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  • Jimmie Johnson: The Real Deal Behind the 2010 Sprint Cup Champion

    Jimmie Johnson: The Real Deal Behind the 2010 Sprint Cup Champion

    To understand how much a championship means to someone, they say that you should know the road that they took to get to where they are. So hold on as we travel back in time and learn about 2010 Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]Johnson was raised in a small town by the name of El Cajon. El Cajon is located in California on the foothills of Laguna Mountain, 15 miles north of San Diego. Johnson was raised by parents Gary and Cathy in a two-bedroom house with his two brothers Jarit and Jesse.

    It was not easy for Gary and Cathy, who worked hard to raise their little boys. Gary would get up at four in the morning to drive a truck for B.F. Goodrich, while Cathy drove a school bus for extra money.

    Even though they did not have the money, Gary managed to scavenge some old parts together and gave Johnson his first bike at the age of four, with training wheels of course, on Christmas Day.

    He started his journey to championship stardom by traveling around the area with his brothers, racing against friends. He turned out to be successful at racing, winning his fist local championship at the age of eight.

    However, some of his friends were killed in accidents, so Gary pushed his son toward off-road truck racing, hoping it would be safer. Instead, Gary’s worst fear almost came true.

    Johnson went and entered the Baja 1000 at the age of 19. Over nine hours into the event, he was leading, yet he was also tired. Just for a second, he dozed off and rolled it down a cliff.

    Lost in the middle of nowhere, Johnson had no hope of rescue. This turned out to be a good thing, as he thought over his career and how things had gotten to that point.

    “I was young, and all I thought about was going fast and being aggressive,” Johnson was quoted in the article The Soul of a Champion. “Well, I realized that night in the desert that I needed to be smarter. I still needed to push the car, but also I needed to bring it home clean. I needed to find that balance, and I began to find it that night in Mexico.”

    This incident in Mexico began Johnson’s true journey to the champion he is known as today.

    His journey to stock car racing truly began, though, when Johnson had moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, to live with then two-time Craftsmen Truck Series Champion Ron Hornaday Jr.

    Also living at the house was fellow Californian Kevin Harvick. Jimmie, at the time, could not pay rent money so he did chores and cooked his specialty, barbecued shrimp tacos, for those living there at the time.

    “Jimmie was a clean-cut kid who just wanted to race,” Hornaday explained in the article The Soul of a Champion. “He was the kind of kid you wanted to help out.” Hornaday did exactly that.

    Hornaday told fellow NASCAR owners and friends about Johnson, eventually landing Johnson a ride in the American Speed Association (ASA) Late Model division. Johnson went on to win rookie of the year in 1998, propelling him to the Busch Series in 1999.

    The biggest stepping stone though was when he went to four-time cup champion Jeff Gordon for advice. Gordon noticed Johnson’s desire and passed the name over to his boss Rick Hendrick.

    “I just found out that his contract is up soon, and he is shopping around for a ride,” Gordon said. “When I heard that I ran and grabbed him and said, ‘Don’t sign anything with anyone until you talk to me first!’ He’s going to be the next big thing.”

    The result was Johnson getting a Cup ride in the new No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, co-owned by Jeff Gordon and Rick Hendrick.

    Jimmie Johnson began racing at the Cup level in 2002, where potential was seen right away. He won his first race at California Speedway in the Auto Club 500 and finished fifth in points, which was not normal at all for a rookie.

    In most cases, rookies of this caliber would be recognized, yet all Johnson found himself known as was Gordon’s protégé.

    However, four years later, as the series back-to-back champion, he had his boss/teammate stunned at what he had accomplished. “I had no idea that Jimmie would develop into a champion,” Gordon said.

    “A lot of fans think everything has been handed to him on a silver platter because he’s so smooth, but they don’t understand his background. It’s made him hungry (for a championship).”

    Of course his background and road to stardom was not the only thing that made him hungry; the disappointment he had to suffer through first promoted him to be even more determined to win the championship.

    In 2003, Johnson finished fourth in points to Matt Kenseth. In 2004, he won four races in a row late in the season and tried to win the championship in honor of the 10 fallen heroes involved in a plane crash late in October.

