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Old 02-15-2007, 08:53 AM
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Hendrick Motor Sports

This thread is for HMS ariticles and discussions

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Old 02-15-2007, 08:57 AM
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2007 Preview: Hendrick Motorsports

Pete Pistone
Managing Editor
RacingOne



Despite winning the 2006 NEXTEL Cup Series title, Hendrick Motorsports will still sport a new look this season.

Defending champion Jimmie Johnson will be joined by Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and newcomer Casey Mears in Hendrick's four car stable this year.

"We're excited about the new year even though we're still trying to celebrate winning the championship," said team owner Rick Hendrick. "Last year was awesome because we had three of our teams in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup and Jimmie ended up winning it for us. We've had a lot going on in the off-season trying to get ready for this season."

Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus return with the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet team intact and ready to try and become the first repeat Cup Series champion since Jeff Gordon turned the trick in 1997 and 1998.

"We want to do it again and we're just as hungry as we've ever been to come back and try to do it again," Johnson said.

"I think that every year I'm smarter, the team is smarter and we try to make the changes necessary to win the championship," Johnson said. "This year we want to make sure that we're mentally able to make it through all 36 races and especially in the final 10, regardless if we're on top of the world or if we're going through a tough time."

Gordon and crew chief Steve Letarte bounced back from a tough time in 2005 to make the "Chase" last season. Although he stumbled in the post-season, Gordon feels the No. 24 DuPont team is back where it should be and will contend for his fifth title in 2007.

"But nine out of the 10 races in the 'Chase' we ran awesome so that has got me really pumped up," Gordon said. "With a championship team there and Casey Mears coming on board next year, Kyle Busch and that team as good as they are, I think all four teams are going to be really solid and it's only going to take us to that next level."

Busch's run in the "Chase" was frustrating, but with a Top 10 finish in the standings, the young Kellogg's Chevrolet driver is looking to carry last year's momentum into the new year.

"I think we're going to be really good and just as competitive as a year ago," Busch said. "This team really came together last season and we had some bad luck during the 'Chase' that put us in the hole early on. I think if we can get back into the 'Chase' and eliminate mistakes and get some good luck, we're going to be okay."

Veteran Mears rounds out the Hendrick roster, coming over to the team's No. 25 entry from Chip Ganassi Racing. The second generation driver is excited about the opportunity to join a championship-caliber team and his prospects for getting to victory lane.

"I'm more excited this year than I ever have been," he said. "This is going to be my fifth year in the Nextel Cup. My first couple of seasons were a huge learning curve, coming from the open-wheel side of things. Having the experience that I have now at this level and moving to an organization like Hendrick Motorsports, it's the best opportunity and the best situation I could possibly be in to go out and win races and do well."
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Old 03-29-2007, 10:01 AM
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Smile Watch out: Hendrick now has three threats to win

Jeff Owens
Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 10 hours ago


Nextel Cup teams got a scare on Sunday, one that has to leave many of the sport's top drivers and teams a bit worried about the immediate future.

After Kyle Busch's victory at Bristol, it is clear that Hendrick Motorsports now has three drivers and three teams capable of winning consistently and contending for the Nextel Cup championship.
By winning the season's fifth race, Busch continues to prove that he is capable of joining teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson among NASCAR's elite drivers.

His win at Bristol gave Hendrick three wins in the first five races this season. Johnson has two and seems poised to try and defend his Nextel Cup title. And Gordon, who struggled a bit in recent years, appears to be back, leading the point standings after five races.

Now, Busch is joining them, perhaps giving Hendrick three legitimate championship contenders and once again making Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR's elite team. (Who else has three drivers winning races these days?)

It's not that the younger of the two Busch brothers - Kyle is still just 21 - suddenly burst onto the scene. He won twice as a rookie in 2005, won another race last year and made last season's Chase For The Nextel Cup.

But a more experienced, more mature Busch is clearly stepping up and appears on the verge of breaking out in a big way.

Prior to Sunday's win, Busch had run at the front and been in contention in each of the season's first four races. He scored top-10 finishes at California and Las Vegas, but had problems at both Daytona and Atlanta.

