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HEMBREE: Look For Big Year From ‘Struggling’ Hendrick
Hendrick Motorsports on verge of 200th Sprint Cup win as season nears opening…
Mike Hembree  |  Posted January 27, 2012   Charlotte, NC
(L-R) Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, look on as Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports, speaks with the media during the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
The caps, Rick Hendrick reasons with a hint of humor, are in danger of losing their shine.

“I’ve been hauling these 200-win hats around for six months,” said the owner of stock car racing’s flagship operation.

Hendrick Motorsports’ next Sprint Cup victory will be the organization’s 200th, a total the car salesman couldn’t have imagined when he first put Geoffrey Bodine on track in Hendrick cars in the 1984 season, with the help of ornery crew chief Harry Hyde.

Bodine won three races that season, and Tim Richmond came aboard in 1986 to win seven. Three years later, Darrell Waltrip won six for Hendrick, and the team got its first Cup championship in 1995 with the driver who would become the organization’s superstar face, Jeff Gordon.

Last year, however, despite a five-win (three by Gordon and two by Jimmie Johnson), Hendrick Motorsports became something of a marginal entity – at least relatively speaking. The two guys in the real race for the championship – Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards – drove from other headquarters, and Brad Keselowski was the breakout hero of the season.

Hendrick’s top drivers were nestled closely in the final standings – Johnson at sixth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. at seventh and Gordon at eighth. For the first time in six seasons (Johnson had won the previous five), someone outside the Hendrick community took home the year’s biggest prize.

Although Hendrick had the sort of year most teams would welcome like a dad home from war, it wasn’t a spectacular one for a team that routinely hauls in championships.

The 199th victory – by Johnson – came at Kansas six races before the end of the season, and anticipation began to build within the Hendrick organization about the landmark 200th win.

It builds still.

There is the suspicion that the Hendrick drivers (Kasey Kahne having joined the bunch) will hit the ground running next month in pursuit of that win. Indeed, Daytona could become a battleground in which they tangle not only with the opposition but also each other for the honor of scoring No. 200.

Hendrick, usually reticent in such matters, isn’t holding back.

“I’m going to be really disappointed if we don’t have all four cars in the Chase,” he said. “I’m going to be really disappointed if we don’t win a championship.”

Sounds like marching orders.

A Farewell To Doc – It would be a mistake to leave this space today without a final salute to a racing original, Dr. Joe Mattioli.

Mattioli, whose funeral is scheduled Monday, built Pocono Raceway and guarded it over the years like a favorite child. Years ago, he made arrangements that guaranteed that his family would continue to operate the speedway after his death. He didn’t want to see it sold to the highest bidder or to another promoter looking to swipe race dates.

A confidant of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. and a man of vision who saw a future for auto racing in the beauty of the Pocono Mountains, Mattioli was a welcome sight at numerous stops along the NASCAR trail over the years. Jovial and outgoing, he made friends easily and had a pleasant working relationship with both the powerful and the powerless. There were no “little people” in Mattioli’s world.

So many of the giants of the sport’s bedrock years have gone on. Doc Mattioli joins them on the long backstretch. RIP.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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