Why Martinsville may be breakthrough moment

Hendrick, Joe Gibbs Racing still looking for first victory

MARTINSVILLE, Va. - Five races into the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, championship teams Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing have something in common — zero wins.

This season marks the first time that has happened since 1994.

The year has seen a few surprises — Kurt Busch breaking through to score his first Daytona 500 win, Ryan Newman ending a frustrating drought with a victory at Phoenix Raceway and Kyle Larson cashing in on some of his potential by winning last week at Fontana, Calif.

But the Hendrick and JGR goose eggs also stand out.

Last year’s champion and seven-time titlist Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick has a top finish of ninth. Sophomore Chase Elliott has run well, with two top-fives and no finish worse than 14th. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been very quiet in his return from a concussion, with no finish better than 14th. Kasey Kahne has managed a best of fourth.

On the Gibbs side, Matt Kenseth has crashed in three races. Kyle Busch has one top five. Denny Hamlin hasn’t cracked the top five. Rookie Daniel Suarez has a top finish of seventh — twice.

Odds are someone in the HendrickJGR mix will end the drought in Sunday’s STP 500 (2 p.m. EDT, Fox Sports 1) at Martinsville Speedway, the sport’s shortest track. Hendrick cars have won a record 24 races here, including nine by Johnson, who leads all active drivers. Hamlin has scored here five times for Gibbs.

“We haven’t really hit the heart of the season yet,” Hamlin said. “We’ve been to some very intricate type of racetracks that are a little different. Our season always starts off that way. But I think that really eight races in is when you can really look at the bigger picture and kind of figure out where you’re at.

“I think I know where we are at this point and the things that we need to work on, and by no means are we at the top. We as a company have a good idea of where we’re at, but I don’t think people from the outside looking (in) can really make a judgment until probably eight to nine races.”

Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus, normally one of the most reliable pairings in the garage, have struggled with their cars in the first two months of the season.

“It’s just tough to be 100 percent,” Johnson said. “You think about life and how many times our wives remind us we made the same mistake again or whatever it might be. In your personal life, you constantly do things and have habits and tendencies that create whatever it does. I have habits and tendencies in a race car that are mistakes that I make.

“It’s easy to try too hard in our cars. I think in an open-wheel vehicle from the driver’s perspective you are usually rewarded for overdriving the car. NASCAR vehicles — not the case. Our fear factor is usually way above the grip factor of the car and the tires.”

Johnson said the level of competition makes it easy to overdrive and press.

“As odd as it may sound, I think we are really guilty of that right now and we’ve got to dial that in,” he said.

Busch said the JGR team’s time is coming.

“We’ll turn our program around,” he said. “We’ll get it up to speed to where we need to. I think we’re playing a little bit of catch`up right now.”

In the meantime, Busch said, the current situation isn’t the worst thing on Earth.

“I think it’s probably a good thing,” he said. “There needs to be more parity in our sport. There needs to be other teams that have the opportunity to get up there and run well and win races. You see RCR (Richard Childress Racing, with Newman) has done that. You see Ganassi (with Larson) has done that.”