Smoke Confirms Interest In #5 Hendrick Ride

[UNHWildCats]

LOUDON, N.H. -- Tony Stewart (http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/driver?seriesId=2&driverId=149) said Friday the new opening at Hendrick Motorsports could effect his decision about where he drives next season.
Hendrick Motorsports announced that Casey Mears (http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/driver?seriesId=2&driverId=248) would not return in the No. 5 Chevrolet.

"There's no one in the garage area that's not going to look in that direction," Stewart said. "You've got to look at it. Absolutely."

Stewart has said he is exploring an ownership option to become the co-owner and a driver for Haas/CNC Racing. He was asked Friday when he might have a decision on his future.

"At this morning's announcement [on the No. 5 car], I don't know," he said. "It may be pushed back even more. We'll wait and see. It's however long it takes to make the right decision.

"There's a lot of variables to look at. We've got all the information except what happened today. The good news is we still have time to look at it."

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/news/story?id=3464378


Man the 4 most popular drivers in the sport on the same team,,,, hendrick will be raking in the merchandising money.

Hendrick of course could help Stewart slowly build up his own team. He can do it slow and right if he;s not building it for him to drive much like Dale Sr did. Theres no rush for him to get it in motion.

[BlueHen86]

Hendrick hasn't shown me that he can successfully run more than two teams, let alone four.
Gordon and Johnson have always gotten the best equipment. Once Johnson came aboard Terry Labonte became a red headed step child. When Jerry Nadeau drove the 25 he would have more equipment failures than Gordon and Johnson combined.
I may be wrong, Dale Jr. is doing okay so far this year, but I think Tony Stewart should be very careful about joining an organization where he would be the 4th driver out of 4.

[93henfan]

86, I'd say the jury is out on your theory.

In support of your theory: Kyle Busch - He's obviously a stud that was not being served a hot car by HMS.

Against your theory: Casey Mears - Rick Hendrick himself explained that they have poured all available resources into making Casey a winner and he is a consistent dud. That points at the driver as the fault.

Against your theory: Dale Jr. - He's actually doing better than the supposed top two.

As an 88 fan, I would absolutely love to see Stewart come to HMS because you'd have two teams within a team. Jr. and Smoke are great friends and love working together on the track, much like 24 and 48.

[BlueHen86]

86, I'd say the jury is out on your theory.

In support of your theory: Kyle Busch - He's obviously a stud that was not being served a hot car by HMS.

Against your theory: Casey Mears - Rick Hendrick himself explained that they have poured all available resources into making Casey a winner and he is a consistent dud. That points at the driver as the fault.

Against your theory: Dale Jr. - He's actually doing better than the supposed top two.

As an 88 fan, I would absolutely love to see Stewart come to HMS because you'd have two teams within a team. Jr. and Smoke are great friends and love working together on the track, much like 24 and 48.

Dale Jr may prove my theory wrong, I mentioned him to be fair.

I don't agree with you on Mears. Of course Hendrick is going make that statement, otherwise he'd risk losing a sponsor. We'll have to see what Casey does in his next ride.

I think Hendrick ran a 3rd and 4th car for testing and info purposes to help the 24 and 48. Dale Jr. changed that, since he is way too popular to get anything but top notch equipment. We'll see what happens, but I don't think the Hendrick umbrella is big enough for 4 superstars. It would be a dream team though.

[UNHWildCats]

This crap about Hendrick giving the 24 and 48 better equipment is crap.... Do you think they tell the suppliers "Oh give up the A+ stuff for 24 and 48 and give us the inexpesnive parts for the others?

Do you think he would spend the amounts of money he does to field teams that have no shot at success?

What exactly has Terry Labonte done since 1997 until 1993 when Johnson entered the cup series?

4 wins in seven years. Since 1999 his most top 10s was 9 and most top fives was 4.

Aside from Labonte they never really had a competent driver aside from Gordon and Johnson over the past 10 years. Kyle Busch is good, but he's immature and hes a punk. He also had 20 top 10's in 2007 hardly something you can do with faulty equipment.

Also Alan Gustafson is considered one of the top three crew chiefs in NASCAR.

Dale Jr is competitve with basically the same equipment and crew that Mears had last year while Mears has faltered in the same equipment with the same crew Busch had last year when he had the 20 top tens.

[BlueHen86]

This crap about Hendrick giving the 24 and 48 better equipment is crap....

Do the double 'craps' cancel each other out? xlolx If not, we'll just have to agree to disagree.xpeacex