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Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR

LAS VEGAS -- The only suspense in Thursday's announcement of NASCAR's 2010 Most Popular Driver Award rested with the winner. For the eighth consecutive year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. claimed the honor -- tops among the 1.5 million fan votes -- once again proving his popularity is soaring even if his on-track efforts have fallen flat.

"Oh yeah, I was surprised,'' Earnhardt claimed moments after accepting the award during NASCAR Champion's Week. "You just never know. There's the performance factor we've suffered from on the race track, there's the new guys coming into the sport all the time. You never take it for granted.''

The same could be said for winning.

Earnhardt hasn't won a race in nearly three seasons and hasn't even been consistently competitive in the No. 88 National Guard-Amp Energy Chevrolet, while his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson will be crowned champion for the fifth consecutive year in Friday night's lavish NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Banquet at the Wynn Las Vegas.

The juxtaposition isn't lost on the third-generation driver, son of the late seven-time champion, Dale Earnhardt. The 2004 Daytona 500 champ and 18-race winner is hoping a three-way crew chief swap at Hendrick will infuse new life into his career. And it can't happen soon enough.

 

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR

After starting his career sweeping floors at Hendrick Motorsports during a college internship 14 years ago, Marshall Carlson moved up the ranks to become president and chief operating officer (COO) of the 13-time NASCAR championship Hendrick organization, which fields cars for Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Carlson, 37, was promoted Tuesday during the organization's quarterly employee meeting. The position has remained open for the past six years. It was previously held by the late John Hendrick, brother of team owner Rick Hendrick (pictured at right). John Hendrick was killed along with nine other people -- including John's twin daughters, Rick Hendrick's son Ricky, and other Hendrick Motorsports executives -- in an airplane crash near Martinsville, Va., on October 24, 2004.

"Hendrick Motorsports is a family and it's been one of the great privileges of my life to work with these amazing people,'' said Carlson, who has helped guide the company to four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships since he assumed the role of executive vice president and general manager in January, 2005.

After his college internship in the chassis department, Carlson worked as an engineer on the team's Camping World Truck Series team that won a title in 1997. He's worked in the company's marketing and sponsorship department and oversaw more than $200 million in real estate projects working with Hendrick Automotive Group, one of the largest auto dealership conglomerates in the country before taking his most recent position.

Marshall Carlson, From Floor Sweeper to New Hendrick Motorsports President originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:24:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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PHILADELPHIA (AP ) -- Jimmie Johnson walked onto a stage where some of his biggest fans got to ask questions of the four-time defending NASCAR champion.

One of the easiest suddenly seemed like the thorniest after the last two weeks: "Who's your favorite driver?"

Johnson smiled and said: "Jeff Gordon."

The crowd laughed at his response. That's one way to diffuse talk of a bubbling feud between the Hendrick Motorsports teammates.

Behind the scenes at Hendrick, the four-time Cup champions needed a second straight week of talks after curt words followed incidents on the track. Johnson said on Thursday team owner Rick Hendrick told him and Gordon not to let their bubbling feud start "breaking apart the organization."

 

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by Geoffrey Miller

Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Sprint Cup, Hendrick Motorsports

The Jeff Gordon of old was back for a few laps Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway -- but even that wasn't enough to stop the competition's worst nightmare.

Lined up side-by-side coming off of turn four, Gordon sat to the outside of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson as the field took its final restart of the night with 17 laps to go. As was the case with the previous two restarts that had quickly turned to cautions in the back of the pack, nearly everyone expected Johnson to have the advantage as made the left-hand arc into turn 1.

But the No. 24, with a full head of a steam, wasn't ready to let Johnson take the lead so easily.

Jeff Gordon Just Misses Late Win originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:41:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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