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CUP: Warning! Do Not Bet Against Hendrick At PIR
Written by: RacinToday.com Staff
RacinToday.com   http://www.RacinToday.com
11/13/2009
Avondale, AZ
 
Any one of the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers are all likely to end up in victory lane in the NASCAR Sprint Series Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. (Photo: LAT Photographic) » More Photos

When it comes to predicting a winner in Sunday’s Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, it’s difficult to bet against the four-car Hendrick Motorsports juggernaut.

Mark Martin led 157 laps at Phoenix International Raceway in April and wound up snapping a 98-race winless streak.

Jimmie Johnson, who has never finished off the lead lap in 12 starts in Phoenix, reeled off three consecutive wins at the flat 1-mile oval beginning in Nov. 2007.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has visited PIR’s victory lane twice, both times in Dale Earnhardt Inc.-owned Chevrolets.

Jeff Gordon, who has captured three poles at Phoenix, scored his lone victory at the central Arizona track in April 2007.

Aside from wins by Terry Labonte in 1994 and Kyle Busch 12 years later, Hendrick’s success
at Phoenix had been relatively mediocre.

But Gordon’s long-awaited victory kicked off a string of five consecutive wins at Phoenix for Hendrick.

“When I started driving for Hendrick (in 2002), I don’t think Phoenix was one that was circled on the calendar for any of the teams,” Johnson said. “I think Terry had some luck. But Jeff didn’t really run well here.

“So from my time at Hendrick, I think we, as an organization and as a group, have figured out how to get around this track and the setups we needed.”

During his heyday in the late 1990s and early this decade, Phoenix proved to be a puzzle to Gordon.

“I can remember Jeff in 2000 or 2001, something like that, when I first started working with the team,” Johnson said. “He didn’t have a lot of good things in his mind about this track.”

According to Johnson, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer are the greatest threat to interrupt Hendrick’s domination in the desert this weekend.


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