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Hendrick Motorsport's Peaks and Valleys Show Up at Darlington

An Opinion


May 16, 2012

By Chuck Abrams

Chuck Abrams


Darlington Raceway was the site of Hendrick Motorsports' greatest achievement on Saturday night as well as a reminder that this sport is filled with as many lows as there are highs.

Jimmie Johnson started on the outside front row and never relinquished sight of the lead.

Johnson led 134 of 368 laps on his way to taking the 200th victory for Hendrick. The momentous win started conversations of how long will it take Johnson to overtake The Intimidator’s win record -- and can he tie or pass Dale Earnhardt for his seven championships.

In the meantime, Kasey Kahne finished eighth, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 17th and Jeff Gordon 35th. Earnhardt Jr. and Johnson are firmly in the Chase hunt and Kahne seems to be back on track after a horrible start to his new season at Hendrick.

Jeff Gordon, after suffering through tire issues at Darlington, fell to 24th in points. This is uncharted territory for Gordon. He has never been this far down in the points at this time of year. He hasn’t missed the Chase since 2005 but he is dangerously close to missing it this year.

Gordon needs wins. And lots of them to climb out of this hole. But it will take a monstrous turn around for the No. 24 team to get to the top 12 and have more wins than the next wild card eligible driver.

So who are these people that say NASCAR is fixed? If that were the case, Gordon, Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart would be winning all of the races. That would be your championship battle, all you conspiracy theorists.

2012 is proving to be a banner year for showcasing the highs and lows of the sport.

Johnson started out poorly and has steadily climbed through the points to a place in the top five. Earnhardt has not won but maintained his place in the top five by stealing a page from the consistent Matt Kenseth, who sits firmly in front of Earnhardt Jr. in the points battle.

Greg Biffle is challenging all of our expectations of him by staying in the points lead.

And Gordon is battling for his Chase life. The patient isn’t dead by any stretch of the imagination, but the trauma team is certainly scrambling to save the patient from becoming irrelevant through the rest of the 2012 campaign. He needs to make up at least 100 points and gain at least two wins in order to even have a sniff of making the Chase. That is a tall order, but doable. But he is running out of time.

With the All-Star race on tap, this weekend provides a brief respite from the pressure of running for points.

This weekend is all about money and bragging rights. Gordon can relax, if that is possible, and concentrate on just racing. Then comes the Coca-Cola 600 where his No. 24 team will be challenged to give him a fast car that is adjustable to the changing conditions and a car that will not fail due to mechanical issues.

He’ll also need a lot of racing luck.

Is Gordon toast for this year?

Let me know your thoughts!

Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.








Feel free to send Chuck your thoughts on this and other race topics at Insider Racing News.
You Can Read Other Articles By Chuck Abrams

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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