Hendrick Motorsports seeking turnaround amid disappointing season

These are very strange times for Hendrick Motorsports.

Not only has NASCAR’s historically dominant team not won a race since March, its driver roster is in a state of flux with more questions than definitive answers. It will also soon enter the playoffs in the unusual position where it is not among the favorites to capture the Sprint Cup championship.

Hendrick’s struggles aren’t uncommon; every NASCAR organization big and small experiences the ebbs and flows of a sport where the rules are ever-changing. A team’s secret winning formula never stays quiet for long due to the tight confines of the garage where everyone essentially spies on one another.

More often than not, though, Hendrick has been able to avoid any considerable performance dips. Since winning its first series championship in 1995, the titles have occurred frequently; Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte gave team owner Rick Hendrick five over a seven-year span (1995-2001) and Jimmie Johnson racked up five consecutive from 2006-2010 and another in 2013.

Those 11 championships are a NASCAR record, and the team ranks second on the overall wins. That it’s done so during the most competitive era of the sport, with deeper fields featuring more drivers capable of winning weekly, only adds to the scope of accomplishments.

But 2016 is proving to be the exception that Hendrick may be immune to NASCAR’s cyclical nature. Among its four drivers -- Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., rookie Chase Elliott and Kasey Kahne -- Johnson owns the team’s only two victories, compared to the six combined Hendrick had a year ago at this time.

“It hasn’t been a great year for us,’’ Johnson said. “We won a couple of times early and showed some early season strength. It’s been a tough summer. Nobody knows that more than us and we want to be better.”

Beyond just winning, the lack of speed and consistency in Hendrick’s Chevrolets has been glaring. The team went through a three-week stretch where its drivers not only failed to score a top-10 finish for the first time since 2011, but didn’t even lead a single lap for the first time since the fall of 2001.

In the current hierarchy of the best teams, Hendrick lags well behind Joe Gibbs Racing/Furniture Row Racing, Team Penske and Stewart-Haas Racing. Sure, Johnson and Elliott will each qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup, except neither is a bona fide title contender.

Strange times, indeed.

All this comes during a period when the future construction of Hendrick’s driver lineup is a great unknown. Johnson’s contract expires at the end of the 2017 season, as does Earnhardt’s. The six-time champion is unlikely to leave the only team he’s driven for, but Earnhardt’s status is less solidified.

Earnhardt is out indefinitely after sustaining a concussion, his third in four years, in a crash at Michigan International Speedway in June. NASCAR’s most popular driver has been sidelined a total of five races and will miss at least the next two as he continues his recovery.

When, or even if, Earnhardt will be able to resume his career is a mystery. He’s adamantly stated he wants to continue racing once medically cleared. Ultimately, though, that decision will not be his but that of his doctors.

Earnhardt’s prolonged absence necessitated Hendrick tabbing part-time Xfinity Series driver Alex Bowman and luring Jeff Gordon out of retirement to fill Earnhardt’s seat.

Gordon’s unexpected return did provide a bonus: His experience and outside perspective (he largely had been away from the team since his retirement last year in serving as a Fox Sports analyst) is being counted on to help pinpoint Hendrick’s areas of weakness.

Equally uncertain is if Kahne will remain with the team he joined in 2012. After some initial success (four wins in the first two years) the veteran has significantly regressed. His last victory happened 24 months ago, and barring a stunning turn of events he will miss the playoffs for a second straight season.

Kahne’s contract runs through 2018, but Hendrick’s signing of wonderkid William Byron last week puts a realistic scenario in play where Kahne could be jettisoned to make room for the 18-year-old, who will drive next season in the Xfinity Series for a team co-owned by Hendrick, Earnhardt and Kelley Earnhardt Miller, Dale’s sister.

“If I haven’t performed by 2018, I need to leave,” Kahne told reporters Wednesday, via USA Today. “It’s pretty simple. So that will have nothing to do with William Byron or anyone else. If I haven’t performed by then, it’s time to go do something different.”

If there has been a ray of positivity for Hendrick this season it’s been Elliott, who took over for the retiring Gordon and performed admirably. Demonstrating poise and maturity, the 20-year-old son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott rolled off 11 top-10s in the first 15 races, including near wins at Pocono Raceway and Michigan.

However, as good Chase Elliott was over the opening half of the season, he’s backslid recently. His last top 10 was in mid-June, and over the past eight races he has an average finish of 24th.

“For me, anytime you’re not getting the result you want to get or you tore up a lot of race cars like I have here lately, you obviously want to improve upon that,” Elliott said. “So, I just try to be a little smarter and do my job better and try to get the result that we show up at the race track to try to get.”

All is not lost, and Hendrick isn’t destined to be an afterthought when the Chase begins in four weeks. Fortunes can quickly change. Teams underwhelming during the regular season then catching fire in the playoffs is not unusual.

Even amid JGR’s troubles in 2014, which saw NASCAR’s current premier organization record just two victories, Denny Hamlin still advanced to the championship round. In 2011, Tony Stewart slogged through the regular season winless, then blitzed to win five times in 10 Chase races en route to a third series title.

“All of Hendrick Motorsports has been working really hard to get back to where we want to be,” Johnson said. “Fortunately, there is time and fortunately there is the Chase format. A lot can happen before the season is up.”

The possibility of such a turnaround has galvanized the team, Johnson said. That effort is being led by Rick Hendrick, who even made an early morning appearance at a recent wind tunnel test to encourage his team.

“Nobody stays on top forever but we’re not happy where we are and we want to get back,” Hendrick said. “I’m accountable. They’re accountable. … I’m proud of our company and we’re going to be better. I like the challenge.

”We have been struggling this year, have not been as good as we want or should be. We know we have the ingredients and we’re not satisfied, and we’re going to do whatever it takes. That’s been our motto all these years. We’re at, what, 242 wins in Cup series? And we’re not done.”