Feast or famine at Atlanta for Hendrick Motorsports

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, wipes his face with a towel in the garage after he was knocked out of the race during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 2, 2012 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images for NASCAR)
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Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, wipes his face with a towel in the garage after he was knocked out of the race during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 2, 2012 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images for NASCAR)

The teams of Hendrick Motorsports had individual performances in Sunday’s Advocare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway that were as different as night and day.

For two of the four teams the race was a great night, for the other two not so much.

Jeff Gordon came home second after leading six laps.  He had a shot at the win battling Denny Hamlin for the victory over the course of a green-white-checkered flag finish.  Gordon was able to power to past Martin Truex Jr. for second on the restart, but was never able to get around eventual race winner Hamlin.

“I got the restart I wanted, got to the outside and was just too tight and Denny (Hamlin) was good there,” Gordon said. “But he made a mistake off of two and I got a run on him and made a bad decision.  All night I was able to get to the other guy’s quarter panel and get to the outside and stay there.”

Gordon said he regretted not being more aggressive. MORE>>>

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.