NASCAR: Hendrick Motorsports stars struggle at MIS Sunday

BROOKLYN, MICH. — Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne all looked at times like they had a car strong enough to finish in victory lane Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

The trio, all drivers for Hendrick Motorsports, combined to lead seven times for 66 laps in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quicken Loans 400. All ended up with disappointing finishes.

Jeff Gordon, Hendrick’s fourth driver, quickly became a non-factor after a crash on Lap 7. He finished 39th.

Kahne led the race from Laps 90 to 103, then brought out the race’s sixth caution with an accident in Turn 2. He finished 38th.

“Something broke,” Kahne said. “I don’t really know. I would say it was a tire that went down, but I don’t know for sure. I just was going into the corner and then it (went) ‘boom’ and turned right straight into the wall. It was a hard hit. We had a great (car). Things were working out. I thought it was going to be between myself and Jimmie (Johnson). We both had two really fast cars.”

Earnhardt Jr. led three times for 34 laps. He was leading from Laps 105 to 127, before suffering engine failure on Lap 132. He finished 37th.

“No, there was no warning at all,” Earnhardt said. “I think we lost a cylinder. The gauges all looked really good. Flipped all the switches I could flip and nothing was really making a difference. We just had something come apart in the motor. Really happy, though, with the engine. Happy with the way the car performed. Weren’t really happy with the (car) yesterday. Made a lot of changes last night. Steve Letarte (crew chief) and the whole crew made some great changes last night. We had such an awesome car. Look forward to coming back here and try to get a win.”

Johnson led three times for 18 laps. He was running in second place when he when he suffered a cut right-front tire. Greg Biffle, who Johnson was trying to chase down at the time, went on to win the race. Johnson didn’t bring out a caution with the tire issue, but had to go to pit road. He finished 28th.

“I guess just running that hard trying to get through traffic and get to the No. 16 (Biffle), we wore through the right-front,” Johnson said. “I’m kind of shocked because we didn’t have any issues.”

■ GETTING CLOSER:Danica Patrick finished 13th. “At the end of the race the last run was the best run, I felt, as far as the balance of the car, which I was surprised because we had fallen off a little bit at the end of the run before. …I think we have been strong lately. We just needed to have days like today where we finished it off.”

■ NICE TRIBUTE:Denny Hamlin, who finished 30th, changed the paint scheme of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota to same one used in 2005 when Jason Leffler drove the car. Leffler died Wednesday night in a dirt sprint-car race.

“It meant a lot to me to honor his memory,” Hamlin said. “I have to thank (Joe Gibbs Racing) and FedEx. ... also want to thank NASCAR for letting us change the wrap on the car on such short notice — just wanted to help pay tribute to Jason.”

■ ROUSH SPEAKS: Northville’s Jack Roush, owner of Roush Fenway Racing, said in the garage Sunday that luring employees away from race teams was really nothing new.

Roush was responding to defending Sprint Cup champ Brad Keselowski’s claim that Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing were stealing away employees from Penske Racing and Roush.

“First of all, I never heard what he (Keselowski) said, and I never read what he said, so I can’t comment on that,” Roush said. “But there is a normal amount of moving around in the garage and if one team thinks that another team is better in a certain area and they have the resources and money and they are not under contract, it is a fair and normal thing for people to be approached and leverage their experience and perspective.

“I don’t know if it’s any worse now than it has been in 25 years.”

Roush said his approach was to promote from within his organization.

“I try to be a promoter from within the company and do my own thing,” said Roush. “I surround myself with great people, but most of them, if you check the file, you’ll find their point of entry was with me.”

■ SWITCHING LANES: Olympic swimming gold medalist Tyler Clary is looking for a career in another fast lane when he retires from the pool.

Clary, who stood atop the podium for the U.S. in the 200-meter men’s backstroke at the London Games in 2012, was at MIS Sunday to wave the green flag for the opening lap.

He was pumped to do it, but down the road, he said he’d rather be in the cockpit.

“I want to race full-time once I stop swimming,” said Clary, 24, who has his sights set on the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. “I don’t want to do just a race here or there. I want to do a series.”

Clary has the horsepower in the water and on dry land. He is already a promising driver, having finished second in this year’s pro class in the celebrity race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach IZOD IndyCar weekend in LA.

“My aim is Rio, but I want to race on after that, but as a driver,” said Clary, who attended the Sprint Cup driver’s meeting at MIS. “I love it. These NASCAR drivers are just unbelievable athletes.”

Clary, who swam for Michigan and is still a studentthere, wants to concentrate on road racing, but wouldn’t say no to an oval ride.

“I’m serious about motor sports,” Clary said. “I want race teams to know that.”