He entered the Bristol race 14th in points, but had shown signs of much bigger things.

It finally happened at Bristol, where he ran near the front throughout the race, and then won a stirring duel with Denny Hamlin, Jeff Burton and Gordon.

He won on one of NASCAR's toughest tracks and in one of its most bizarre races.

That he won NASCAR's first car of tomorrow race is significant, and not just historically. The Food City 500 wasn't supposed to be won by a 21-year-old driver still trying to make his way in NASCAR's top series.

Run with a car Nextel Cup teams had never raced competitively before, it was supposed to be dominated by NASCAR's top drivers and most experienced teams. And for a while it was, with Tony Stewart running away from the field before suffering mechanical problems.

But Busch and crew chief Alan Gustafson kept their team in the hunt throughout the race and were ready to pounce when Stewart and Hamlin had problems. And they did it despite the fact that Busch hated driving the car of tomorrow.

In the end, Busch won a tough, challenging race with a car he was not comfortable driving. And he did it on arguably NASCAR's toughest track. That speaks volumes about his driving talent and his team's ability to step up in difficult circumstances.

In a way, it may have signaled that Kyle Busch, the younger brother of Kurt, the 2004 Cup champion, has finally arrived.

When Gordon won his first two Cup races in 1994 at age 23, he won at Charlotte and Indy, both big superspeedways. A year later, his first two wins of the 1995 season came at Rockingham and Atlanta.

But it wasn't until he won at Bristol for the first time that spring that everyone realized that Gordon was a special talent.

Likewise, Johnson scored his first Cup win at California Speedway in 2002. But when he swept both races at Dover, a track similar to Bristol, later that year, it sent a message that he was going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Busch's win at Bristol may have just sent the same message. His first three Cup wins came at California, Phoenix and New Hampshire, not easy tracks, but not among NASCAR's toughest, either.

The Bristol win showed he can conquer one of NASCAR's toughest tracks and do it by meeting a difficult challenge with the car of tomorrow.

If Busch can win under those circumstances, many more wins are likely on the way. And that does not bode well for the competition, nor anti-Hendrick fans.

Jeff Owens is a writer for NASCAR Scene, which is published weekly, 50 weeks per year.
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Old 05-30-2007, 03:20 PM
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For Hendrick, No. 25 has always been the family car

For Hendrick, No. 25 has always been the family car
By David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM
May 30, 2007
10:42 AM EDT

In a joyous Victory Lane last Sunday night, there were too many subplots to count. The relief and raw emotion of a driver finally securing his first Nextel Cup win. The poignancy of another racer named Mears celebrating on Memorial Day weekend. The significance of expatriate open-wheelers finishing first and second on the day of that discipline's biggest race. And behind it all, the wistful, knowing smile of the gray-haired man in the white button-down collared shirt.

Rick Hendrick had been there many times before. Geoffrey Bodine, Ken Schrader, Jeff Gordon, Jerry Nadeau, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers and now Casey Mears -- they all experienced their first taste of victory on NASCAR's premier level while at Hendrick Motorsports, an organization with an unparalleled record of turning young drivers into champions. The Coca-Cola 600 marked the 158th race victory for the former car salesman, who pioneered the multi-car concept and now makes winning look routine.

But there was nothing routine about Sunday. At Hendrick, victories by the No. 25 car are momentous, for reasons both personal and professional. While the organization's other three vehicles have won with relative regularity, the No. 25 outfit has lagged behind. In recent years, it's been such a carousel of drivers, sponsors and crew chiefs that some have questioned whether it was really a glorified research and development team, its purpose not to win races but to unearth information for everyone else.

As Sunday's results attested, that isn't the case. No one has been more frustrated by the inconsistencies of the No. 25 team than Hendrick himself, for whom the vehicle holds a deep personal significance. Because the Chevy that Mears drove to his breakthrough victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway isn't just any car. It's the family car.

