Good karma

Hendrick Motorsports owns 4 of the top 11 spots

By Denise N. Maloof, CNNSI.com

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It's a lovely February to be in a Chevrolet, whether you're driving one, tuning one, or overseeing both functions.

The karma is most obvious at Hendrick Motorsports, which claims four of the top 11 spots in Sunday's 44th Daytona 500.

Not only does rookie Jimmie Johnson have the pole, his mentor and team co-owner Jeff Gordon starts third. Stablemates Jerry Nadeau and Terry Labonte start 8th and 11th, respectively, and life is good in those Daytona International Speedway garages. So good, in fact, that it made Robbie Loomis and Chad Knaus's Friday tire-side perch in Gordon's garage particularly comfortable.

"Chad's got one of the best cars here," Loomis said, slapping his comrade's shoulder. "He's on the front row of the Daytona 500 with a rookie, my man."

The intensity was noticeably higher in some bays. While many Ford and Dodge teams rushed to interpret practice data, Loomis spoke of NASCAR's latest spoiler adjustment, another 1/4 inch trimmed off Fords and Dodges on Friday morning.

"The 24 car and the 48 car that Chad's got, that's what we can control," said Loomis, Gordon's crew chief. "That's the things we can work on. Whatever they do with that stuff there, it doesn't matter one bit to us. NASCAR's in a position they have to put on a great show, and if there's not people in the grandstands, then ya'll aren't going to be sitting here talking to us."

Knowing other crew chiefs were scrambling merely amplified Loomis' and Knaus' comfort. Barring incidents in Saturday's final two practices, all they have to do is tweak and polish.

"We have the same car," Knaus said of Johnson's Monte Carlo, a consistent 185-mile-per-hour performer during Speed Weeks. "Everything is expected. We know what's going to happen. These guys, they don't know what's going to happen. They go out there, they get 50 laps on their tires, they might be so loose they can't drive it, and we'll go ahead and drive away anyway."

And Loomis doesn't care if NASCAR tinkers with Chevrolet spoilers. Some Ford teams have lobbied for 1/4 or 1/2 inch increments to be added to Chevrolet's current 6 1/2 inch height. Ford's spoiler now falls to 5 3/4 inches high, Dodge's falls to 6 1/4, and Pontiac's remains at 6 1/4. Tinker away, Loomis said.

"We can go up in the trailer -- jump, stomp, roll, kick in the floor -- it's not going to change things," he said. "So I'm not worried at all."

"If these guys go ahead and they get a little bit faster than us, we're not going to look for anything from NASCAR," Knaus said. "We're just going to go home and work harder and try to make our car better."

According to Loomis, NASCAR rules adjustments aren't meant to curry manufacturer or team favor.

"They're not doing it for the manufacturers," he said. They're doing it for the race fans, all the people that watch it on TV. They want to have a great show. And when you watch the race, that's what we want ... We'd like to lead every lap and go home and load our stuff up, but at the same time, when we win by having a great race, that's what we really like."

 

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CNNSI.com’s Week at a Glance: Daytona NASCAR cuts quarter-inch off Ford, Dodge spoilers CNNSI.com's Maloof: NASCAR plays spoiler
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