[updated 11/1/11, 0819hrs] In a heart-stopping bit of news when I first saw the headlines, it’s been reported that the Gulfstream 150 that Rick Hendrick and his wife, Linda, were in, lost its brakes and ran off the runway at Key West International Airport.
The mishap took place Monday night.
For a split-second, fears from the 2004 event in Martinsville invaded my mind when I first saw the headline… but thank God everyone came out of this OK.
The Hendricks only received minor injuries.
The pilot knew they had lost their brakes before landing and fortunately the airport had just recently installed a 600-foot overrun on the runway they landed on.
The jet went an additional 100 feet beyond that.
The plane, technically, is owned by Jimmie Johnson Racing II Incorporated.
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Rick Hendrick kept saying that we’ll hear about it after the season sometime. I didn’t realize that he meant we’ll hear about crew shuffles almost immediately after the final race where Jimmie Johnson wins his fifth straight championship in a row. But under the roof of Hendrick Motorsports, trouble was simmering to a point of brewing.
Jeff Gordon finished 9th in the standings with 17 top-10′s. Mark Martin, 13th… with 11 top-10′s and Dale Earnhardt Jr came in 21st with only 8 top-10′s.
Rick Hendrick made some changes at “The Inn.”
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Crew chief Lance McGrew couldn’t tame the beast and was moved to the No. 5 of Mark Martin.
- Jeff Gordon: Almost but not quite, but with a decent show for the year, Steve Letarte moves into the box-top of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s No. 88 car.
- Mark Martin: Alan Gustafson moves over to helm Jeff Gordon’s team.
But wait, that’s not all.
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Jimmie Johnson finished 2nd at Homestead-Miami Speedway to capture the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship, beating Kevin Harvick by 36 points, and Denny Hamlin, the odds on favorite to take the cup, by 39 points.
While Jimmie Johnson was pacing his day in the field headed to the end, the day was long for Denny Hamlin as he spun early off the fender of Greg Biffle, taking out the toe of the car for the rest of the day. After that it was a struggle that looked like Denny was going to win as the day went on but the factor counting against him was his taking pit stops earlier than everyone else.
Because Denny was pitting earlier than everyone else, he was pinned a lap down during the last set of green flag pit stops when Kevin Harvick drove through Kyle Busch, driving him into the wall to bring out the caution. This will be an interesting controversy for a short time because when you listen to the replays, you’ll note Harvick never lifted and drove through Busch.
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The Dale Earnhardt Jr. Quandary
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What is Hendrick Motorsports supposed to do with Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Right now, as Jenna Fryer put it, the No. 88 team is 1-for-95. HMS has poured everything they have into the team and yet the team does not work. The other teams under the HMS roof are working just fine, being in 2nd, 5th, 13th and the No. 88 team sits in 17th.
I hate saying this but after 2 crew chiefs, Lance McGrew being the latest, and new team members for this year on the No. 88 squad, there is only one common denominator.
Jenna Fryer thinks that through masterful, chess like moves in placing staff members, she thinks Alan Gustafson would be the right person for this job.
Dale Jr. is in his 3rd of a 5-year contract. Is Dale too star-struck by his own fame that the humble receptors that would hear a crew-chief aren’t working any more? Are his businesses really that distracting? I honestly can’t imagine that, though when Kyle Petty spent a year not being general manager of his own team he performed a lot better. (Don’t ask… I can’t specifically remember the year, but I remember doing the stats for it.)
I don’t know if they’re doing it, but maybe the house of Hendrick needs to determine who Dale drives more like, and set him up with those setups to see what takes.
I’ve also carefully watched Dale on-track. Sometimes it seems like he’s very stubborn about the line he drives, even when others do a bit better in other lines. I get having faith in a process, but maybe that process requires change in the cockpit.
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Joining the press corp of reporters on teleconference the other day was Rick Hendrick. The owner of Hendrick Motorsports and the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, and now four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, Jimmie Johnson.
