Hendrick Motorsports
teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. made the trip to Daytona as a spectator to give a show of solidarity with his new teammates.
The trip must have been worth while. He returned to the Daytona asphalt and posted the top cumulative single car speed
for session two and bested teammate Johnson by better than one mile per hour (MPH). The domination by Team Hendrick
will likely continue through the season with his drivers learning from each other and improving performance across the board.
How long will it take Mears to achieve superstar status driving in the shadow of these guys?
Oh, here I am talking
about the Hendrick team and haven’t even mentioned Jeff Gordon, who I might add, could be headed into his best season
yet. The distraction of the birth of his daughter will be a non-issue this year. He’s settled in as the
cozy family man. He knows the years are numbered on how much longer he will be driving. The new talent in the
sport is only getting better. His last championship was in the Winston Cup in 2001. He wants one of those Sprint
Cup Trophies. He’s become the cagey veteran, much like Darrell Waltrip in the later years of his career.
I can only guess his mid-season falter in 2007 left a bad taste in his mouth and he has something to prove to himself and
the competition. A hungry Jeff Gordon is bad news for the rest of the field.
After winning the Daytona
500 in 2005, Jeff Gordon said: “It’s the ultimate race. There’s just no better place to win at than
Daytona. You know the sport’s getting more competitive. It’s getting
bigger and it’s just one of those races if you pick one, this is the one you want to win.”
The surprise to me has
been the performance of the Toyota
camp. Sure, I expected some improvement from these guys with the addition of Joe Gibbs Racing. After the end of
the second session, ten of the top fifteen speeds are posted by Toyota.
You have to go all the way to twelfth place to find a Ford. In contrast to Toyota’s
freshman performance with zero wins, I expect this manufacturer to get its fair share of checkers this year. The only
question is how many times they can steal a victory away from Hendrick.
2006 StockCar Review.
