A six-race winless streak is a slump for any top NASCAR team, but for Hendrick Motorsports, it’s a potential crisis. With NASCAR’s return to a Chase-style format, insiders are warning that HMS’s early inconsistency could have championship-ending consequences. The expectations from the 15-time owner championship winners were a lot coming into the season, especially with the stacked team Rick Hendrick has assembled.

Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Alex Bowman are elite names that have done a lot in the NASCAR Cup Series, and it is a matter of time before they secure their first win for Hendrick Motorsports this year. However, if the team fails to showcase consistency, a problem may be waiting for them.

Hendrick needs regular-season consistency in the new format

NASCAR returned to the Chase Format this year after moving away from it in 2013. According to the new rules, only the top 16 drivers qualify for the playoffs. The win-and-in rule has been removed, which is why drivers need to stay consistent throughout the year. Senior NASCAR editor Matt Weaver believes the new format could be a problem if Hendrick doesn’t get back to their consistent ways soon.

“You can’t give up races anymore,” said Weaver on the Door Bumper Clear podcast. “They [Hendrick] are going to figure it out, but back then you could win three or four races and set yourself up with playoff points to be in a really good spot.”

Hendrick still has three drivers in the Top 10 spots. However, the new format and points system mean this could change if the drivers don’t level up their performance.

“The thing that I think they should worry about, not that they’re never going to figure it out,” said Weaver. ” You have to be top 3, maybe 4 in regular season points to win the championship, and these are three drivers now that have expectations of winning the championship, and if they don’t get into the top 3, that’s a long shot.”

Their drivers, including defending Cup Series champion Larson has not had the best of starts, but the expectation will be that they use their experience to turn things around.

Hendrick has the team to figure out their situation

Hendrick has three of the best drivers in the business leading the way for them. While Elliott and Larson have championship experience, Byron is a two-time winner at the Daytona 500 and has had great performances already this year. The pressure will be on them as defending champions, and despite questions from many, including Denny Hamlin, Freddie Kraft believes they have it all sorted.

“We’re talking about them being in panic mode because they haven’t won a race, all three of their guys that have been running full-time are Top 10 in points,” said Kraft. “So they’re still competitive, they’re still running, they just don’t maybe have race-winning speed… They still are capable of running top 5, they just have not been able to have that race-winning speed that we have seen from them in the past.”

Byron finished 8th at Darlington to move up to sixth in the standings. Elliott finished 15th, while Larson struggled and only managed a 32nd-place finish.

They will be hoping to bounce back strongly at the Martinsville Speedway this weekend and put up more points on the board.