Surprising slow start for Hendrick racing

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Here's a NASCAR newsflash for you. After a season-opening thriller in Daytona and a two-race swing on the West Coast, the Sprint Cup Series returns to the South this weekend with Hendrick Motorsports having exactly zero wins in points races so far.None of us probably imagined that, especially with the prowess HMS drivers have shown historically early in the year. Expectations for 2008 were extremely high as owner Rick Hendrick and his drivers entered Speedweeks at Daytona last month as the odds-on favorites to win just about everything raced on four wheels.And why not? The organization had turned in its most successful campaign to date last season when it won 18 times -- exactly half of the schedule -- and handed Hendrick his seventh series championship. It seemed like every week an HMS driver was taking the checkers, but in reality it was just every other week.Hendrick drivers won 50 times from 2004 to 2007, an incredible 35 percent of the races. With all due respect to Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, the catchphrase "Just win, baby!" should be in neon in every Hendrick race shop.And HMS drivers make it look so easy at times that the appearances in Victory Lane seem like just another day at the office. But try and tell that to Petty Enterprises (last win, 1999), Wood Brothers Racing (2001), Bill Davis Racing (2002), Yates Racing (2005) and even Gillett Evernham Motorsports (winless last year).Only newcomer Dale Earnhardt Jr. was around at the end of the Daytona 500. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon did all they could at California, but finished second and third, respectively. Junior and Gordon tried again at Las Vegas, but another runner-up finish and a frightening wreck of the No. 24 awaited at the end.So what gives here? HMS has no wins and a couple of second-place showings, but only Dale Jr. would make the Chase if this season were to end now, and granted, so many laps are left in this season, much of them at tracks like Bristol and Martinsville where HMS drivers have dominated.Earlier this week, reigning Cup champion Johnson was candid in his assessment of his championship team's bounce back. "We'll get it figured out," assured Johnson, who swept both races at Atlanta last year. But since when has anything at HMS needed figuring out?It's very early in the season, but remember, this isn't a 36-race season you're talking about at the water cooler when you're analyzing the points; it's a 26-race regular season. If the three HMS drivers outside of the top 12 don't get it figured out over the next six months, the last 10 races will be all about smaller trophies, not that big one hoisted at Homestead in November.The other 39 drivers are doing a fine job over three weeks of dishing out their best shots at HMS. Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards look like serious title contenders, while Hendrick drivers, especially those three outside the Chase cut line, are down -- down on the track, down in achieving their goals, down in the points.Down for now, but certainly not out.(Bill Whitehead covers NASCAR for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. E-mail him at wwhitehe@ircc.net.)