    He did not accomplish that feat, though, as he ended up finished second, nine points behind Kurt Busch. In 2005, he finished forth to Tony Stewart, due to a wreck in the final race of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

    As co-owner Rick Hendrick said, “It took some disappointment for Jimmie to get here, but he is matured, and now, as a racer, he is the whole package.” That entire package finally began to come together in 2006.

    Johnson showed right off the bat that he was the driver to beat winning the sport’s biggest race, the Daytona 500. Of course it all began to come together, thanks to some guidance from Hendrick.

    As we know, every bit of big success in Nextel Cup comes thanks to a good driver and crew chief combination. Hendrick saw that Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus had some issues and needed some guidance.

    Johnson’s description of it states the fact that they both wanted it so bad that they were “butting heads in the process.” So Hendrick pulled them into his office, ready to discuss things between them and if needed, separate them.

    “It was getting to the point where Chad and Jimmie were having more bad days than good days,” Hendrick said. “I called them into my office…and said ‘If we’re going to act like kids, we’re going to have cookies and milk and we’ll have some down time where we can talk about what you don’t like about each.”

    With a play on what was seen as “childish behavior,” he set the room up as if it was a kid’s room and served them Mickey Mouse cookies and milk. This meeting allowed both Knaus and Johnson to get all their feelings about each other.

    “The meeting was supposed to be how we split the guys up,” Hendrick said. “But in this meeting, these guys really put their heart on the table and they talked specifically about what they didn’t like. Instead of holding it in, they were able to become closer friends and still respect each other’s professional position in the team.

    “I’m real proud of them because I would have bet money that we couldn’t fix it. I think both of those guys would be successful in their own right, but I think they’re stronger together.”

    “It took a lot of effort on each other’s parts,” Knaus later on said in a different article. “At that point, we were both tired and very frustrated. We were on the cusp on winning a championship for the first three years and we weren’t able to pull it off. Expectations were high. We weren’t able to deliver. There’s a lot to wanting to deliver for Rick and Jimmie and I felt that I laid down a little. I didn’t make the right decisions.

    “It takes maturity, wisdom and you have to learn. We learned over a period of time. You have to go over life experiences and race car experiences to get what you really need. There was a point there that we had to make a decision whether we wanted to do this or not.

    “We just had to learn to rededicate ourselves to the cause—and that’s what we did.” This conversation with Rick helped their relationship a lot, allowing them to now be the driver-crew chief pair to beat.

    “Jimmie and Chad have something very, very special together,” Gordon said in the article One More with Feeling. “I know everything that goes into their cars and everything about their set-ups, and they’re still beating us. It’s frustrating but you’ve got to give them credit. They’re the best right now.”

    “My relationship with Chad has been unlike any relationship I’ve had before with a crew chief,” Johnson said in November of 2008. “We’re close in age, which is a first for me, and we share a lot of things in common. We have two completely different personalities, and his strengths fit my weaknesses and my strengths fit his weaknesses. So I think the pairing of us both has been really good.”

    Since them fixing their differences, they have gone to create a dynasty as they have won the past five championships together.

    Despite Johnson being the champion he is, there are some that don’t like him for who he is on the surface, but that’s something that’s unimportant to Jimmie right now.

    “It takes maturity, wisdom and you have to learn. We learned over a period of time. You have to go over life experiences and race car experiences to get what you really need. There was a point there that we had to make a decision whether we wanted to do this or not.

    “We just had to learn to rededicate ourselves to the cause—and that’s what we did.” This conversation with Rick helped their relationship a lot, allowing them to now be the driver-crew chief pair to beat.

    “Jimmie and Chad have something very, very special together,” Gordon said in the article One More with Feeling. “I know everything that goes into their cars and everything about their set-ups, and they’re still beating us. It’s frustrating but you’ve got to give them credit. They’re the best right now.”

    “My relationship with Chad has been unlike any relationship I’ve had before with a crew chief,” Johnson said in November of 2008. “We’re close in age, which is a first for me, and we share a lot of things in common. We have two completely different personalities, and his strengths fit my weaknesses and my strengths fit his weaknesses. So I think the pairing of us both has been really good.”

