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MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- They're still 0-for-2008, but the Hendrick Motorsports stable is still as confident as ever.
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| Junior and Jeff Gordon give Hendrick Motorsports two of its four top 10 finishes Sunday. (Getty Images) |
Jeff Gordon's runner-up finish to winner Denny Hamlin led the Hendrick onslaught, which included Jimmie Johnson finishing fourth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. sixth and Casey Mears seventh.
That kind of day sure doesn't seem like it belongs to a team that many were questioning since the season began.
"There's been a lot of criticism that I think has been unnecessary on Hendrick," said Gordon, who moved up to ninth in the point standings. "I think today pretty much proved where we're at. We dominated this race.
"We may not have won it. That's what happened to us at other races, too."
Gordon believes Hendrick set the bar so high a year ago when it won 18 of 36 races that the team has been held up to unrealistic goals this season.
"I understand when you compare to last year and how strong we were and how many races we'd won at this point of the season," Gordon said. "You're just not going to have every year like that."
Johnson was shooting for his fourth consecutive win at the tiny .526-mile track and appeared to be on his way to break the early-season slump and keep his Martinsville streak alive. After starting 10th, he worked his way to the front of the field but got caught up in one of the many incidents that typically punctuate a Martinsville day and was forced to race his way back hard to post the fourth-place finish.
"Definitely it was a good day," said Johnson, who climbed into the 10th spot in the standings. "We had fantastic stops and we had a shot to win today when it was all said and done.
"We lost a lot of track position early; I am not sure exactly what happened. I believe the 16 (Greg Biffle) got into the 12 (Ryan Newman) and that kind of set my spin off. It was unfortunate but that is short-track racing."
The most consistent driver of the Hendrick squad this year has been newcomer Earnhardt, who was once again a contender on Sunday.
Although he ultimately was not able to snap his 68-race winless streak, Junior is confident Victory Lane is right around the corner and that despite the overall slow start for the Hendrick team, better days are ahead.
"We have to do this every week," Earnhardt said. "If we can't get those wins right now, it is best to get what we can get and build upon making the Chase. We tried really hard today and it just didn't work out for us."
"We tried, but, again, the wins will come. We just have to be patient and be happy and mindful about the points we are getting in this stretch. We have a little bit of a period in the summer where we go to tracks that we are off and on, hot and cold at.
"We need to get a good base of points built up as early as we can, so in case we have any kind of struggles in mid-season ... so just trying to be guarded and smart."
Earnhardt's Martinsville winless record may have remained intact, but he still left the Virginia short track with a smile on his face.
"We have been running great everywhere," he said. "I am happy the most about that. I daydream about getting that first win and I would have loved to have gotten a clock (awarded to the Martinsville winner) today. We tried and worked really hard. But we have to be satisfied. We led a lot of laps today. We have been there every week."
Junior's smile may have been eclipsed by teammate Mears's grin, who has struggled the most of the Hendrick foursome this season. Mears drove a smart race and stayed out of trouble all day in a performance that led to his seventh-place run and first top 10 finish of 2008.
"It definitely was what we needed," Mears said. "We had a rough start to the season and some bad luck. The good thing is everybody held their heads up pretty high. We know that we are competitive and this is a good start for us to rebound and go on from here.
"There was a side of me at the end that wanted to be more aggressive and try to get those last couple of spots. At the same time, we really aren't in a position to do that."
Maybe not yet, but if Mears and company continue the turnaround it will be very soon.