Sunday January 30th 'What If' Question

Two days after Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson won his fifth consecutive championship and as many still tried to wrap their arms around the concept, team own Rick Hendrick decided to grab some more headlines.

Hendrick announced major changes in his organization for the 2011 season. Three of his four drivers - Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin - would be picking up their driving seat and moving to different teams. Earnhardt Jr. would now be paired with Gordon's team led by Steve Letarte and be driving old 24 cars. Gordon would be moving to Martin's old team led by Alan Gustafson and would be driving old 5 cars. And Martin would be moving to Earnhardt Jr.'s old team led by Lance McGrew to drive old 88 cars.

Everything but the drivers and the sponsors stayed the same. While many were quick to try and point out the change was made because of the continuing struggles of Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick made it clear that he was not satisfied with the performance of any of his teams in 2010. Johnson was the only HMS driver to win a race and in May Hendrick said he felt that Joe Gibbs Racing had caught and passed his organization.

For Earnhardt Jr. he hasn't won a race since June of 2008 and missed the Chase in both 2009 and 2010. Gordon has been winless since April of 2009 but did make the Chase in those two years. Martin has been winless since September of 2009 when he made the Chase but then he too missed it in 2010.

Hendrick decided he wanted to do something fresh, something to give the company another shot in the arm. In doing so he rocked the NASCAR world and made sure there was plenty to talk about during the offseason and heading into the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season.

From the drivers themselves to the media and down to the fan, the opinions of what's in store of HMS this season have been widespread and widely documented.

But ...

What if Rick Hendrick didn't make changes to 3 of his 4 teams, what would you be expecting from Dale Jr, J. Gordon & M.Martin this year?

@cruetten: a mediocre year for Jr, an impressive final year for Martin, and possibly a championship for Gordon.

@StrokerAce90: I'd be expecting Jr to argue with his crew chief, Gordon to give Burton payback & M.Martin to help JJ win a 6th Championship.

Adam Amick (via Facebook) What if Dale, Jr. was worth a crap as a driver? What if Steve Letarte didn't make so many bonehead calls over the past few years? What if Mark Martin had quit when he said he was and someone else (Brad Keselowski) was in the seat? What if Jeff Gordon hadn't hired Jimmie Johnson in the first place? What if? What if? What if? But to answer your question: If there hadn't been any changes, there wouldn't be any changes... (See above)