From almost its inception, the vehicle's listed owner was Rick's father, Joe Hendrick. Later, son Ricky Hendrick was added as a co-owner. It was Ricky who befriended the young Mears, who in the years since has become so close to the Hendrick family he seems almost related by blood. It was Ricky who convinced his father to hire his buddy Vickers, a Busch Series hotshot who drove the No. 25 car to its first victory in three years -- albeit a controversial one -- last season at Talladega (watch video).

It's the No. 25 car that encapsulates so much triumphant and tragic Hendrick history -- Tim Richmond, winning seven races in 1986 before dying of complications from AIDS; "Papa" Joe Hendrick, the man who passed the motorsports bug on to his son, who passed in July of 2004 at age 84; Ricky Hendrick, the former racer turned team executive who perished along with nine others in a plane crash near Martinsville, Va., later that year. Vickers is with a different team now, but every day he still wears a purple wristband as a memorial to his good friend.

Rick Hendrick himself even drove the No. 25 car once, finishing 33rd with transmission problems at Riverside in 1987 while Richmond was sidelined with the virus that would later claim his life. There are some old-timers in the media center who believe Richmond left some type of curse on the vehicle, and have advised Hendrick to change the number in an effort to change the team's luck. In a way, he did -- prior to this season, the font was altered to make it look more like those on the organization's other three cars.

But it wasn't witchcraft that held the No. 25 car back. It was something much more mundane -- turnover. With Richmond and then Schrader behind the wheel, the team was on solid footing. Then came a revolving door of drivers, from Ricky Craven to Randy Lajoie to Wally Dallenbach to Nadeau. Crew chiefs came and went, once as many as four in a single season. For nearly a decade, despite race wins by men like Nadeau and Joe Nemechek, the No. 25 has lacked the stability that has marked the teams of Gordon and Johnson, and even the No. 5 outfit with Terry Labonte and Busch,

"I think the circumstances just haven't been right," Rick Hendrick said late Sunday night. They still may not be -- the Coca-Cola 600's wacky fuel-mileage finale (watch video) stands as a lone bright spot in an otherwise snake-bitten 2007 season for Mears, who has finished inside the top 10 only one other time this year. So Hendrick and his people will go back to work, trying to make the stars align for a vehicle that means as much to the car owner as any other in his stable.

Because it's not just his car. It was Ricky's, and Papa Joe's before that. It's been driven by kids like Vickers and Mears, close enough to be family. Now the listed owner is Mary Hendrick, Rick's mother. The family tradition continues.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
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Old 08-13-2007, 10:45 AM
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Hendrick re-signs with GM

Hendrick re-signs with GM: Hendrick Motorsports has verbally agreed to a five-year contract with General Motors, keeping HMS in Chevrolets through 2012. "We're done," team owner Rick Hendrick said after Sunday's Nextel Cup race at Watkins Glen International. "We haven't signed it, but we've verbally agreed." GM is in the last year of all of its contracts with teams in the Nextel Cup series. Re-signing HMS was key, particularly with speculation that Joe Gibbs Racing may be leaving for Toyota. Richard Childress Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc., GM's other top teams, remain in negotiations but are expected to re-sign. Two of the top three owners in Chevrolet expect Joe Gibbs Racing to move to Toyota in 2008. "I'd say they're gone," said Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick, who has agreed to a five-year deal with General Motors. Richard Childress Racing owner Richard Childress said there are enough signs to believe that JGR will make the jump, which he says will take Toyota to another level. "It's pretty well written in stone," he said on Sunday at Watkins Glen International. Childress is so convinced JGR will bolt that he questions whether the organization should be included in Thursday's key partners' meeting at GM's headquarters in Detroit. "No, I wouldn't feel comfortable with them there," he said. "If the [other Chevrolet] teams have a feeling they're going to be there, we're not going to discuss openly with them in a room things we normally would discuss openly. You're sitting there working on stuff for next year and you don't want them to take that and help out the competition."(ESPN.com)(8-13-2007)
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Old 08-18-2007, 07:58 PM
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Arrow Unrepentent Knaus and Letarte back at the track, getting teams ready for Chase

By MIKE HARRIS
AP Auto Racing Writer
August 18, 2007

BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) -- After finishing a six-week NASCAR suspension, crew chief Steve Letarte was back at the track and, apparently, feeling just a little strange to be there.

