Fixing Earnhardt's team top priority for Hendrick

By: JournalNow Staff | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 25, 2009

Getting Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team back on track is Rick Hendrick's top priority now that Jimmie Johnson has his record fourth consecutive NASCAR championship.

"We're all over it, and we've been all over it," Hendrick said yesterday in a conference call. "It's my primary focus here, starting Monday."

Johnson gave Hendrick Motorsports its record 12th championship Sunday, and Hendrick drivers swept the top three spots in the standings, with Mark Martin second and Jeff Gordon third.

Earnhardt, meanwhile, was winless and a distant 25th in points in his second season with Hendrick.

Hendrick changed Earnhardt's crew chief midway through the season and assigned additional engineering support to the team.

Although Earnhardt's performance began to improve toward the end of the season, bad luck and mechanical problems left him with little to show for his efforts. Earnhardt had just five top-10 finishes all year and has admitted to struggling with his confidence.

"I've seen this happen with Jeff Gordon ... you just go through these (slumps)," Hendrick said. "We know we can make the team better, and it's frustrating. The driver begins to think that no matter what he does, something is going to happen...."

Hendrick, meanwhile, said that his 29-year-old niece, Alesha Gainey, is doing well after an emergency liver transplant Sunday in North Carolina. She was healthy and headed to a Carolina Panthers game last Thursday night when she suddenly became ill.

Hendrick said that doctors aren't sure what caused Gainey's organs to fail, and although the liver transplant was successful, she's in critical condition because her kidneys aren't yet functioning.

Gainey is the daughter of Hendrick's brother, John, who was one of the 10 people killed in a 2004 plane crash. Also killed in the crash were Gainey's younger twin sisters.

"It was never a doubt in my mind where I needed to be, and where I wanted to be," Hendrick said of missing Sunday's race. "I would have loved to have celebrated with them, but I wasn't in the frame of mind to celebrate. The good news is, the liver is working, she's stable, and we're going to have a very good Thanksgiving."