There's No Such Thing as a Teammate in Sprint Cup Racing

Edwards racked up six wins, and his teammates had zero as the Chase began in Loudon, N.H.

Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, and David Ragan all had goose eggs in the win column.

The man carrying the banner for Hendrick Motorsports was not the defending champion or four-time champion. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon were both having their own struggles in the early part of 2008.

The newest member of the company, Dale Earnhardt Jr., was the strongest running Hendrick car for the first half of the season. He was third in points for majority of the year before finally jumping to second to split up the couple of Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.

Johnson won Hendrick Motorsports' first race of the year, Earnhardt Jr. won the second and still remained the strongest car.

In fact, Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus said that besides testing, they were learning a lot from Earnhardt Jr. and his crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., even using their set-ups when struggling on certain race weekends.

The four-time champion, on the other hand, was having one of the worst seasons of his career. He finished 43rd for the first time at Texas, and he and his crew chief, Steve Letarte, just couldn’t find the chemistry they had from a year ago.

Casey Mears was once again the odd man out, the worst Hendrick car of them all.

Then the Chase began and everything that seemed so predictable from the regular season became an afterthought.

Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards started the Chase seeded first and second in points with Jimmie Johnson not far behind thanks to his late-season charge.

Edwards and Johnson went on to battle for the championship, winning six of the 10 Chase races between them before finishing first and second in points.

Edwards’ teammates, Kenseth and Ragan, failed to win a race. Kenseth finished 11th in points and Ragan 13th.

Biffle, on the other hand, gave it his best shot at the championship, throwing his name in the ring by winning the first two Chase races. He finished third in points.

As for Kyle Busch’s season, the wheels fell off when the Chase began just like his JGR teammate season. He finished 10h in points, Stewart finished ninth and Hamlin eighth.

Jimmie Johnson went on to win his third consecutive championship. Casey Mears failed to win a race this year as well as Jeff Gordon for the first time since 1993.

Mears was ranked 20th and Gordon seventh.

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