HMS Winamore: Hendrick Recap
What Happened
Hendrick Motorsports dominated the 2007 Nextel Cup sesaon, winning 18 races, scoring 57 top 5’s and 84 top 10’s. Three drivers made the Chase and Jimmie Johnson won his second straight championship.
Jeff Gordon’s season was one of the most spectacular seasons in recent history. He set a record with 30 top tens, passed Dale Earnhardt Sr for sixth all time, and also broke Earnhardt’s record for restrictor plate wins (12). The most amazing thing is that Gordon finished 2nd in the Chase.
Gordon finished second in the Chase because Jimmie Johnson won four straight races during the Chase. Johnson won 10 races during the season and utilized a perfect strategy to claim his second straight title. By pushing hard for wins during the Chase, Johnson overtook Gordon. It wasn’t like Johnson sandbagged it during the regular season either. His 110.3 driver rating was the best on the circuit and he had one less top five than Gordon.
The team also landed the biggest free agent prize in NASCAR history when Dale Earnhardt Jr announced in June that he would switch to HMS for 2008. Suddenly the team had three of the five most popular and profitable drivers in NASCAR.
What Went Well
The biggest reason for Hendrick’s dominance was how well they adapted to the Car of Tomorrow. Hendrick cars won the first five CoT races. Gordon had the best average finish (5.5) in all CoT events, followed closely by Johnson’s 6.9. Kyle Busch, who won the inagural CoT race at Bristol, also had an impressive 11.3. All four cars combined for a 10.8 average finish in the 18 CoT events, including nine wins.
Casey Mears finally scored his first Cup win in his fifth season. After a rough start to the season that saw him teeter on the edge of the top 35, Mears found his stride at Charlotte. Including his win he scored 4 top 5’s in the next 8 races. He finished the year 15th in the standings with career highs in top 5’s (5) and top 10’s (10).
What Went Wrong
In a completely charmed season, it’s hard to find too many things that went completely wrong. From Gordon’s perspective, not winning the championship might qualify. Gordon’s crew chief Steve Letarte had a plan to be conservative during the Chase and simply rack up top 5’s and top 10’s. In nearly any other year, the plan would have worked, but while Johnson was running well and going for wins, Gordon was caught flat-footed with a more conservative setup.
On the track Kyle Busch was a threat to win on a weekly basis, but things just didn’t firm up at the end of races. Off the track Busch continued to find the occasional trouble. After his lone win at Bristol he immediately trashed the CoT saying “it still sucks”. After wrecking at Texas Busch left the track while the crew continued repairing the car. That caused a firestorm because Dale Earnhardt Jr(who Busch wrecked under caution) stepped into the #5 car to run the final eight laps. Later in May Busch was let go to make way for Earnhardt Jr, unofficially in part to his dodgy attitude. This led to complaints about getting shunned by his teammates. Busch announced later in the season that he would drive for Joe Gibbs in 2008.
Past Team Reviews
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