Hendrick’s reign seems clearly threatened

It’s nice to be the king. Until, that is, you start to lose your power.

Hendrick Motorsports was the unquestioned king of NASCAR a year ago, winning 18 races and finishing one-two in the final championship standings with Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Five races into the 2008 season, the king isn’t dead, but a well-organized coup is in the works.

While Richard Childress Racing was finishing first, second and third in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Hendrick “Dream Team” was having its fourth subpar race in five events this season. Only newcomer Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had consistent success, finishing fifth to improve to fifth in the Sprint Cup points standings.

Meanwhile, Gordon was a mediocre 11th, Johnson was 18th after suffering a flat tire and Casey Mears wound up 42nd in another head-scratching effort. As a result, two-time defending champion Johnson is 13th in points, while four-time champion Gordon is 14th and Mears is flirting with falling out of the top 35.

To add insult to injured pride for the Hendrick organization, Kyle Busch leads the standings in a Toyota with Joe Gibbs Racing. He was eased out of Chevrolet’s flagship team so Earnhardt could come aboard.

“We have had really good cars, but I don’t feel like we have had the car to beat yet,” Gordon said last Friday at Bristol. “A few little things here and there, we could have maybe pulled one off. But we weren’t the car to beat. We are doing good, but some other teams have stepped up.”

That is exactly what’s happened, said Richard Childress, explaining that other teams worked extra to catch up to Hendrick late in 2007 and in the offseason. Childress, for one thing, hired more engineers to get his teams up to speed with NASCAR’s new car.

“I think they’re a top-caliber team with top-caliber drivers,” said Childress, who has all three drivers in the top nine in points. “But, you know, they were strong last year, and everybody shoots at who is the best. Last year they were the best, and we had to put our sights on them.”

Race winner Burton, when asked if RCR had surpassed Hendrick as Sprint Cup’s top organization, had a quick answer.

“We’ll talk about that in December, you know,” Burton said. “I can assure you that the 24 (Gordon) didn’t run the way today that you normally see them run here. You wake the sleeping giant and they’re going to be tough to beat. There’s no question about that. We can answer that question in November. We can’t answer it today.”

Sunday’s race, the first on a short track this season, was not entirely bad news for the Hendrick teams. Johnson, who started on the pole after qualifying was rained out, led 14 laps and was consistently in the top 10 until he and Burton got together on lap 375. Johnson managed to avoid wrecking his Chevrolet Impala SS, but the contact caused a tire rub, which later caused a tire to go down.

Gordon, though, was never a threat, a rarity at Bristol. He and crew chief Steve Letarte tried several adjustments, but nothing brought the car to life. Even Earnhardt was left frustrated by the handling of his car, often voicing his displeasure to crew chief Tony Eury Jr.

Burton, for one, believes the season will see many more ups and downs than recent seasons, from all teams.

“I think it is as wide open as I’ve seen,” he said. “You have less car owners, but you have more quality teams. The quantity of quality teams is higher than it’s ever been. We’re still 20 weeks away until the championship starts to take shape, but I feel every car manufacturer will be represented.”