To listen to the hype surrounding the beginning of this NASCAR season, the Hendrick Motorsports behemoth is poised to roll over everyone in its path. This amuses Jack Roush, who not so long ago was the other behemoth in the garages.
By JIM ALEXANDER The Press-Enterprise
Two years ago, when Matt Kenseth won the winter Cup Series race at Fontana, it finished a Roush sweep of the weekend after Mark Martin had won the truck race and Greg Biffle the Saturday Busch Series race. Roush had just come off two championships in the previous three years (Kenseth in 2003 and Kurt Busch in '04), and had placed all five of its drivers in the Chase for the Cup in '05. They were, some daffy columnist suggested at the time, the Yankees of NASCAR because of their financial resources and research and development assets.
The point is that Hendrick ascended to what appeared to be super-team status when Dale Earnhardt Jr. signed on, creating a colossal marketing/competitive triumvirate of Earnhardt, two-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Yet through the first two weeks of the 2008 season, Penske's Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards have won races, and Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch -- the guy Hendrick tossed overboard to make room for Earnhardt -- leads the points standings.
Edwards, Kenseth, Biffle, David Ragan and Jamie McMurray acquitted themselves fairly well at Fontana in Roush Fenway's Ford Fusions. Besides Edwards' triumph, which he celebrated with his traditional back flip, Kenseth finished fifth, Ragan 14th, Biffle 15th and McMurray 22nd.
Falcons - It has been interesting to say the least to see ALL the manufacturers coming up in the top 10 finishes for the first two races...and not being dominated by HMS, as many had believed. I'm glad to see Roush Racing back on track again. Always fun to see Edwards do his flip. Perhaps your man McMurray will find victory lane again in 2008.
True Hendrick will have compition this year. I am a Hendrick fan -Jr. Lol. But it gets boring not seeing more cars win. Half the races won y hendrick kinda takes the fun away...Go Shrub...A Hendrick cast away..Still my Guy..
A year ago after Fontana, Mark Martin was leading the points, Jeff Gordon was third, and Jimmie Johnson was 15th. Then Hendrick cars won the next four races and ten of the next eleven, so I think it's a little bit premature to say the other teams have closed the gap on HMS, but I *hope* they have - it'll make the season a lot more interesting, if nothing else.
I think now its going tobe who has the horse power due to the COT now evenning them up. Yes some teams know what works better at some tracks over the others. But can they use the info from old car to this one to give them advantage of old ?
Roush and others definitely did their homework in the off season and may have caught Hendrick lapping up the glory of Jr...HMS has engine problems for sure (is this a Jr curse?) and the Roush Fords should be good again this weekend at Vegas.
I have to go with JayJay on this. We need a few more races to acutally see how everyone is going to do. I, also, hope for many different race winners to make it more interesting.
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