Instant Messages from Hendrick Motorsports

Monday, April 19, 2010 at 5:04 p.m.

JG#24: Rick, I'm a bit frustrated with Jimmie.

RH: Jeff, I watched the race. I don't think he did anything wrong.

JG#24: Maybe not technically, but I think he is racing too hard. It's gonna lead to a crash sometime. Can't he at least be less aggressive when it doesn't matter about position?

RH: I'll talk with him. But the two of you need to work this out.

RH: And when exactly is position not important?

JG#24: I'll call him tomorrow. I think he's pressing too hard since he may miss a race for the baby's birth. Of all people, I know how important that is, but luck is going to run out. He cost me this race.

RH: I thought Stewart and Edwards caused the crash?!?

JG#24: I still think Jimmie was in the wrong. He's in on this. Maybe through Knaus.

RH: You think Jimmie paid Tony & Carl to crash you out???

JG#24: It is possible.

RH: Did you hit your head in that crash or something?

JG#24: Knaus is always up to something. And he seems to have all this information. Stewart has a few bad things in his closet. I'm sure Knaus knows how to use them.

RH: Knaus and Jimmie had nothing to do with your crash. Crashes happen in racing.

RH: As far as I'm concerned, this issue is closed. You boys can work it out.

JG#24: Fine. But if it continues, I'll be back to talk about it again. And I'll deal with it on track too.

RH: Give Ingrid my best. And give Ella a kiss for me.

JG#24: I will.

CK#48: Rick, we need to talk about the 24 team.

RH: Chad, what could you possibly be worrying about the 24 team for?

CK#48: Tomorrow I'll come and talk with you.

RH: I guess.

Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 7:10 p.m.

JG#24: DID YOU SEE WHAT JJ DID TO ME??!??!?!?!?!?!!!!!!

RH: Jeff, I'm sure that Jimmie has a reason.

JG#24: Rick, he's trying to take me out. He's trying to be the next driver to 5 Championships.

RH: And what's

JG#24: He plans to do it by crashing me every week so I can't get any points.

RH: I don't think that h

JG#24: You need to do something.

RH: Like

JG#24: As 48.48% owner, I think we should fire him.

RH: You're kidding right?

JG#24: No. He's pushed me too far this time.

RH: He's the reigning champion

JG#24: No one is above firing.

RH: Even you.

JG#24: I have a lifetime contract. So I am above that.

RH: We gave Jimmie one too.

DE#88: Mr. Hendrick, I was hoping we'd pull off the win, but maybe next week.

RH: Dale, I thought you looked great out there. I'm sure Lance will have some ideas for next time. A win is definitely on your horizon. Soon.

DE#88: Thanks. I think Lance and I are working well. But I'd still like to work with Chad, if that is ever a possibility.

RH: Keep working at it. I doubt Chad will be working with anyone else anytime soon.

JG#24: Well

RH: I don't think that Jimmie

JG#24: We need a spot for Kasey next year, let's give him the 48.

RH: So you want to fire Jimmie at the end of the Year????

JG#24: No, I want him fired right now.

RH: I'm not firing him now. Or later. We'll work out something for Kasey.

JG#24: Then let's fine him.

RH: Since when have we fined anyone for anything???

JG#24: We should have fined Knaus for all that cheating.

JG#24: See you let them get by with EVERYTHING.

RH: We didn't fine Ray when he was tinkering with things.

RH: To your benefit, I might add

JG#24: Ray never did half the stuff Chad has gotten by with, let alone what he's been caught doing.

RH: I don't think Chad cheats.

JG#24: And I KNOW Knaus has bugged our garage or something. He knows EVERYTHING

RH: Jeff, we share information across the teams.

JG#24: But he knows stuff we've never shared.

RH: You're keeping stuff from the team?!?

JG#24: I mean that Steve and I have secrets that no one else could know. Chad knows them. How could he do that?

RH: Chad does not have time to try to find out your secrets. Are you getting paranoid on me? Knaus is too busy innovating.

JG#24: I think he does more blackmailing and that hides the lack of innovation - and he steals from other teams.

RH: What are you talking about?

JG#24: The only way he didn't get a longer suspension last time was that he has something on either France or Helton. Maybe both.

RH: You think Chad is blackmailing Nascar????

JG#24: I'm not so sure that he isn't blackmailing you!

RH: Jeff, why don't you get some sleep an we'll talk about this in the morning?

JG#24: So you haven't ruled out firing Jimmie?

RH: I have ruled it out. You are going to have to suck it up and deal. Man up a little.

JG#24: I'm having the garage swept for bugs tomorrow. And I don't mean cockroaches.

RH: I'm sure you won't find anything.

RH: I'll talk to Jimmie again.

RH: I'm sure this will all smooth over soon.

JG#24: Whatever.

CK#48: Has Gordo come whining yet?

RH: What do you want Chad.

CK#48: We're still on the same page, right? Nothing happens to Jimmie & I. Or else.

RH: Chad, first off, you and Jimmie are great together. Why would I change things?

CK#48: But we are still on the same page.

RH: Yes, Chad, we are.

Vegas Odds & Ends

Weird Happenings: Daytona had potholes; Vegas now has phantom caution lights. First, the lights did not go out when the race was ready to restart, then the lights came on without a caution being thrown by Nascar. What's up next week? Floods? Deer jumping the fence? The Pace Car stalling out on the track? More potholes?

Pit Row Shenanigans: Did Jeff Gordon's crew start gassing before the car was in the box? Was Nascar correct in ruling he did? Let the conspiracy theories begin...