"Throughout the whole process, when we weren't on the track, we were on the phone with Steve and he was as much a part of it as he could be,'' said his driver, Jeff Gordon. ``It's awkward for him because he hasn't been in the garage area. He almost feels like going to the bus to call us.''

Since they were suspended in June, Letarte and fellow Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Chad Knaus have managed to stay busy. But that hasn't kept them from being frustrated.

"I'm not going to lie to you, it's tough,'' Knaus said Friday after rejoining reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and his No. 48 team at Michigan International Speedway to prepare for Sunday's 3M Performance 400.

Knaus and Letarte, who works with the No. 24 of four-time Cup champion Gordon, were banned from attending six races after NASCAR technical inspectors found front fenders that were not approved on their entries before the June 24 race at Sonoma. .

"It's very frustrating,'' said Letarte, who had never before been suspended. "I (could) do everything Monday through Thursday to prepare them, give them my notes, give them my ideas, this is how the last race went, this is how the next race might go. But, when they leave and come out to the racetrack, they're kind of on their own.''

Knaus has had suspensions in the past -- and they don't get any easier.

"I've never done anything else my whole life and Steve's in the same boat,'' Knaus said. "In 24, 25 years of racing, I've been gone every weekend, every week I'm gone somewhere else, some other town going racing.

"When you instill that kind of competitive nature into your blood, it's kind of difficult to unplug yourself. But it's what happens, you just have to deal with it. I didn't enjoy it, that's for sure. It's good to be back.''

Both teams have done a decent job in the absence of their leaders.

Gordon, leading the season standings, has posted top-10 finishes in all six races and increased his points lead over runner-up Denny Hamlin from 171 -- after NASCAR docked both Gordon and Johnson 100 points for ``Fender-gate'' -- to 344.

Johnson hasn't been quite as fortunate.

He was fourth, 366 behind his teammate after the points deduction. Heading into Sunday's event -- one of four races left before the 12-man field for the Chase for the championship is set -- Johnson is seventh, 595 points behind Gordon, who has already clinched a spot in the postseason.

There's little chance Johnson will miss out on the Chase, since he is still 356 points in front of 13th-place Ryan Newman. But momentum is key heading into the stock car playoff.

Crashes in consecutive races at Chicago and Indianapolis relegated Johnson to finishes of 37th and 39th and seriously slowed his team's progress. But he has since righted the ship, finishing fifth at Pocono and third at Watkins Glen.

Both teams greeted the return of their crew chief with a strong effort Friday, with Gordon winning his series-leading sixth pole of the year and Johnson qualifying seventh.

"I think that Steve just brings a little something special,'' Gordon said. "He's the guy who's gotten us into the situation, leading the points, winning four races and qualified for the Chase.''

Since the crew chiefs were suspended only from coming to the tracks, Knaus and Letarte were able to take the lead in repairing Johnson's battered cars.


"We share a shop and the No. 24 has been fortunate,'' Letarte said. "We've had some pretty good luck all year. The No. 48 has been a little unfortunate, getting caught up in some of those accidents. So we've just been making sure that the two teams have a full stable of cars entering the Chase.''

Johnson appeared relieved to have Knaus, the only crew chief he's had in his six seasons in Cup, back at the track.

"We're very proud of the team and the effort we've put out through all of it, but there's no doubt that we've been less of a team without Knaus at the track,'' the driver said.

Neither one of the crew chiefs was repentant about the technical violations that prompted the penalties.

"I'm sorry for what happened but, for the reason that it happened, I'm not sorry because what we did was not something that we thought was bad,'' Knaus said. "We didn't feel like we were breaking the rules.

"I don't feel any regret, remorse or anything like that. Am I sorry I missed the races? Am I sorry that I wasn't there? Absolutely. ... But regret or remorse, no, that's not even an option.''

Letarte said he too is just ready to move on.