Rick Hendrick and his organization made NASCAR history at the season finale at Homestead Miami Speedway. Jimmie Johnson clinched his fourth title in four years, something no other NASCAR driver has done in its history.
RICK HENDRICK: It was a great weekend. We’re very, very thankful to be able to close the deal.
Q. You’ve got these records under your belt, your team finished one, two, three in the points this year, (NBaP: First time a team has done that in NASCAR) you have a four-time consecutive champion. You’ve got two four-time champions under your belt. What goals do you have possibly that you could fulfill next?
RICK HENDRICK: My priority right now is Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 team. We’re working on them to try to make that team stronger and get all four teams in the Chase.
Seeing the competition get stronger, like the Childress and Gibbs and the Penske cars that it’s going to be a dog fight.
But we’re very, very thankful of what we’ve gotten done. These guys kind of set their own goals. You know, I believe that as soon as they finish this one Chad was thinking about number five, and Jeff and Steve are thinking about beating those guys. The planning and the execution have already started.
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As you all know, it’s been said by Rick Hendrick that there is no deal in place to bring the star power of Danica Patrick over to NASCAR to dabble in any of the NASCAR series.
Then again, isn’t this the guy that said that infamous phrase, “There’s no room at the inn?“ Sneaky poker player is who Rick is!
All joking aside, Hendrick said any news reports are premature.
Me, I think I speak for a large percentage of NASCAR fans when I say that NASCAR Bits & Pieces just doesn’t care one way or the other.
If Danica comes to NASCAR to dabble, I don’t see the point. Of course the media attention and TV ratings would probably spike for a while. And if she showed up intermittently in the sport, then I could predict intermittent ratings spikes for NASCAR.
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This is part 2 of a 2 part series from a media teleconference interview that Chad Knaus and Alan Gustafson participated in with the media… huh, that’s redundant. Media teleconference, with the media. Eh… It’s Friday!
PART 2 of 2 (See part 1 of the Chad Knaus and Alan Gustafson intervew)
Q: In terms of sort of intensity of sitting atop the pit box, where does that race rank?
CHAD KNAUS: Right now not as intense as Homestead this weekend is going to be.
The one thing that I think you have to have in this industry is a short term memory. I can’t exactly tell you how that all played out that weekend. I know the stress level was high and intensity was high. The 97 car sat on the pole, the 24 car qualified well, we qualified well.
Q; Ray Evernham said that in order to be a really great crew chief you’ve got to have the willingness to kind of give up the other portions of your life while you’re doing it. Do you find that’s true, in order to be really dedicated to the team, that you have to let some other things go?
ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, it’s definitely a balance, and those are decisions that you’ve got to make. … Somebody is going to dedicate their life 24/7, 365, to their trade and their sport and their craft and they’re going to continuously get better.
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This if the first of a 2 part series
On Tuesday Chad Knaus and Alan Gustafson were gracious enough to participate in a media teleconference to chat about a few things.
Hmm, what could be on everyone’s minds this week? Let’s find out! The following are excerpts from the teleconference.
How Alan Gustafson Views How 2009 Went
It’s been a real successful season for us. You know, getting Mark on board was obviously a huge step in the right direction, and being able to win five races and contend down to the wire for the championship and have a shot at Homestead has been good. It’s been a great season, and the guys have accomplished a lot and really looking forward to going to Homestead. It’s a really fun track to race on.
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The other day, I caught the hour long show, Together: The Hendrick Motorsports Story, narrated by Tom Cruise as they showed the coming of age (so to speak) of Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports.
The show was as compelling as anything I’ve ever seen. The historical footage is priceless. The memories hit home hard as we watch the “Hendrick family” of loved ones, friends and team members deal with the tragedy of the plane crash that took so many away from us.
Had I watched this film, uninterrupted, I probably would have been an emotional mess by the end of it.
But fortunately, watching it on ESPN2, I was saved that emotional roller coaster by the inundation of commercials for the Lowe’s employees, the Hendrick car company and a few others that kept popping up to make sure I never got to deeply into the show.
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