Inter-company feuds: Jamie McMurray crashed into his new teammate Juan Pablo Montoya. Apparently McMurray didn't get the memo that JPM will carry a grudge. Montoya voiced his displeasure about the incident to the media immediately after it happened. Love to by a fly on the wall tomorrow at Earnhardt-Ganassi.

Don't drink the water: Do you think Dale Jr is worried about Danica in the garage? As a married woman, she shouldn't drink the water as a rash of pregnancies is going around. At this point in her career, a nine-month hiatus would likely be detrimental.

Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie is back to his winning ways. He usually does well at the beginning and the end of the year. Who is going to step up and challenge him?

Things to Watch in the New Season

We're almost one month from the Daytona 500, so it is time to look at what the 2010 season could bring.

Sponsorship - With the down turn in the economy, funds for advertising and sponsorship has dried up. The true test will be this year. Will Nascar have trouble finding race sponsors? Will mid-pack teams have sponsorship? What about back of the packers? Without adequate sponsorship, Nascar may be facing smaller fields by the end of the year - which already struck the Truck series and the Nationwide series. Teams can't scrape by without sponsorship for long. Look for Cup teams to have similar problems. Maybe we're entering the era where drivers have multiple sponsors and no primary sponsor.

Race Attendance - Face it, attending a race is expensive. The only time hotels charge the amount listed on the back of the room door is during a Nascar weekend. Couple it with the now typically high gas prices during the spring and summer, unemployment, and the trend of staycations, race attendance could fall. Again. The end of the 2009 season featured empty stands in nearly every TV shot. Look for it to continue unless prices go down for tickets, hotels, airfare etc.

TV Viewership - As race attendance fell, TV viewership fell too. If Nascar TV viewing continues to trend downward, Nascar will lose the ability to draw advertisers and potentially lose out when the next TV contract comes up for bid. The new car may be safer, but people don't like watching it.

Schedule Re-alignment - Nascar needs to fix the schedule. Do we need two Poconos? Two Californias? Should the Chase races be the same every year? I recommend a hard look at the races, when they are held (seasonally), and attendance. Why not rotate the schedule - odd years Pocono has 2 races while Cali has 1, even years Cali has 2 while Pocono has 1? My other recommendation is to add a road course to the Chase.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Will Junior win or even contend for a win in 2010? Like him or not, Junior is the most popular driver, and as his season goes, so goes Nascar's popularity (to some degree). If Junior can make a comeback, it will fuel both the lovers and the haters. Nascar needs him to do well.

Jimmie Johnson -Johnson's 2010 could be interesting as he will become a father sometime in 2010. Jeff Gordon's perspective changed with the birth of his daughter, and I expect Johnson's view will change too - Baby will need a ring too! Johnson needs a serious rival - and Nascar needs the rivalry. Without anyone to challenge him, non-fans yawn and turn the channel.

Jeff Gordon - Each year, I wonder how many more years Gordon is going to race. His much publicized back problems and his apparently serene home life are taking a toll on his fierce competitive spirit. If he'd win the 5th championship, I think we'd be seeing the last of Jeff Gordon.

Tony Stewart - Can he repeat with another good season? Or will he hit a sophomore slump in ownership?

Juan Pablo Montoya - Montoya has made a few more friends in the Nascar garage than in the Formula One garage (due to the different cultures more than anything else). But, he is still an aggressive driver who ticks people off. Will this lead to on-track problems this year? Or will he continue to get a pass? Will Earnhardt Ganassi be able to support him? Or will Montoya be looking to leave? Will Ganassi try to leave?

Kasey Kahne - Will Kahne stay with Richard Petty or will he bolt at the end of his contract? Kahne made a lot of stinging comments last year about the team. He's always admitted to admiring Tony Stewart. And remember that contract battle with Ford when he left to go to Dodge? I doubt Kahne has forgotten it.

Kevin Harvick - Harvick and Richard Childress have admitted that things haven't gone well with Harvick's team. The question is whether Childress can appease Harvick enough to keep him in the fold.

Doubtless, there will be other issues that pop up during the year (the rear spoiler, no double line at Daytona/Talladega etc), but these should be enough to keep in mind for the first half of the year.

Confessions of a Racing Junkie Part I

Originally Posted on Foxsports.com on December 14, 2005.

It started innocently enough.  After I finally finished my education, I was traveling across country with my Dad, and we stopped in Indianapolis (where else) to visit my aunt & uncle.  My uncle offered me the first seductive hit of racing by "forcing" us to watch a nascar race.  I don't recall seeing stock cars race before.  I suppose I knew it existed, but it had never registered on my radar.  Traditional stick & ball sports were my experience - both watching and playing.  However, my uncle's enthusiasm for this motor sport thing was catching.  And after that first hit, I remember thinking "I could learn to really like that."

Several months later I had my first memorable encounter with a nascar junkie.  He had all the trappings of a true nascar fan.  He owed numerous die cast cars, T-shirts, neon signs and other assorted junk.  I don't think he could decide which beer company to support, so he bought racing stuff from them all.  To top it off, he couldn't stop explaining the Daytona 500 qualification process to me and my co-worker.  We thought he was a scary  - so we set a new land speed record cleaning his house and bolted.

Shortly thereafter, I moved to a new town.  And, in the secret confines of my apartment, I began regularly taking hits of nascar races.  On Saturdays, I watched Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth battle it out for the Busch series championship.  But on Sundays, I avoided the racing scene - everyone would be talking football, basketball or baseball  - and I didn't want them to know about this new habit I had picked up.