After the first six races of the season, Hendrick Motorsports holds the top three spots in the Cup Series standings, yet the organization knows it still has considerable work to do.
All four of its teams are still chasing the speed held by other competitors.
"It's a finicky sport because you want to get off to a good start, get in a good position in points so that you're not on your heels and playing catch-up. So that part is really nice," Jeff Gordon said after Kyle Larson won Sunday's race.
"But we've been getting beat, you know. While it's nice to have won the Daytona 500, the next three weeks -- maybe take out Atlanta because I think our guys were in position to win that one -- but Phoenix they got beat. Vegas, I mean, there are a few things that kind of didn't go great there, but basically got beat there, too."
For Gordon, a fitting example of "getting beat" is the No. 12 Team Penske Ford. This was the dominant car at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday until an engine failure in the final stage.
This issue took a likely win from Ryan Blaney, who had led 124 laps. It opened up the opportunity for Larson and Alex Bowman to battle in the closing laps.
The No. 5 and the No. 48 weren't the fastest cars at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but their engines lasted longer than the No. 12's.
"So I think our guys really focused more on how do you bring the car with the most speed every single weekend," Gordon continued.
"Then when you get to Hendrick Motorsports on Monday, even if you brought four of the fastest cars to the racetrack, one of them said, 'Mine wasn't as fast as...' It's just constantly you're just chasing it."
Gordon and Hendrick Motorsports continue to seek speed, but it's not like the cars have been bad. The four drivers aren't running in the middle of the pack each week, nor are they missing out on stage points.
Larson was the first driver to win multiple stages this season. He has one win and four top-10 finishes this season. Byron also has one win and four top-10s. Elliott has three top-10s while Bowman has five.
Byron leads the cup standings with Larson and Bowman just behind him. Elliott is sixth in the standings after six races.
One issue has been consistency. Penalties, loose wheels, and other miscues have kept these four drivers from contending for the win each week of the season even when their cars had race-winning speed.
Byron received two pit road penalties at Homestead; Elliott received one. Bowman had an extra pit stop at Las Vegas due to a loose wheel. Larson lost a wheel at Circuit of the Americas.
"We just haven't had a day that went okay for us and everything," Bowman said before Sunday's race at Homestead. "We executed all day and we ended up where we ended up.
"Like, something's kind of happened every race that we've had to overcome, so I would like to have some clean days because I feel like we can be further up front than we have been at the end of these things.
"But it certainly could be a lot worse too, right? There's plenty of things that could have completely taken us out of races that we've overcome, and we've had some cautions fall our way to kind of save us from messes we've made too."