Hendrick misses finale to be with niece

Nov 22, 2009 - 7:32 PM HOMESTEAD, Fla.(AP) -- NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick is not at Homestead-Miami Speedway because he stayed in North Carolina to be with an ailing niece.

A Hendrick spokesman says that Alesha Gainey is in critical condition at a North Carolina hospital awaiting an emergency liver transplant. She is the 29-year-old daughter of John Hendrick, one of the 10 people killed in a 2004 plane crash.

Also killed in that accident were John Hendrick's twin daughters.

Rick Hendrick is poised to win a Cup Series record ninth championship Sunday when either Jimmie Johnson or Mark Martin wins the Sprint Cup title.

The title will be Hendrick's 12th overall in NASCAR, also a record.