still not bring them back. Do you want to know why? Jr. would have no chance! Harvick outnumbered Jr. in top tens by eighteen. That is incredible. NASCAR fans feel that Brian France has taken a step in the wrong direction and the real champion is being cheated. And I agree. I cannot believe what I’am seeing today is really happening and this new idea that was just brought up is a tale of the times.

Finally, I urge Mr. France to stop with the Chase changes talk. The changes would only further lower the attendance ratings and I know this for a fact. Despite the close Chase this year less fans still came to the races. I will never leave NASCAR, but France is starting to lose me. The way to handle it is to not abide by the Chase. I believe Jimmie Johnson is one of the best drivers in the sport today, but he is not a 5x champion guys! Lets go back to the old system and go back to the way of having drivers earn their championship! And please…no more talk about adding more drivers to the Chase.

Last Tuesday’s announcement from Hendrick Motorsports, (HMS), regarding crew chief changes and team locations caught us all off guard. First off, kudos to team owner Rick Hendrick for finding a way to keep such a major move a secret. In this day and age of instant information, combined with side of mouth comments from anonymous sources, it’s not easy keeping anything connected to NASCAR a secret.

[media-credit name=”Joe Dunn” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]The HMS realignment involves the following changes to the organization’s four teams:

#5 team. Lance McGrew leaves the #88 team to become Mark Martin’s crew chief.

#24 team. Alan Gustafson moves from Martin’s team to become Jeff Gordon’s chief.

#88 team. Steve Letarte moves from Gordon’s team to become the new chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

#48 team. No changes for the five time champions.

Additionally Hendrick announced some changes to building locations for the teams. The shop occupied by the #5/88 teams will now become the home of the #5/24 teams. The #24/48 home will now be shared by the #48/88 teams.

During post announcement comments last Tuesday, Hendrick said “this will improve us as an organization, across the board. We had a championship season but we weren’t where we wanted and needed to be with all four teams. We’ve made the right adjustments, and I’m excited to go racing with this line up.” Hendrick also said that the plan to implement these changes dated back to November 7th, right after the Texas race, when he held a company wide meeting.

The Hendrick announcement was only moments old when the speculation began that said a major shift of personnel of this nature was directly aimed at shoring up the troubled #88 team of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick was very quick to point out that the #88 was not the only reason for these changes. Despite the fact that the #48 team won their fifth consecutive championship, and Hendrick’s tenth title, the team owner pointed out that he felt the entire organization has grown complacent because of the organization’s past success. He also noted that even the championship pairing of Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus were a little off this year.

Hendrick also noted that the new pairings of drivers and crew chiefs were based on the personalities of individuals and how they would mesh together. Hendrick also insisted that this was “not an Earnhardt move.”

However, one cannot help but wonder if a major change like this is indeed an “Earnhardt move.” We’ve all seen the 2010 season numbers from this team. They finished 21st in the final points standings based on no wins, three top five finishes and eight top tens. Earnhardt led a total of 185 laps in 36 races this year. He finished the season with an average start of 19, an average finish of 19 and an average lap completion of 99. Despite a dismal season those numbers are actually a slight improvement over the ones compiled in 2009. But the one number that cannot be ignored is the team’s win less streak. Earnhardt and company hasn’t seen a Sprint Cup victory lane since June of 2008.

A very famous movie line, delivered by Paul Newman in “Cool Hand Luke”, once said “what we have here is a failure to communicate.” One can’t help but wonder if the driver’s communication skills with his past two crew chiefs is a major part of the problem here. It’s understandable for a frustrated driver to come over the radio and yell “this car is not drivable.” But that driver has to back up the statement with pertinent facts regarding why the car is not handling correctly in order for the crew chief to make an informed decision on how to rectify the situation. In turn, the driver has to have confidence in his crew chief’s ability and trust his decisions.

Is there indeed a failure to communicate within this #88 team? We’ve heard enough evidence from in car radio transmissions, that says it may be true. We’ve heard enough reports alleging frequent arguments within the privacy of the car hauler between Earnhardt and McGrew. Is it fair to throw previous crew chiefs under the bus? No it’s not. Both Tony Eury Jr. and Lance McGrew tried their best to get the job done. Sometimes in racing communication, and general chemistry, just doesn’t develop between driver and crew chief.

Can the arrival of Steve Letarte to the #88 team improve team communications? It’s very possible. Letarte has the reputation of being a good leader along with the ability to display grace under fire. His presence with this team certainly can’t hurt anything.

Still another aspect to the Hendrick Motorsports personnel change may involve the #88 team’s long term, and very lucrative, relationship with its sponsors: Amp Energy Drink, Mountain Dew and the National Guard. Both the driver and the sponsors are on the same contract time frame and are locked in through the end of 2012. However, somewhere during the opening part of the 2012 season, Hendrick is going to want to start contract renewal talks with the sponsors. Some strong numbers, and performance improvements, from the 2011 season by Earnhardt and company will make those renewal talks easier.

There may be a variety of reasons for last Tuesday’s personnel announcements from Hendrick Motorsports. But please don’t try to tell me it’s “not a Dale Earnhardt Jr. move.”

After much consideration, I’ve come to the conclusion that in order to maintain the integrity of the sport and to try and keep the fly-by-night fans watching, the Sprint Cup Chase should be expanded to include 20 drivers. Really.

