Looming races will decide fate of Hendrick dominance

Opportunities lie ahead for Hendrick teammates Jeff Gordon (left) and Jimmie Johnson to overcome their sluggish starts. Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- The next seven races will determine whether Hendrick Motorsports has lost its advantage over the Sprint Cup field or whether the sport's elite team will bounce back with another championship run.

That's because Hendrick's best tracks are coming up, beginning with Sunday's 500-lap short track battle at Martinsville Speedway.

So far this season, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon have gotten off to atypical starts. Johnson, the two-time defending Cup champion, ranks 13th in the overall standings while four-time champion Gordon is 14th.

Both are looking for their first 2008 victory and it very well could come in the next few races.

Surprisingly, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has easily been the best of the four Hendrick drivers through the first five races. Although he's yet to win a Cup points race in 2008, he's fifth in the standings with three top five and four top 10 finishes.

The fourth HMS driver is Casey Mears who's suffered through a terrible start, unable to crack the top 10 in any of the first five events. That leaves him mired in 33rd position.

David Ragan (21st), David Gilliland (22nd), Scott Riggs (24th), David Reutimann (26th), Paul Menard (27th), Travis Kvapil (28th), JJ Yeley (31st) and Jeremy Mayfield (32nd) all rank higher in the standings than Mears, who was expected to have a breakout season at Hendrick when he took over the No. 5 car previously driven by Kyle Busch.

Mears is already 414 points out of the Sprint Cup points lead and it may already be too late for him to dig his way out of that hole, but there remains plenty of hope for Johnson and Gordon to get back into title contention.

So let's take a look at where these two drivers can make some tremendous gains over the next few weeks.

MARTINSVILLE

Johnson is going for his fourth win in a row at the paper-clip shaped short track and his fifth win overall in Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500. He has eight top-five finishes and 11 top-10s in 12 career starts.

Perhaps Johnson's most famous win came last April when he frustrated Gordon in the closing laps. On the final lap, Gordon even tried to knock Johnson's car out of the way coming off the fourth turn, but Johnson took the checkered flag, leaving Gordon upset afterwards in what was the second race for the current car used in Sprint Cup racing.

Gordon has seven wins at Martinsville, but his last victory came in the fall race in 2005, completing a season sweep of both races at the North Carolina track. He also has 18 top five and 24 top 10 finishes in 30 career Martinsville starts.

TEXAS

This may be the worst track for the Hendrick duo of Johnson and Gordon. Johnson has one win (November 2007), four top five and seven top 10 finishes in nine career starts. Gordon is winless with five top five and seven top 10 starts in 14 career starts.

Texas and Homestead-Miami Speedway are the only tracks on the current schedule where Gordon has never won. But he has gotten closer in recent seasons, finishing fourth last April and seventh in November.

PHOENIX

Johnson scored his first career PIR win last November. It was the decisive blow in his title run as he went to Homestead the next day and clinched his second-straight title. Johnson has four top five and seven top 10 finishes in nine career starts.

Gordon scored his first career Phoenix win in last April's Subway 500. He has eight top five and 15 top 10 finishes in 18 career PIR starts.

A top finish by either of these two drivers in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 on April 12 could help them get back in the race for first place.

TALLADEGA

This track certainly favors Gordon more than Johnson.

Gordon has six wins, 13 top five and 16 top 10 finishes in 30 career starts. He swept both races last season in two cars (the older Chevrolet Monte Carlo and the new generation Chevrolet Impala SS). Since 2004, Gordon has four Talladega wins.

By contrast, Johnson has one win (spring 2006), four top five and five top 10 finishes in 12 career starts.

Either one of these two drivers could win the Aaron's 499 on April 27.

RICHMOND

Johnson swept both Richmond races in 2007 for his only two career wins at the short track. He has three top five and three top 10 finishes in 12 career starts.

Gordon has two wins, 12 top five and 18 top 10s in 30 career starts at Richmond.

DARLINGTON

Gordon has seven wins in 27 starts including last May. He has 15 top five and 18 top 10 finishes in 27 career starts. Johnson has two wins, five top five and eight top 10 finishes in nine career starts. So this is definitely a track that favors both drivers in the Dodge Challenger 500 on May 10.

LOWE'S

Both of these drivers could hit it big in the Coca-Cola 600 on May 25. Johnson has an incredible five wins, including one stretch of four straight victories with season sweeps in 2004 and 2005. He also has eight top five and 11 top 10 finishes in 13 career starts.

Johnson won his first career Cup race in the 1994 Coca-Cola 600. That was the first of his five victories, capped by last October's Bank of America 500. He also has 14 top five and 16 top 10 finishes in 30 career starts.

So by the time this stretch of races is completed, expect to see both Gordon and Johnson solidly in the top 10 in the Sprint Cup standings.

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