While car owner Rick Hendrick is celebrating his 12th national championship and record tying ninth NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship there is something nagging at his dominant organization.
The question is how to fix the No 88 team of driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Driving the same equipment out of the same facilities as the top three in the standings Earnhardt had his career-worst year. No wins, two top-fives, and a dismal 25th overall.
“You know, this year I would like to have seen Jeff win number five, Jimmie win four straight, and Mark win his first one,” said Hendrick.
“So I think my priority right now is the 88 team. We're working on them to try to make that team stronger. The goal going into next year now will be win races and get all four teams in the Chase”.
During the season Hendrick took a big step in replacing Earnhardt’s choice of crew chief, his cousin, Tony Eury Jr. with Lance McGrew.
"I see myself -- without looking at the statistics and luck that we have had lately -- I can see a lot of improvements in the team and I can see the impact that Lance is making," Earnhardt said, at Talladega, in October. That was optimistic. Except for that race, where he finished 11th, he finished 20th or worse in the final 11 races of the year.
Some good runs have been spoiled by mechanical failures and old-fashioned bad luck. That’s not an excuse when your other drivers are all leading the points and winning races.
Hendrick is sanguine when he said “you just go through these. We know we can make the team better, and it's frustrating, and it's, you know, the driver begins to think that no matter what he does, that something's going to happen, because we just had – we've had failures. We've had wrecks. We've just had a – if it could happen, it happened to that team.”
“And we just got to be better all the way around. I think when we do that, when Dale sees that we've stepped up in a lot of areas, it will give him the confidence he needs. So we're all over it, and we've been all over it. But it's really one of my focuses here. My priority, my primary focus here starting this week, starting Monday, really.”
photo:Philippe Champoux - Auto123.com
The question is how to fix the No 88 team of driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Driving the same equipment out of the same facilities as the top three in the standings Earnhardt had his career-worst year. No wins, two top-fives, and a dismal 25th overall.
“You know, this year I would like to have seen Jeff win number five, Jimmie win four straight, and Mark win his first one,” said Hendrick.
“So I think my priority right now is the 88 team. We're working on them to try to make that team stronger. The goal going into next year now will be win races and get all four teams in the Chase”.
During the season Hendrick took a big step in replacing Earnhardt’s choice of crew chief, his cousin, Tony Eury Jr. with Lance McGrew.
"I see myself -- without looking at the statistics and luck that we have had lately -- I can see a lot of improvements in the team and I can see the impact that Lance is making," Earnhardt said, at Talladega, in October. That was optimistic. Except for that race, where he finished 11th, he finished 20th or worse in the final 11 races of the year.
Some good runs have been spoiled by mechanical failures and old-fashioned bad luck. That’s not an excuse when your other drivers are all leading the points and winning races.
Hendrick is sanguine when he said “you just go through these. We know we can make the team better, and it's frustrating, and it's, you know, the driver begins to think that no matter what he does, that something's going to happen, because we just had – we've had failures. We've had wrecks. We've just had a – if it could happen, it happened to that team.”
“And we just got to be better all the way around. I think when we do that, when Dale sees that we've stepped up in a lot of areas, it will give him the confidence he needs. So we're all over it, and we've been all over it. But it's really one of my focuses here. My priority, my primary focus here starting this week, starting Monday, really.”
photo:Philippe Champoux - Auto123.com