[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]Let us put aside any crazy notion to determine a champion by elimination rounds, a separate points system for Chasers, or even a coin toss. It was tough enough to convince fans that the best over the season should not be the champion. I mean, if they still did Jeff Gordon would already be a six time champ. Want a playoff? Fine, but don’t make the championship something the fans won’t buy in to. If you want more contenders, then simply invite more to the party.

There once was a time when the winner in the regular season was the champion. Even after the World Series became part of baseball’s fabric in 1903, it still was a clash between two league champs as determined strictly by who finished first over the schedule. However, few fans in any sport object today to having the best team, or teams, during the regular season sitting on the sidelines as a couple of lesser lights survive the playoffs to battle it out in the final. I guess NASCAR is not any different.

So, why in heaven should we expand the Sprint Cup playoffs to include twenty teams? First, the more involved the better the chance of having more contenders as we get to the final race. It would not have happened this year, as regardless as to how many made the Chase, it would have come down to three in 2010. Still, as the likes of Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer saw their hopes flushed down the commode, there was drivers like Mark Martin, Joey Logano and Jamie McMurray who raised their game a notch over the final ten race sprint. Had they made the Chase, got the Chase rate of 5000 points plus ten bonus points per win, those three would have finished fifth through seventh. Instead of 12th, Burton would have wound up a more deserving 19th.

For more than fifty years, the best over the course of the year became the champion. Still, others believe the guy who wins the most should be king. Some think wins should mean more while finishing outside the top twenty or ten should mean less. There is validity in each of those views but if the idea is, like a mysterious debris caution late in a race, to compact the field and leave the outcome in doubt, this appears a more palatable way of doing it.

By the way, if the Chase had included the top twenty drivers after 26 races, then below you will find how the final standings would have looked. Tell me what you think.

Pos-Driver-(2010 Finish) Points

1 Jimmie Johnson (1)———–6622

2 Denny Hamlin (2)————–6583

3 Kevin Harvick (3)—————6581

4 Carl Edwards (4)————–6393

5 Mark Martin (15) —————6342

6 Joey Logano (16)————–6307

7 Jamie McMurray (14)———6295

8 Matt Kenseth (5)—————6294

9 Ryan Newman (13)———-6273

10 Greg Biffle (6)——————6247

11 Tony Stewart (7)————–6221

12 Kyle Busch (8)—————-6182

13 Jeff Gordon (9)—————6176

14 Clint Bowyer (10)————6155

15 Kurt Busch (11)————–6142

16 Juan Pablo Montoya (17) 6111

17 David Reutimann (18) 6048

18 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (21) 6045

19 Jeff Burton (12) 6033

20 Martin Truex, Jr. (22) 6032

Hendrick Motorsports made major changes to its organization today, switching things around for every team except Jimmie Johnson.

[media-credit name=”Mike Finnegan” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]Dale Earnhardt Jr. was expected to have a new crew chief in 2011 for quite some time after a mediocre 2010. For the third time in the past four seasons, Little E did not make the Chase and finished a dismal 21st place in the final standings with just eight top-10 finishes. After a second place run in the season-opening Daytona 500, some fans were shocked at the result. Jr. will now be working with Steve Letarte, who has been the crew chief for teammate Jeff Gordon since September of 2005 after Robbie Loomis resigned and returned to Richard Petty Motorsports. Will this help Jr?

Yes, I believe this will be a tremendous help to Jr. The 88 team will be moving in with the 48 team shop and the 24 team will be moving to the 5 team shop. Jr. had 5 top-tens in 2009. It is an improvement, but not significant to make a dent in the points race. Steve Letarte will help Dale find some consistent runs. Will those consistent runs turn into wins? We will have to wait and see. Gordon had eight less top-tens than he had from a year ago, but they were still consistent enough to have a good points run. This was a good move by Rick Hendrick. This will bring together the two teams and the 88 team will learn from what the 48 has done and Letarte will use the experience he had with Gordon to help Earnhardt, but the responsibility is also on Dale to bring the car home in one piece. You cannot blame Letarte if Earnhardt bump-drafts too rough and causes a 30 car accident.

The change will benefit Jeff Gordon. Alan Gustafson knows how to win races and Jeff Gordon is a man who is dying to win a race. Gordon has won only seven races in the past four seasons and that is a shock considering that this is the guy who won thirteen races back in 1998. Gustafson won five races with Martin in 2009 at the same time when Gordon had a good year, but with just one victory. This will help Gordon get back in the winner circle, but now they need to have consistency and winning race cars. This is something that Gordon has been missing since his championship run in 2007.

Unfortunately for Hendrick Motorsports not all of their teams run well at the same time and Mark Martin is the lone duck in 2011. Martin will be teamed up with Lance McGrew for the 2011 season. McGrew served this past season under the helm of the 88 and while Jr’s top-ten numbers improved from 5 to 8 it is just not the type of improvement that would make a serious dent in the points system. I believe they are putting McGrew with Martin because both of them will be leaving at the end of 2011. Who is coming in 2012? Kasey Kahne. And who is he bringing with him? Kenny Francis. Don’t be surprised if Lance McGrew is back at Research and Development in 2012.

Finally, back to my comment on Hendrick not all running well at the same time. This year it seemed like to me that only Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon really ran decent. Mark Martin and Dale Jr. were lackluster. In 2009, everyone at Hendrick did well, but Dale. 2008 was a much different story. Jr. was one of the best out of the Hendrick gate. Gordon and Mears struggled compared to the 88 and 48. Jr. had more points than Gordon for the entire 36 race schedule. So, expect a great year for everyone at Hendrick, but Mark Martin in 2011.