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The 50th-running of the Daytona 500 was supposed to be so much more for the four teams from Hendrick Motorsports.A lineup of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Casey Mears will create those predictions.
Instead, the top finisher from Hendrick in Sunday's 500 was team newcomer Dale Earnhardt Jr. who finished a solid, but still disappointing ninth. Earnhardt Jr. looked primed to be a very strong contender in Sunday's race after winning last Saturday's Budweiser Shootout and his Gatorade Duel qualifying race.
A pit decision late in the race by failing to pit likely sealed any chances for Dale Jr. to win after he didn't pit when nearly every other leader did.
Jeff Gordon likely had the strongest car of the Hendrick bunch Sunday and showed that by hanging with the dominant Toyotas of Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart throughout the early parts of the race. After the second green-flag pit stop, Gordon dropped back mysteriously before charging back through the field.
Suddenly, though, Gordon fell off the pace and under caution, his No. 24 came into the garage to fix a bent front control arm.
Casey Mears was looking like he could play a big part in the final parts of the race until an ill-advised late move with 6 laps to go put him in the wall. His No. 5 was in the middle lane through the tri-oval with Tony Stewart and Dale Jr. lining up on the outside and gaining fast.
Mears pulled up to take advantage of a push, but it was too late, and Mears hooked his right-front into the wall.
Jimmie Johnson likely had the most disappointing race of the whole team. Though he did lead, he never looked like a favorite or had the car to beat. A wreck late in the race off of turn 2 sealed his fate to a 27th-place finish.
Just for comparisons as to how this might effect any of the Hendrick team's title hopes, in 2007 Johnson finished 42nd in the Daytona 500 and then made it look easy in winning the 2007 championship.
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