NASCAR Cup Series

Teams must step up as NASCAR heads east

Published Apr. 19, 2009 8:34 p.m. ET

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NASCAR returns to its Dixie roots with a four-race swing through Talladega, Richmond, Darlington and Charlotte.

For the next month, the tour is close to home for the majority of Sprint Cup organizations. This stretch provides the perfect opportunity for teams to revamp programs that have revealed weaknesses after the first eight races of the season. With only 18 races before the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins, time is running out for postseason prospects to retool their squads for the 10-race championship run.

Saturday night at Phoenix, Jeff Gordon's pit road mishap and subsequent penalty knocked the No. 24 out of contention. The point leader's 25th-place finish went a long way in equalizing the point standings. After Texas, the 10th-place driver was 303 points out of first. Now, Greg Biffle, the 14th-place driver in the standings is 312 points behind Gordon.

Certainly, the top five drivers — Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin — would appear to be locked into the Chase. But there's a distinct difference between the teams that simply qualify for the postseason and the true contenders for the Cup.

With at least three cars (Nos. 24, 48 and sister-organization Stewart-Haas Racing's No. 14) locked into the top 12, and the potential for a fourth team if Mark Martin continues this hot streak after winning at Phoenix, Hendrick Motorsports is by far the cream of the NASCAR crop. After winning a fifth-straight Phoenix race and four of the last six romps at Talladega — despite that track's proclivity for disaster — HMS will continue its championship form.

Joe Gibbs Racing is a notch or two behind the Hendrick juggernaut simply because their two premier drivers — Hamlin and Kyle Busch, who are fifth and seventh, respectively, in the point standings — do not have the history of winning titles. Hendrick has nailed the championship formula and show no signs of waning.

But what about the rest?

Now back to the drawing board for NASCAR's other two powerhouses.

Given Roush Fenway Racing's strength last season, it came as no surprise that Carl Edwards was selected as the early favorite to win the 2009 Sprint Cup. He is currently winless but eighth in the point standings — the highest of the five Roush Fenway racers. Matt Kenseth, who was off to remarkable start to the season after sweeping the first two races, has scored just one top five since February and is barely hanging on to the last spot in the Chase Zone. Biffle was the only Ford among the top-five on Saturday night, but his third top-five of the season elevated the No. 16 car to within 16-points of 12th.

Measuring Up
How do NASCAR's top organizations fare after eight races this season? So far, advantage Hendrick.
Team	Cars	Wins	Top fives	Top 10s
Hendrick	Four	3	10	18
Gibbs	Three	2	5	7
Roush	Five	2	7	14
Childress	Four	0	6	9

RFR's issues have ranged from mechanical to pit crew personnel. Roush received valves from an Italian supplier "that broke" so he changed suppliers. Action was taken prior to Phoenix in attempt to improve the No. 99's pit crew, but owner Jack Roush feels the actual pit crew training must be addressed.

"We've had some pit stop training issues — I won't say people issues — but it's obvious that the training we've had on some of the crews did not meet the challenges we've had on the racetrack," Roush said. "And we've had a couple engine problems.

"You go through a year when a team or maybe an organization has very, very little trouble where the pit stops will all work the way you want them to and the engineering is as good as it needs to be but our support from Ford has been just wonderful.

"All you have to do is have some bad luck on the race track or break some parts and you're in disarray. We're going to be fine. We have great cars. We have great sponsors. We have great drivers and it's early enough in the year that we can recover. But it's been an aggravation because we didn't see it coming."

The last two seasons, all three Richard Childress Racing teams were represented in the Chase. Clint Bowyer jumped out to a stellar start this season and is currently sixth in the standings, but all three cars and newcomer Casey Mears appear to be off just a tick this year.

The RCR cars can definitely go the distance and failures are few. But as far as contending for wins, the spark has not been there this season. Perhaps the starkest stat is Kevin Harvick's streak of 79 races without a victory. After a miserable Phoenix finish of 30th, Harvick fell to 16th in points.