Hendrick Motorsports: 3 Headliners Upstage the Finale

If you listen very closely, you can almost hear the unperceivable fanfare saluting Mark Martin's final full-time year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, at least at Hendrick Motorsports.

While the other three drivers, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon have voiced their enthusiasm about the changes made with the teams immediately following the last race of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, there has been nary a peep from Mark Martin.

The Arkansas driver, Martin, has amassed 40 wins in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and 48 wins in the NASCAR Nationwide series.  During his nearly 30 years of racing in NASCAR's top series, he has failed to win a championship though he has been the runner-up more times than he cares to count.

Rick Hendrick found it necessary to shake up the status quo at Hendrick Motorsports by moving his drivers to different teams except for his superstar, Jimmie Johnson, and his crew chief, Chad Knaus.

Hendrick said of the change, "This will improve us as an organization across the board.  We've made the right adjustments, and I'm excited to go racing with this lineup.

Earnhardt Jr. will be paired with Gordon's former crew chief, Steve Letarte.  Though Letarte did not lead his driver to a Cup title, he was part of the team when Gordon won his four NASCAR Winston Cup (Sprint Cup) titles.

Gordon will now be coupled with the talented Alan Gustafson as his crew chief.  Gustafson was Martin's crew chief and took him to the runner-up position to Champ, Johnson, in 2009. 

The 2010 season found the No. 5 team a bit behind the curve, unable to secure wins. Martin finished 13th in the point standings for the year.

Now Martin finds himself relegated to the space formerly occupied by Dale Earnhardt Jr. with Lance McGrew as his crew chief.

McGrew is a technical kind of guy that found communication with Junior to be challenging, but Martin is stellar at giving feedback, so the match may prove to be much more fruitful. 

McGrew seems more suited to set up a NASCAR Nationwide car than a Cup car, but perhaps his experience with Earnhardt Jr. will help him propel Martin to some success.

Junior spoke of Hendrick's changes in Las Vegas, after being named the Most Popular Driver for the eighth consecutive time.  He stated, "You look at it as a clean slate and chance to see if this new package, new chemistry will produce better results."

Earnhardt Jr. added, "You want to be able to go see—it's like knowing what you're getting for Christmas and not being able to mess with it until that morning.  It's a lot of anticipation.  I think it's healthy.  We needed this to happen, and hopefully this is a good position.  Hopefully this will get me back to winning races, running in the top five and running in the top 10."

Junior knows that being on his third crew chief in four years is pretty much a last shot at placing blame in places other than the driver.  He understands failure to make the Chase and a mediocre finish in the points will show he is the cause absolute.

Gordon has moved to another building at HMS and is now out of the shadow of Johnson.  He will likely be the star of the 24/5 shop unlike the status he maintained in the former 48/24 shop.

Gordon showed his enthusiasm regarding the swaps at Hendrick Motorsports.  He stated, "I'm certainly looking forward to working with Alan.  I've known Alan for a number of years, always respected him and I guess in the back of my mind, I always thought it would be kind of cool to work with him.  It's a great opportunity."

Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus will continue along with their merrymaking, as they pursue an unimaginable sixth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup title.

Martin decided to cut back his racing schedule and announced the "Salute to You" tour in 2005 to thank his fans.  As it turned out, Martin did return in 2006 to run a full schedule for Roush Racing.

In 2007 he left Roush for Ginn Racing, which was purchased by Dale Earnhardt Inc. During 2007 and 2008 he did not run full seasons in the Cup series.

It was then announced Martin would drive for Hendrick Motorsports after signing a two-year contract to drive for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. The contract was then extended through 2011 after securing additional sponsorship from GoDaddy.com.

So here we are at the end of his contract with Hendrick Motorsports as the 2011 season is about to get underway.  There is no option for Martin to change his mind with Kasey Kahne replacing him in 2012 at HMS.

Rumors have already started as to what the 52-year-old driver will do after this season.  The rumor du jour is that he will drive part-time for Turner Motorsports in the NASCAR Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series.

Martin's Cup finale seems bittersweet with the three headliners at HMS garnering the spotlight and a fourth being closely watched as he practices at Red Bull Racing for his debut with Hendrick in 2012.

Certainly Martin retains great respect as a NASCAR driver not only for his talent, but because he is a gentleman with a legion of loyal fans. 

Hopefully his lame duck year will be memorable for all the right reasons, but you have to wonder just how it will go with a crew chief who will be stripped of his title as a Cup crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports come the 2012 season.

Let the season begin and prepare for some drama with Johnson looking for his sixth title, Gordon seeking his fifth championship, Earnhardt Jr. looking to make the Chase and Martin wondering what his final season at Hendrick Motorsports will bring.