Fantasy NASCAR Racing

struggled at in previous season.  Gordon led the most laps and finished eighth in a rain-shortened event; showing an instant improvement in Gordon's down-force program.  For the first time since 2004, the #24 DuPont Chevrolet made the Chase for the Cup.  Gordon experienced an up-and-down postseason in 2006.  In 2007, Gordon finished the year with six wins, Gordon's highest total since 2001.  The #24 team also finished with 30 Top 10s, setting a new NASCAR modern era record for most top 10's in a single season.  They dominated the points standings throughout much of the year, earning, in total, 353 more points than Jimmie Johnson's #48 team, and 706 more points than Tony Stewart's #20 team (who earned the third most points).  However, due to NASCAR's "Chase for the Cup" playoff system, in which the points are reset based on the number of wins each team accumulates throughout the "regular" season (the first 26 races), Gordon lost the championship.  Their performance in the Chase was exceptionally good however, winning two races and scoring an average finish of 5.1, but it was not enough to outperform teammate Jimmie Johnson.  2008 would be a brutal reminder of how difficult racing in NASCAR's top series can be.  Astonishingly, Gordon went win-less for the first time since his rookie year in 1993.  Despite being the target of blame from many critics for the team's failures, Jeff Gordon and Rick Hendrick stood by the longtime Hendrick Motorsports employee and Letarte returned at the helm for 2009.  Gordon snapped his career-high 47-race win less streak with a victory in the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, but alas, it would be Gordon's only win of the 2009 season.  The team had a strong year however, finishing 3rd in the final standings.  As an organization, Hendrick Motorsports finished an impressive 1-2-3 in the standings as Gordon finished third, Mark Martin finished second and Jimmie Johnson won his record-setting fourth-straight championship.  On November 23, 2010, Letarte was named the crew chief for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. beginning in the 2011 season.  The pairing of Letarte and Earnhardt, Jr. showed strong results early in the 2011 season.  On April 3, 2011, Earnhardt, Jr. held the lead late in the race at Martinsville Speedway, but was passed with less than 5 laps to go by Kevin Harvick who would drive on to victory.  During the Coca-Cola 600, Earnhardt, Jr. held the lead on the final lap, but was forced to surrender the lead to Harvick when he ran out of fuel.  In the very next race at Kansas Speedway, Letarte had called Earnhardt to pit road thinking that no drivers would be able to make it to the end on fuel.  Unfortunately for Letarte and Earnhardt, Jr. Brad Keselowski was able to make it to the checkered flag and relegated the #88 to a 2nd place finish.  Letarte led Earnhardt, Jr. back into the Cup Chase for the Championship for the first time since the 2008 season.  Despite failing to win a race during the course of the season, Earnhardt, Jr. scored 4 top five finishes.  Letarte and Earnhardt, Jr. continued together into the start of the 2012 season.  The season started off strong with a 2nd place finish in the Gatorade Duel, followed by a second place finish in the Daytona 500.  Earnhardt, Jr. finally broke into victory lane on June 17, 2012 by winning the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway, snapping Earnhardt, Jr.'s 143 race win less streak.  Earnhardt failed to win a race again in 2013 but the duo posted a strong year as they posted ten top five finishes; and finished fifth in points.  His best since 2009.  As 2014 kicked off Letarte and Earnhardt Jr paired up for one final season.  They kicked off the season in grand style; winning the Daytona 500.  They added three additional wins before seasons end and finished eighth in the points.  Starting in 2015 Letarte crawled off the pit box and retired leaving Hendrick Motorsports to become an analyst for NBC Sports.  For his career Letarte had 15 wins; the most notable were: Southern 500 2007 and the Daytona 2014.