Time to keep an eye on what's happening behind the scenes in the NASCAR garage

 So what's Rick Hendrick (L) going to do about Dale Earnhardt Jr. (R)? (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
 

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net
 

   POCONO, Pa.
   As stock car teams begin their annual late-spring/early-summer dizzying cross-country romp – just outside of New York City this weekend, midway between Detroit and Chicago next, then San Francisco, then just north of Boston, then down to Daytona, then back up to Chicago – the questions about Rick Hendrick's operation are mounting.
   And Richard Childress'.
   And the Richard Petty-George Gillett team.
   It's this way nearly every June these days on the racing tour – with sponsorship searching reaching a fevered pitch, and drivers and team owners and crew chiefs all scrambling to make something happen.
   Unless you're name happens to be Joe Gibbs, or J.D. Gibbs, or Roger Penske, or Chip Ganassi.
   While Roger Penske is enjoying the fascinating charges by Kurt Busch and Steve Addington...and while fellow team owner Chip Ganassi – an arch-rival over the years – is also enjoying a great sprint, with Jamie McMurray leading the way (though Juan Pablo Montoya is all but shell-shocked at his bad luck run)....and while Joe and J. D. Gibbs all-but have the stock car world at their fingertips, with five wins in the tour's last eight events, and a close run in the 600 with Kyle Busch, the rest of the guys in the NASCAR owners' clubhouse are scratching their heads and facing issues.
   Well, certainly not
   First, at Hendrick's, what's up with Jeff Gordon and DuPont? Gordon was apparently more than a bit miffed that Shell took its sponsorship to Roger Penske. And Gordon keeps laying out questions about how DuPont, his long-time sponsor, may fit into the team's equation next season.
   On top of that, Gordon the last couple of weeks, after a hot start to the year, has hit some bumps. He has not really been competitive lately, for some reason.
   Second, Jimmie Johnson: why is he suddenly making so many mistakes? Is it just some bad luck finally catching up after all those years of such great luck?
   Third, Mark Martin. What will he be driving next season? What number car, what team, what sponsor? He's got a deal with Hendrick through the end of 2011, and Martin says he's solid with the Alan Gustafson team. And Martin did make a good comeback in Sunday's 600.
   However the unexpected addition of Kasey Kahne to Hendrick's 2011 lineup has led to a logjam: NASCAR says an owner can only have four Sprint Cup teams (which is why Jack Roush had to cut Jamie McMurray at the end of last season), and Kahne gives Hendrick five. What to do?
   There have been indications for some time that Tony Stewart, who runs a Hendrick satellite operation (with Hendrick engines and engineering), might expand to three teams, adding Kahne, with Ryan Newman. But Stewart and his men haven't been performing all that well so far this season (after such a great start to 2009), and Stewart says he's been perplexed by that. And the idea of expanding, well, it simply doesn't look that likely now.
   Kahne, Hendrick says, will be in Martin's current ride in 2012.
   But in 2011? No word yet.
   And Martin is showing no signs of being at all interested in being squeezed out early to make room.
   Which brings us to Dale Earnhardt Jr., increasingly the weak link in the Hendrick operation.
   Yes, Earnhardt is a franchise all to himself, though it's unclear if he is currently still the most popular driving in NASCAR.....
   Earnhardt has won only three times in the last five-plus years. And he seems no closer to winning this season than last year.
   Earnhardt, who turns 36 later this year, has said he's got no interest in – or sponsorship for – moving to his own JR Motorsports company and bringing that up to Cup. That, if Earnhardt is the most popular driver in the sport, seems curious, that no sponsors would be willing to sign on. And certainly Hendrick engines and engineering would be available for him, just as for Stewart and Newman.
   Then there's the curious Richard Childress option: could an Earnhardt-to-Childress game plan be in the works? Could Hendrick and Childress work such a deal? Surely Chevrolet might be willing to help.
   After all Childress has only three teams currently (after losing Jack Daniels and Casey Mears at the end of 2009). So there is room.
   There has been more than a little speculation lately about Childress working hard to expand back to four....just as soon as he can find a sponsor for Harvick (Budweiser?), now that Shell has gone.
   Childress' equipment now is up to snuff, after a couple of years off the pace. Indeed Kevin Harvick is atop the Sprint Cup points.
   Plus, Earnhardt might feel a little more at home in Childress' rowdier atmosphere.
   Earnhardt came close to signing with Childress back when he was planning to leave Teresa Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Inc. But he felt he had a better shot at the NASCAR championship – which his late father won seven times – at Hendrick's.
   However last season was one of Earnhardt's worst since joining the Cup series. And this year, well, he and crew chief Lance McGrew are doing a little better, but is it enough....when teammate Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon are both in the running for fifth titles?
   Will Earnhardt even make the chase?
   Or maybe Martin might be interested in moving to the Childress camp? Remember he and Jeff Burton have long been buddies, even to the point where Burton is currently Martin's defacto business agent in whatever moves Martin decides upon.
    And what will the loss of Kahne – and potentially the loss of sponsor Budweiser – mean for Petty and Gillett? George himself hasn't been seen much lately in the NASCAR garage, and Foster Gillett, who runs the team for his father, hasn't had much to say either, except that he's trying to keep Budweiser.
    AJ Allmendinger has been looking pretty good for the Petty-Gillett team lately, though teammate Elliott Sadler has continued to run iffy.
    But can Petty-Gillett keep Allmendinger in the fold? Or might Jack Roush take a look at him, or Childress?
    Paul Menard, the fourth man in the Petty-Gillett Ford camp, has been looking pretty solid lately, with crew chief Slugger Labbe. They opened strong, faded for a few weeks, and are now coming back, as seen at Charlotte.
    And over at the Gibbs': Is time to start thinking again about that fourth Cup team? Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin are on a streak, and Joey Logano is having a breakout season. Sponsorship, of course, would be key. But then Interstate Batteries, the company that helped launch Gibbs back in 1992, just signed "a long-term extension."
   Sponsorships on the line to keep an eye on: Budweiser, UPS and Mobil/Exxon.
   Just a few things to ponder while awaiting the opening round of practice for Sunday's Pocono 500...

      
  
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  What's up with Jeff Gordon and DuPont? (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)