'If you're asking if I laid awake at night thinking about it, no,'' he said. "I'm not too worried about it. I kind of have bigger goals. I lay awake more at night trying to figure out how we're going to win a championship (rather) than for not being here for the last six races.''
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Old 10-13-2007, 08:03 AM
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Chase drivers ready to concede Nextel Cup title to Gordon and Johnson
By JENNA FRYER, AP Auto Racing Writer

October 12, 2007

Ryan Newman waits in his car during practice for Saturday's Bank of America 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Friday, Oct. 12, 2007. Newman starts on the pole for the race.
AP - Oct 12, 6:42 pm EDT
More Photos

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin have all but conceded the Nextel Cup title, while Jeff Burton and Martin Truex Jr. are pretty close to waving white flags.

Only four races into this Chase for the championship and the realization is setting in: If Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson don't struggle in Saturday night's race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, nobody else has a shot at the Nextel Cup title.

``I know it probably won't happen, but it would be nice if Jimmie and Jeff quit sharing notes, started to hate each other and wrecked each other on the racetrack. It would really help the rest of us out,'' said Carl Edwards, sixth in the standings -- 205 points out.

``I have a feeling they're going to keep plugging away and they're going to be tough to beat no matter what.''

It's fitting that Gordon, the four-time series champion, and Johnson, the defending series champion, are at the top of the leaderboard. The Hendrick Motorsports teammates combined to win 10 races during the ``regular season'' and Gordon built a lead of more than 300 points in the standings.

But it was all jumbled back together when the Chase began last month, and everyone had high hopes for an intense 10-race push to the title. It was on course for it, too, as the top six drivers were separated by a mere 18 points after two events.

Then a bizarre race in Kansas jumbled the standings, and last week's 1-2 finish by Gordon and Johnson blew them right open. Gordon heads into Saturday night's event with a nine-point lead over Johnson, and Clint Bowyer sits in third, 63 points out.

Two-time series champion Tony Stewart is fourth, but fading at 154 points back, and everyone else is 200 or more out. The big deficit that anyone has overcome to win the championship is 156 points that Johnson rallied from last season.

The stark reality of it has forced several drivers to re-evaluate their goals. Instead of the title, they are now looking to salvage decent finishes.

``We don't feel the pressure of being part of the championship battle -- at least not right now,'' said Hamlin, who is ninth -- 262 points out. ``Our goal is to get back into the top five. If we do that, we've still had a very successful year.''

After wrecking out at Talladega last week, Busch declared his chances over. Back-to-back accidents had dropped him from 10 points out of the lead two weeks ago to a 260 behind.

He's softened his stance this week, though, but knows he'll need a ton of help to get back in it.

``I think there is still a chance there, we have an opportunity to do so,'' Busch said. ``But it will be really, really hard the way Jeff and Jimmie are running week in and week out and them leading the points. We'll see.''

Gordon and Johnson will have to falter soon, and there's no reason to believe it will happen at Lowe's.

Jeff Gordon climbs into his car before practice for Saturday's Bank of America 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series auto race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Friday, Oct. 12, 2007.
AP - Oct 12, 6:39 pm EDT
More Photos
Johnson is incredible at the suburban Charlotte track, which is sponsored by his primary sponsor and considered his personal playground. He's scored five wins here in 12 starts, including four in a row.

Although he's not won at Lowe's in three races, he starts second Saturday night in his attempt to get back to Victory Lane.

He knows how good he is at this track, and he knows how hard it is to climb back into the title hunt. Still, he's not ready to eliminate anyone from contention.

``I think with 12 guys, the chances are more difficult to come back from as far back,'' he said. ``But I think that it's still possible and anything can happen. I don't think that anybody is really out yet but unfortunately, when you're in that position and you're in a hole, you need a lot of guys to have problems.

``We still have a lot of racing left. I think when you get two, three, four races out here in a few more weeks, it will become more clear as the Chase wears on. But as of now, if I were in an 11th or 12th spot, I still wouldn't give up.''

Gordon has four wins here, including the first of his career back in 1994. But he's struggled on the track of late, and hasn't finished higher than 24th in his last five starts. That includes a 41st-place finish here in May.

