March 3, 2019 | By Lee Spencer

Can the new aero package get Hendrick back on track?

LAS VEGAS—Hendrick Motorsports’ performance at Atlanta Motor Speedway was, well, not very Hendrick-like. 

 

Alex Bowman’s 15th-place finish topped the Hendrick Chevys last Sunday. William Byron, Chase Elliott and five-time Atlanta winner Jimmie Johnson, finished 17th, 19th and 24th, respectively. 

 

Still, Bowman, who is starting his second full season behind the wheel of the No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet, was surprised by the lack of speed the Hendrick cars produced on the 1.5-mile track.

 

“I think if we had a handle on it, it wouldn’t have happened,” Bowman said on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “We are off of where we need to be, and it’s really frustrating. 

 

“Obviously, Atlanta is a much different animal than everywhere else. It’s super abrasive and very different, so, hopefully, we are better here and going forward. But it’s hard to put a finger on one thing that we did wrong or one approach that we had wrong we just collectively were not any good.”

 

In single car runs at Atlanta, Johnson posted the best qualifying lap of the four Hendrick Chevys—11th. But neither he nor one of the teammates led a lap during the 325-circuit race. 

 

HMS vice president of competition Jeff Andrews said the organization “expected more” in Atlanta. 

 

“(Vegas) is the same track in length but a completely different race in terms of the track surface and the banking,” Andrews said. “We’re expecting a much faster race, much more time in the vehicle at wide open throttle and hopefully, a more competitive race for us.

 

“Our cars seem to perform better on tracks that have a better grip level of late. So we’re looking forward to going to Las Vegas. We had a successful test there.”

 

Could the new aero package be the lifeline Hendrick has been waiting for? Johnson represented HMS during the organizational test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Jan. 31-Feb. 1. He expects to see a much different race on Sunday compared with the complexion of the Atlanta race. And that could benefit the Hendrick cars.

 

“We had single-car speed at Atlanta,” Johnson said. “But the jury’s out. I’m still waiting to see. Atlanta exposes mechanical grip issues more that any other mile-and-a-half (track) out there. Here, it’s much more forgiving. The tire wear isn’t as bad and tires hang on a lot better.  So I would think we’d be better in general. We did change quite a bit from Atlanta to Las Vegas.

 

“There are still some unknowns. I still feel like the leader has the advantage. When I was at the test session, we could pass pretty easily from second to on back. Drivers would get a big run on the leader but just couldn’t really kind of finish that pass. But we’ll see. There’s going to be a lot more energy obviously with 40 cars on the track than what we had with 13 in the test session but we stayed much closer than you would ever expect the cars to stay at Las Vegas.” 

 

Johnson topped his Hendrick teammates with a ninth-place qualifying effort on Friday . Bowman and Elliott also transferred to the final round of qualifying and will start 11th and 12th, respectively.

 

Roughly one-third of Johnson’s 83 Cup wins have come on intermediate tracks, including four victories at Las Vegas. But as Johnson says, the new aero package is “a different animal.” 

 

“They’ve taken away a lot from the drivers by lowering the horsepower,” Johnson said. “Drivers can get themselves in trouble or find an advantage with more horsepower and more throttle response. So we don’t have any throttle response with the way the cars sit. I think it puts more on the vehicle itself, and you really rely on the speed that the car has. 

 

“When you’re running wide open and you’re 20th, there’s not much else you can do, right? It’s still pretty early and we’re trying to work our way through it. At Atlanta, I ran plenty of throttle and just didn’t have the speed. So we’re learning and growing as we go.”

 

Yes, it’s only the third race of the season. And yes, the new aero package is a work in progress. But Hendrick cannot afford to start the 2019 season in the same manner as last year when Hendrick ran 22 races before the company’s first win at Watkins Glen with Chase Elliott.

 

“We have a lot of work to do, but we have the best people in the business,” Bowman said. “Boss man is not going to put up with that. Mr. H wants to go win races and we have a lot of work to do.”

 

A glimpse of hope at Vegas on Sunday could be the momentum Hendrick needs to right the ship.