Driving for Hendrick not a guarantee of more success

The recent announcement that Kasey Kahne would be joining Hendrick Motorsports no later than 2012 certainly raised more than a few eyebrows. It's easy to look at a driver in the prime of his career pairing up with an organization that has won nine championships in NASCAR's premier series and see what appears to be an easy slam-dunk.

Five drivers have combined to win 32 races in the 5 car for Hendrick Motorsports. Terry Labonte drove it to the 1996 championship.

Driver	Wins
Geoffrey Bodine	7
Ricky Rudd	4
Terry Labonte	12
Kyle Busch	4
Mark Martin	5

But even though Rick Hendrick struck pay-dirt with both Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson in the years since Geoffrey Bodine climbed into the brand-new No. 5 All-Star Racing Chevrolet at Daytona in 1984, there have been several drivers who failed to perform up to expectations.

Of the 19 men who have driven at least 10 races for Hendrick Motorsports, only three -- Gordon, Johnson and Terry Labonte -- have won 10 or more times. And only four -- Gordon, Johnson, Tim Richmond and Mark Martin -- have a winning percentage greater than 10 percent during their time with the team. And when looking at drivers who finished in the top 10 more often and that, you can add Ricky Rudd and Ken Schrader to those already mentioned.

Bodine drove in 174 races for Hendrick during a span of six seasons, winning seven races and finishing in the top 10 in points in all but one of those seasons. But his winning percentage under Junior Johnson was significantly higher and his Hendrick stats were similar to his time under Bud Moore and as an owner/driver.

It may impossible for any driver to match Richmond's success with Hendrick. In 37 races beginning in 1986, he won nine times -- nearly one out of every four starts -- well above his career winning percentage of 7.03. His '87 season was cut short by an illness that eventually would be revealed as acquired immune deficiency syndrome and he would die within two years.

Benny Parsons and Darrell Waltrip joined the organization in 1987. Parsons was winless in 29 starts and finished his career the next season with Junie Donlavey, but Waltrip went on to win nine races in four seasons with Hendrick, finishing fourth in the standings twice. But even though he won 8.18 percent of his starts with Hendrick, Waltrip's career numbers -- a 10.38 winning percentage, even without a victory in his final eight seasons -- were significantly better. (Continued)