Is Hendrick Motorsports Becoming the Team to Beat Again After Texas?

Where have we seen this play before? Jimmie Johnson wins—yet again—on a 1.5-mile racetrack, this time Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway.

Johnson’s win in the Duck Commander 500 wasn’t necessarily unique, though. It was the fourth time he’s won at TMS in the last six Sprint Cup races there—and his fifth overall victory at the Fort Worth track in his career.

But what was different was how Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates performed. When was the last time all four HMS drivers finished in the top 10?

In addition to Johnson taking the checkered flag, Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third, Jeff Gordon seventh and Kasey Kahne eighth.

Sure, it was just one race, but if you extrapolate it out a bit, Saturday’s event could have been a significant turn toward the positive for HMS.

Consider the following facts about the HMS drivers:

Johnson earned his second win of the season, but in the four races in between those victories, he had finishes of 41st (Las Vegas) and 35th (Martinsville).

Earnhardt came into Texas with terrible performances in two of his previous three races: 43rd at Phoenix and 36th at Martinsville.

Since back-to-back wrecks—neither of his doing—in the season’s first two races, and then 18th at Las Vegas, Gordon has had four top-10 finishes in a row: Phoenix (ninth), Fontana (10th), Martinsville (ninth) and a season-best finish at Texas (seventh).

And then there’s been perhaps the biggest surprise of HMS this season—namely, Kahne. While so much attention has been focused on Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Johnson, Kahne has gone about his business in worker bee-like fashion. Sure, he’s had two bad races (17th at both Las Vegas and Fontana) and 14th at Atlanta, but he’s also had a fourth-place finish at Phoenix, eighth at Texas, ninth at Daytona and 11th at Martinsville.

Add all of those things up and Kahne is actually the highest-ranked HMS driver in the Sprint Cup standings after Texas, holding steady in fifth place, 76 points behind series leader Kevin Harvick. Johnson is in sixth place, 14 points behind Kahne, followed closely by Earnhardt, who is in seventh place, three points behind Johnson and 17 behind Kahne.

And then there’s Gordon, whose climb upward in the standings has been nothing short of spectacular. After leaving Atlanta when he was caught up in a wreck, Gordon was ranked 35th in the standings. After Texas, he’s up to 13th, just eight points out of 10th place.

It’s very clear that all of those facts show HMS is back on the upswing.

Say what you want about Harvick or Penske Racing teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, but there’s no team after the first seven races that has shown the kind of collective upward progress Team Hendrick has shown.

Sure, Logano and Keselowski are second and fourth in the standings, but they’re only a two-car team. In a sense, it’s easier for a two-car team to stand out, while it’s much more difficult for all cars in a four-car team to be collectively on their game at the same time.

And when you look at the next several races coming up—Bristol this Sunday, Richmond the following Saturday night, Talladega on May 3, Kansas on May 9 and Charlotte for both the non-points Sprint All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600 on May 24—it’s very likely the Hendrick surge will continue.

Consider this: All four HMS drivers have a combined 51 wins (not including the All-Star race) at those five tracks—Gordon (21 wins), Johnson (15 wins), Earnhardt (nine wins) and Kahne (six wins). No other organization comes even close to those numbers.

Is HMS the best organization going right now? You definitely could make that argument, although I’d prefer to wait and see how these next five races play out.

But given the success each of HMS’ four drivers has had at those five upcoming tracks over the years, it would not be a surprise that Johnson, Gordon, Kahne and Earnhardt aren’t just on a roll now.

Rather, they’re just getting started on what could be a route to HMS domination for the remainder of the regular season and especially into the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Honestly, I would not be surprised if, come the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, that all four HMS drivers will duke it out for the championship—and guys like Harvick, Logano, Keselowski and others will be left behind in the wake of the HMS onslaught.

Follow me on Twitter @JerryBonkowski