Updated May 11
Rick Hendrick wasn't at Darlington Raceway on Saturday night, but he certainly left his mark.
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| Rick Hendrick, pictured with famous actor Tom Cruise, is one of the biggest names in NASCAR. (Getty Images) |
A rejuvenated Mark Martin won for the second time in four weeks. He was followed across the finish line by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson. Jeff Gordon took fifth, while Brad Keselowski, in a part-time ride fielded by Hendrick, came home in seventh.
And then there were the Stewart-Haas cars of Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman in third and fourth. While Stewart-Haas operates independently, it receives engines and technical support from Hendrick.
"Just have got to give everybody at Hendrick Motorsports props," said Stewart after his fifth top five finish in the past six races. "The chassis department and the engine department, they have just got us rock solid right now."
The ties that bind don't end with engines and technical support. Stewart's crew chief, Darian Grubb, spent several years under the Hendrick Motorsports umbrella.
"Stewart-Haas, they're really fortunate, I think, to have gotten somebody like Darian," said Martin's crew chief, Alan Gustafson.
"It's not often that somebody will leave our organization because they want to be around Rick. I know Darian has a huge amount of respect and admiration for Rick. But I know Rick also will take care of Darian regardless of what happens. Stewart-Haas is fortunate to have a guy like Darian. I've worked with him a long time. I think he's as good as there is out in the series. He's going to win a lot of races. He's going to be tough to beat. That's obvious by the way they've run."
While Stewart-Haas would seem to get most of the benefit from the relationship, Johnson said the information doesn't just flow one way.
"It's a great help," Johnson said. "For a lot of years Haas has been there, has been a part of Hendrick Motorsports, helping us in a variety of ways, working together.
"And now to have Tony and Ryan and the depth that they have in their race team, it's really great. The information flows different directions and it's actually cool. For a lot of years [with] Tony's old sponsor, we had this rivalry of sorts, now it's cool to be in a teammate situation. Granted, we're not teammates. But to actually talk about race cars, be a little more in-depth with Ryan and Tony."
Power Rankings after Darlington:
| POWER RANKINGS | ||
| Current | Driver | Previous |
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 1 |
| Even if Johnson were to finish last and Mark Martin were to win and lead the most laps in the next race at Texas, he would still hold the points lead by 23 points. | ||
| 2 | Mark Martin | 2 |
| There was a time when Martin had a bit of luck at Talladega. From 1988 through 2001 he had 18 top 10s in 28 races. In 12 races since 2002, he has just two top 10s with nine finishes outside the top 20. | ||
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | 3 |
| He has four victories in his past 12 trips to Talladega. However, he finished outside the top 10 in the eight races he did not win, with finishes of 19th or worse in his past four visits. | ||
| 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 4 |
| He captured second at Talladega in the spring of 2008, but has finished no better than 15th in his other five visits to the track. | ||
| 5 | Tony Stewart | 5 |
| Though he won last fall at Talladega, he has finished 22nd or worse in five of his last seven trips to the track with three DNFs by way of crash. | ||
| 6 | Denny Hamlin | 6 |
| He has led at least one lap in all eight of his visits to Talladega, but has just two top 10s to show for it with six finishes of 21st or worse. | ||
| 7 | Kurt Busch | 7 |
| He has three finishes of 21st or worse in his past four visits to Talladega after finishing outside the top 10 just three times in his first 14 trips. | ||
| 8 | Kasey Kahne | 8 |
| Sunday marked his second second-place finish at Talladega. In 12 starts at the track, those are his only top 10s. | ||
| 9 | Ryan Newman | 9 |
| His 36th-place finish Sunday was his sixth of 33rd or worse in 16 starts at Talladega. "We had this race back here in the spring and complained about cars getting airborne and now ironically I'm the guy that gets upside down," Newman said. "I wish NASCAR would do something. It was a boring race for the fans. That's not something anybody wants to see; at least I hope not. If they do, go home because you don't belong here." | ||
| 10 | Kyle Busch | 10 |
| His win in the spring of 2008 is his lone top 10 finish in 10 starts at Talladega. | ||
| 11 | Carl Edwards | 11 |
| After three consecutive top 10 finishes at Talladega between 2005-06, he has finished outside the top 10 in his past six trips to the track, but at least he wasn't flying into the catchfence like in his last visit. | ||
| 12 | Matt Kenseth | 12 |
| Like his Roush-Fenway Racing teammate Edwards, he had three consecutive top 10 finishes at Talladega between 2005-06, but has failed to finish in the top 10 at the track since. | ||
| 13 | Greg Biffle | 13 |
| Finished a Talladega career-best fourth on Sunday, his second consecutive top 10 at the track after finishing no better than 13th in his first 12 visits. | ||
| 14 | Clint Bowyer | 14 |
| He won't complain too much about a 12th-place finish considering he has finished 35th or worse in four of his eight visits. | ||
| 15 | Kevin Harvick | 15 |
| His 21st-place finish Sunday was his fifth consecutive finish of 20th or worse at Talladega. He has been running at the finish of all 18 of his starts at Talladega. | ||
