When all four Hendrick Motorsports cars found trouble at Michigan International Speedway in June, some would have considered it a once in a lifetime occurrence.
But Sunday at Michigan for the second and final time, the two-mile oval had not had her fill of HMS sheet metal. Again one of the sports most dominant teams found themselves heading home without the trophy.
The first two victims being Jimmie Johnson and shop mate Dale Earnhardt Jr. In June it was Earnhardt Jr. who was leading and blew an engine before Johnson later blew a tire while running second. Sunday after Johnson a few laps during a pit stop sequence, he was the one who headed to the garage early, his engine expiring after 60 laps.
“The engine broke there,” Johnson said. “I guess when we came in for a green flag pit stop, something started then and made it a few more laps and didn’t really notice anything off.
“Then it finally dropped a cylinder or two down the backstretch. Definitely an unfortunate thing, but we had plenty of speed in the car and I think we were going to be a factor.”
Johnson remains both winless and bitten at Michigan. He’s done everything but find Victory Lane at the speedway. Run out of gas a few times, blown tires and engines. His 40th place finish however, did no more than take away a victory as Johnson has already locked himself in the Chase. Along with building enough of a point lead that it wasn’t in jeopardy either.
Bonus points for Chase seeding are all Johnson’s looking for over the next three weeks, but Earnhardt Jr. has much more on the line. Entering the day sixth in points and looking for his first win of the season at the track he’s won his last two races at, Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t have many more mulligans left.
He had asked whether he should be concerned with his engine following Johnson’s trouble but was confidently told no. His race instead was taken away on lap 135 when a blown tire sent him into the wall, after which he had led 20 laps and was running seventh.
“There are guys in worst positions than us. We ain’t got to outrun just one guy; there’s a lot of guys,” Earnhardt Jr. said about his Chase chances.
“We’re not an 11th place team. We’re a top five team. We’re consistent. We’re more consistent than most. We’ve just got to shake this luck, whatever is going on; it’s something different every time. We’ve got good speed and we’ve just got to keep our head up and keep working hard and things will be all right.”
Heading into Bristol, where Earnhardt Jr. won in August of 2004, he slips to seventh in points, just 20 points ahead of 11th place teammate Kasey Kahne. Kahne was the highest finishing HMS driver but was never a contender Sunday. He and Jeff Gordon seemed to battle their track position with Kahne never making it higher than the seventh place he earned.
Gordon, who needs a win to help his chances at the Chase, fought his car all day. Telling crew chief Alan Gustafson that he wasn’t happy with its handling and how far off it had gone throughout a run. There were times of hope as Gordon approached the top 10 but by race’s end he wound up 17th. He’s now 14th in points, 26 points out of the top 10.
Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond are the three remaining stops before the Chase begins. All four HMS drivers have won at each of those tracks.