But Gordon, who starts fourth on Saturday night, agrees with his teammate in that its too soon to cross off the competition.

``You never know what can happen, anything is possible,'' he said. ``Guys can get caught up in wrecks, engines can blow, parts can fail, tires can blow. If you could possibly figure out that those things were not going to happen and then ask me that, then I would give you a number.

``But I think still anything and anybody that's mathematically still in it, still has a shot.''
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Old 10-31-2007, 10:01 PM
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Shop Talk: Texas
Gordon, Johnson have Texas success despite no wins
By Official Release
October 31, 2007
03:09 PM EDT

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The teammate tug-o-war between Hendrick Motorsports brethren Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson will likely continue this weekend in the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

The gap between first and second in the standings -- nine points -- has not been this small with three races left since the Chase for the Nextel Cup began in 2004.

Nor has the Chase been this competitive.

Figuring that Gordon has averaged a fifth-place finish over the last two races and still lost 59 points proves that neither he nor Johnson can settle for top 10s. Only visits to Victory Lane will do, it seems.

So, who has a better chance of claiming victory this weekend?

In Gordon's case, a study of his more recent Texas races might paint a clearer picture.

NASCAR started using scoring loops embedded in the track for statistical purposes in 2005. Since the inception of Loop Data, Gordon has solid numbers at Texas: a Driver Rating of 92.3, an Average Running Position of 12.5 and 85 Fastest Laps Run.

But his strongest numbers came in the last two Texas races.

In the two 2005 Texas races and the first 2006 event, Gordon averaged a finish of 17.0. In the two races since, he has an average finish of 6.5.

Below are Gordon's combined/average numbers from the first three Texas races since 2005 compared with the last two races there:
Jeff Gordon
Texas Motor Speedway (2005-2007)

Date Avg. Fin. Avg. Run Position Fastest Laps Run Laps in Top 15 Driver Rating
2005-2006 17.0 17.1 13 34.3% 75.6
Last Two 6.5 5.7 72 95.7% 117.2

Having apparently rebounded from a few bad outings at the 1.5-mile track, the stats show Gordon will be coming into Texas with momentum.

Johnson, on the other hand, has just one poor result at Texas since 2005 -- a 38th-place finish in this season's spring race.

Still, the statistics show that Johnson's performance at that race was much stronger than his finish would suggest:
Jimmie Johnson
2007 Texas spring race

Date Finish Avg. Run Position Fastest Laps Run Laps in Top 15 Driver Rating
4/07 38 12.3 14 71.3% 94.9

Johnson's Driver Rating was ninth-best overall in the April race and before trouble ended his victory hopes, Johnson spent 238 of his 260 laps in the top 15.

Johnson has eight career races at Texas, and has finished outside the top 10 only once. Since 2005, he has failed to eclipse the 90.0 Driver Rating mark only once. Below are Johnson's stats at Texas since 2005:
Jimmie Johnson
Texas Motor Speedway (2005-2007)

Date Finish Avg. Run Position Fastest Laps Run Laps in Top 15 Driver Rating
4/05 3 12.7 15 72.5% 98.9
11/05 5 6.6 11 100.0% 108.7
4/06 11 19.7 0 21.9% 75.4
11/06 2 3.9 31 97.9% 121.6
4/07 38 12.3 14 71.3% 94.9
Total 11.8 11.1 71 72.8% 99.9

As was the case the last two weeks, Johnson holds the advantage in pre-race Driver Rating. Below is the tale-of-the-tape for Gordon at Texas since 2005:
Tale-of-the Tape
Texas Motor Speedway

Statistic Gordon Johnson Advantage
Driver Rating 92.3 99.9 Johnson
Avg. Run. Pos. 12.5 11.0 Johnson
Fastest Laps Run 85 71 Gordon
Laps in the Top 15 59% 72.8% Johnson

The End
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Old 10-31-2007, 11:27 PM
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Old 11-01-2007, 01:23 AM
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mrsmopar12 mrsmopar12 is offline
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Cool ROFL

Hahahahaha!
Thanks bigE, that one is priceless and let's hope that it's true! Curves
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