Hendrick Makes Worse Trade In Nascar History

Rick Hendrick has made a living because of his decision making and witty fixes to his Nascar owned franchises and car dealerships.When the decision to let Kyle Busch leave his stable after the 2007 campaign where he finished 5th overall a red flag of caution was wandering over his head.

Hendrick decided to let Busch go to the highest bidder which happened to be Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota Motorsports. In the meantime in the back of his head he had a plan to bring in Dale Earnhardt JR,who could sell t-shirts, hats,sun glasses,jackets,etc;but he also hadn't won a race in almost 3 years.

Dale JR, won one race in the 2008 campaign at Michigan due to fuel mileage. Busch, 23, went to victory lane a record-tying 10 times in the Nationwide Series, winning five times after a NASCAR rule change reduced the horsepower of Toyota engines.

With three victories in the truck series to go with eight in Cup and 10 in the Nationwide, Busch racked up an aggregate 21 victories in NASCAR's top three touring series.

Dale Jr is a major hit with the fans being voted driver of the year for 4 consecutive years.Sometimes there is time when you go out and branch out of the shadows(DALE EARNHARDT SR,) of someone else and make your own idenity for your own fans. Two fuel-mileage wins in four years doesnt do that for you!

Earnhardt is 32 years old while Busch is only 23.When you rank drivers on talent alone JR  is nowhere in the top 10, while busch 9 years his younger is.Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards,Kyle Busch,Greg Biffle,Kurt Busch,Mark Martin,Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin would rank in the top 10.

Rick Hendrick doesnt make many bad decisons when it comes to the world of stock car racing but this time he may have dropped the ball.

Only time will tell!

Nascar Tidbits

Tony Stewart seems to be picking up great personnel to help run his team. Darian Grubb was brought over from Hendrick Motorsports to be crew chief. Grubb led Jimmie Johnson to two victories in the four races he was atop the box while Johnson's regular crew chief Chad Knauss was suspended during the 2007 campaign.

Also brought in was Jeff Mendering, the other crew chief who filled in for Steve Latarte (Jeff Gordon's crew chief) when he got suspended during the 2007 season and led Gordon to a win in four races.

Mendering will serve a car chief on the Office Depot No. 14 chevy driven by Stewart. Bobby Hutchins will run the day to day operations of Stewart-Hass Motorsports.

Hutchins was a longtime member of Dale Sr.'s team in its hay-day and as of late been the key player in the Childress-DEI motor alliance, serving as the  director of competion at RCR.