Gordon's season running out of time to get victory (cont'd)

The frustrating part is when Letarte and Gordon and the No. 24 team spend 12 hours testing one day at Kentucky Speedway, thinking it will translate to a place like Kansas -- and after five minutes of practice at Kansas the driver tells all that while he felt "attuned" at Kentucky, the same setup left him feeling out of tune at Kansas. That happened last weekend, leaving them scrambling once again to get the car right.

"I think when you test and the results aren't there, it's frustrating," Hendrick admitted. "But since I've been racing with Jeff Gordon, we've had the worst luck that we've had in all of the years we've been together. If he's got a good car, then we screw it up in the pits. We fumble a pit stop or we have a tire [go down] or something and it puts him back in the field, and then he gets in a wreck. That's happened when we've had a car that's capable of being in the top two or three.

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Steve Letarte is smart; he works hard. He's the same guy who helped us lead the thing by 300 points last year and got him to finish in second in the Chase. He didn't go brain dead this year.

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RICK HENDRICK

"Then you have some guys who hit on some things. You see one of the other guys who's a little bit quicker, and the tendency is to move away from some of the things you've been working on and go more to their setup for race day. And sometimes it bites you."

In other words, although this has been explained many times previously, let's go over it again. Just because Johnson is winning races in his No. 48 Chevrolet and that team shares every bit of precious information with Gordon and the guys with the No. 24, don't expect it to translate.

Like the 12-hour test at Kentucky, many times it simply doesn't.

Still optimistic
Hendrick said he remains very optimistic about the No. 24 team, even as he moments later starts talking about how Johnson and his crew chief, Chad Knaus, seem to strike up "some kind of magic" every year in the Chase about this time.

The magic, for the most part, has been missing from the Gordon operation this season. Sure, he's sixth in the standings and no one in their right mind would say that's a terrible season -- but this is a guy who is accustomed to winning races. And he just hasn't been able to do it.

"I predict Jeff will win a race before this is over," Hendrick said. "I think if we can have one good race where our finish is as good as the car is -- and not have something go wrong -- I think it will give the team a lot of momentum."

Was that race Sunday at Kansas? It's hard to say. But Hendrick backs Letarte the way hard-core Republicans back Sen. John McCain.

"Steve Letarte is smart; he works hard. He's the same guy who helped us lead the thing by 300 points last year and got him to finish in second in the Chase," Hendrick said. "He didn't go brain dead this year.

"Most cases in this sport, [the public perception is] if the guy wins it's because of his talent. If he doesn't, it's the crew chief's fault. So the crew chief kind of walks the plank by himself, you know?"

Yet to avoid being shoved into the ocean and devoured by sharks, driver and crew chief need to walk it together -- especially when it comes to figuring out all the quirks of the new car.

"It's got to be something the crew chief and the driver figure out together," Hendrick said. "And it's not going to be the same package for every track. I know from watching our guys, there could be three different packages you use. And one of the packages you might be most comfortable with will be off by two- or three-tenths [of a second per lap] the next time you go to a racetrack -- because everybody else has picked up. So what worked in the first race you ran [the new car] in might not work the next time you go to a place. You're forced to constantly try to make it just a little bit better.

"But I think every time you get out of that comfort zone, where you know what works for a particular driver, you get in trouble. And I think you see a lot of guys hit on it just one week, and then they're up there running good pretty much every week from there on."

According to Hendrick, that isn't at all how it used to be. You know, back when Gordon was winning races.

"It's just totally different. I've been doing this a long time," Hendrick said. "A year ago, with the old car, you had a basic setup or a little bit of an aerodynamic package difference over one guy to the other. But this car has to be attuned to a particular driver, and he's gotta believe in that setup. And Jeff and Stevie have worked hard. I think they're getting closer. ... I think we're gaining on it.

"You've got to get the driver comfortable, not only going into the race but with the adjustments that will be made during the race. What works for Jimmie Johnson might not necessarily work for the other two as they go through the race. It's just a complicated animal; it's got a lot of guys out there scratching their heads. And when one guy hits on it, a lot of the rest of the guys look like they're lost."

Gordon is running out of time to shake that confused expression, at least for this season.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.