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In
this Feb. 7 photo, Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR drivers, from
left, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Mark Martin pose for
photos during the ceremonies to mark the Rick Hendrick
Motorsports' 25 anniversary of auto racing. For Hendrick
Motorsports, this season has been easy as 1-2-3. OK, maybe not
easy. But NASCAR's dominant garage enters Sunday's Chase finale
on the cusp of taking the top three spots in the owner
standings, something it has never done.
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CORAL GABLES, Fla. -
For Hendrick Motorsports, this NASCAR season might seem easy as 1-2-3.
OK, maybe it only looked easy.
No matter if Jimmie Johnson or Mark
Martin leaves Homestead-Miami on Sunday with the Chase for the Sprint
Cup championship, Hendrick Motorsports — which owns both cars — will
have plenty to celebrate. The title, whomever delivers it, will be Rick
Hendrick's ninth in NASCAR, tying him with Petty Enterprises for the
most. And it will be his record-setting 12th overall, joining three
truck titles.
But there's a piece of history still out
there for Hendrick to chase.
Johnson, Martin and Jeff Gordon, all of
whom race under the Hendrick flag, enter the finale 1-2-3 in the
standings. If they finish in those spots, Hendrick Motorsports would
become the first team in NASCAR history to truly pull off that feat.
"I hate to be greedy when you think
about really wanting to be 1-2-3, but we're sitting there right now with
one race to go," Hendrick said Thursday. "That would be so
good for the organization. If it happens, it'll be just icing on the
cake. We've all thought about it. We've all talked about it. That's our
goal."
Has it happened before?
Depends on perspective, really.
Buck Baker, Herb Thomas and Speedy
Thompson finished in the top three spots in the 1956 standings after a
56-race schedule. Baker and Thompson both raced for Carl Kiekhaefer, as
did Thomas for much of that season. But NASCAR records show Thomas
started that season listed as his car's owner-driver, plus also spent
some time that year with Smokey Yunick as his team owner.
So technically, if Hendrick pulls this
off Sunday, he would stand alone.
"I'm actually living a dream,"
Hendrick said. "I grew up and all I knew was racing and cars and
working on cars. You didn't get paid to do it. You did it because you
loved it and you take whatever you made to do it. So to be able to look
back and see what we've been able to accomplish, I've just been really
fortunate being around a lot of great people."
His team is often likened as the Yankees
of NASCAR, with good reason.
The results, especially of late, show
that whatever is going on in the Hendrick garage tops what everyone else
is doing.
At 50, Martin is having what he calls the
happiest season of his life. Gordon will likely finish fourth or better
in the final standings for the 10th time. And Johnson is on the brink of
history, needing only a 25th-place finish to clinch his fourth straight
title, breaking the record he shares with Cale Yarborough.
Johnson often tells the story how
Hendrick once sat across the table from a team of Lowe's executives,
convincing those potential and eventual sponsors how the driver really
would be good enough to win a race someday. Johnson never forgot the
faith Hendrick showed that day, and has paid it back many times.
"Somehow, some way, what he
possesses in connecting with people, looking for the right skills, the
desire, the drive that an individual may have to perform well and do
well, there's something that he can see and recognize," Johnson
said. "I think it speaks volumes to the company and the success of
the company. He can pick something up, pick something out ... piece
everything together."
The respect level the drivers have is
clear. Even Martin, a venerable elder statesman in NASCAR, calls the
owner "Mr. Hendrick."
Said Hendrick: "I want to go on the
record, I'm only 10 years older than he is. I want it to be Rick."
His life only seems the stuff of
Hollywood now.
Hendrick's cap will be turned backward in
Victory Lane on Sunday, a tribute to his son Ricky, one of 10 people
killed when a Hendrick plane crashed in 2004. Rick Hendrick always tried
to get his kid to wear his cap the right way, and his son rarely would
listen to Dad on that point.
There's been so much other drama along
the way, too. A rare form of leukemia, which he beat. A guilty plea to
federal mail fraud, which was eventually pardoned by President Clinton.
Financial challenges, especially when he was beginning to build his
empire.
Now here he stands, about to pull into a
tie with Petty Enterprises for the most titles in the stock-car series.
"An opportunity to be around Mr.
Hendrick and all the fine people, teammates and people at Hendrick
Motorsports, has really made my life rich this year with people and with
quality relationships above and beyond any other year that I can ever
remember," Martin said Thursday, with Hendrick sitting immediately
to his right.
Hendrick bowed his head a bit, hearing
those words.
Richard Petty still might be The King,
and Johnson might be on the verge of etching his name on a blank page of
NASCAR history, but Sunday night will be as much a tribute to Hendrick
as anyone else on Victory Lane. His 25th anniversary season in NASCAR
will be his best, maybe the best by any team ever.
"I would have to say," Hendrick
said, "this is probably as good as it gets."
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