There's really no way to sugarcoat it: Hendrick Motorsports is having a rough year.
Reigning champion Kyle Larson has yet to win a race this season. Chase Elliott sits in seventh place but is the highest driver Hendrick has in the Cup Series standings with three races left before the start of the Chase.
It's been a confounding year, and as Kyle Petty explained, it's probably just as confusing to all of us outside the garage as it is to those working inside the team.
"I don't know what to make of it," Petty said on Inside the Race after the race in Iowa on Sunday. "I think we started the season and I didn't think the Chevys were where they needed to be, so I gave them a little bit of a pass for the first part of the year. New car, new body, new stuff. There were flashes. There were moments where you thought, 'They're getting it, they're getting it.' And then they show up, and they're nowhere to be seen."
Petty noted that there's no easy fix to this sort of slump — the only way out is through.
"They just seem to be in a crazy way, imploding on each other. I don't know what their meetings are like on the Mondays or Tuesdays or whatever. ... I've seen so many guys with so many teams through the years who were on top, on top, on top, and then they begin to fall a little bit and they go, 'What do I do? There's a magic bullet.' Except there's no magic bullet. You've just got to get back to the basics and make things happen."
Those basics are important. One good pit stop. One good restart. Whatever stability a team can find in the midst of a difficult run can be a stepping stone towards better outcomes.
It's hard to imagine the struggles lasting much longer, and no one would be truly shocked Larson or any one of the Hendrick drivers rattled off a win near the end of the regular season and entered the Chase with momentum.
But as things stand, Hendrick Motorsports really need some things to start breaking their way.
