Hendrick struggles in Vegas

It was far from a banner day for Hendrick Motorsports. One week after placing each of its four teams in the top thirteen and winning the race in Phoenix, Hendrick gave a poor showing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Dale Earnhardt Jr. brought home the team's only top-10 finish.

Jeff Gordon, last week's winner, had a decent car at Las Vegas, but a cut tire on lap 194 caused significant damage to the right side of his car and ended his day. Jimmie Johnson, four-time Las Vegas winner and defending race champion, never got the handle on his car en route to a 16th place finish. Mark Martin struggled to an 18th place result, while Dale Jr. ran in the top five before fading late to finish in eighth place.

This was a surprising result for one of NASCAR's top organizations. Jimmie Johnson is known as one of the sport's top closers, often coming out of nowhere to win races after running mid-pack most of the day. At one point, that seemed to be happening on Sunday, but after climbing into the top ten, Johnson had a poor pit stop and lost track position. He never recovered, and finished outside the top fifteen with an ill-handling race car. It was a similarly frustrating day for Mark Martin, who never ran with the race leaders.

But it wasn't all bad news for Hendrick Motorsports. Jeff Gordon led a couple of laps early and ran in or near the top 10 all race before his tire problems. Dale Jr. appeared to have a car capable of contending for the win, and his strong run was another sign that 2011 could be the year he turns his career around after a couple of frustrating years. He seems to be enjoying his relationship with new crew chief Steve Letarte, one of the most encouraging crew chiefs in NASCAR. A positive outlook could be just what Earnhardt needs to begin running in the front of the pack and winning races again.

It is too early to draw definite conclusions after the first race at the many mile-and-a-half tracks that dominate the Sprint Cup circuit, and it may be a while before we will know how the rest of the year will look for the Hendrick cars. The series heads next to the short tracks at Bristol and Martinsville and the flat 2-mile oval at Fontana, which require entirely different setups than do the mile-and-a-half intermediate tracks. But what we do know is that although Hendrick gave a weak showing at Las Vegas, history tells us that they will fix whatever problems they may have and be prepared in April when the series visits the next intermediate track on the schedule, Texas Motor Speedway. Look for the Hendrick brigade to be near the front when the checkered flag waves.