    Since them fixing their differences, they have gone to create a dynasty as they have won the past five championships together.

    Despite Johnson being the champion he is, there are some that don’t like him for who he is on the surface, but that’s something that’s unimportant to Jimmie right now.

  • Rick Hendrick: The Artwork of a NASCAR Champion and Someone To Always Respect

    Rick Hendrick: The Artwork of a NASCAR Champion and Someone To Always Respect

    When it was announced last year at the Sprint Cup Series banquet that Rick Hendrick would be receiving Bill France Award of Excellence, nobody was surprised.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]Everybody understood why Hendrick was receiving the award, as his actions through his 26 years in the sport speak for themselves. Hendrick has proven himself on-track as he’s made Hendrick Motorsports the best team in NASCAR.

    Though beyond that, he’s been through a lot of personal battles and stayed strong as he fought a battle with leukemia in 1997, and fought through the death of 10 of his closest friends in 2009.

    The success for Hendrick through the 26 seasons has been great, considering where it started and how it could’ve not even taken place. Hendrick and driver Geoff Bodine went into the Martinsville race in 1984 with one thing on their mind—run well or else they’d be done soon.

    “It was a pivotal race for us,” Hendrick later told The Sporting News in a 2004 interview. “I know exactly what some of these guys feel like who have an unsponsored car—we did not have a sponsor. We had a small associate on the car, All-Star Racing and City Chevrolet, my store in Charlotte. We were running the deal out of our pocket and needed some success to sell a sponsor.”

    Bodine would do more then just run well and lock in some sponsorship—he’d win the whole show as he took the lead with 48 laps to go and never looked back.

    “The race just unfolded,” Bodine said. “We were running good. I knew you had to pace yourself at this track; brakes were really important. I was doing that throughout the race. At the end, it was just perfect. The neat thing about the race was it was Rick’s first win, my first win; but no one fell out of this race. None of the good cars were out.”

    Hendrick wasn’t there for the race as at the time, he was in church with his wife. After the race was over, he called his mother and asked him how they had done. His mother told him, “Bodine blew up…no seriously! Nobody has told you! He won!”

    That year, Hendrick and Bodine finished the year with a total of three wins, seven top-fives, 14 top-10s and three pole positions.

    Since then, the success has only grown for Hendrick as his drivers have won 194 Cup races and 10 Cup titles.

    In the process, he’s also set records. In 2010, driver Jimmie Johnson became the only driver ever in NASCAR history to win five championships in a row (2006-2010) and Hendrick now ranks at the top of the all-time winners list.

    Last year, Hendrick also became the only driver to have his cars finish one-two-three with Johnson first, Mark Martin second and Gordon third. The size of the organization has also grown along the way as he went from a small shop of approximately 20 people to now employing more than 500 people.

    Though when it came to Betty Jane France’s speech to announcing the award to Hendrick, it was not the stats she brought up; it was the other elements of Hendrick.

    “NASCAR has had many iconic figures throughout its rich history, and Rick Hendrick certainly falls into that category,” France said. “Through the years, he has not only won our respect but our hearts as well.” These words from France were preceded also by praise from two of his drivers during their speeches at the banquet.

    “You taught me to live big and small—live big in your passion for what you do, what you believe in and in your successes, but be humble and appreciative and give thanks for all those things,” Jeff Gordon said during his speech.

    Martin said in his speech he sees “a little bit of Rick Hendrick in each and every one of” the employees of the team and went on to add, “You just win everything there is in NASCAR. You made history, win all these championships. You’re a big winner. Congratulations and thanks for letting me be a part of it. But that’s not the most impressive part of it. To me, you’re a true champion as a person, such an incredible individual that affects so many people in a positive way. I’d like to be more like you.”

    These elements that both Gordon and Martin speak about go towards the way that he treats the people around him.

    During discussions about the sport, you hear people getting talked about in a negative way somehow. Though in the midst of those discussions, nobody has anything negative to say towards Hendrick, as most people respect him and always regard him as a positive person. This is because he always treats people—no matter who they are or what their background is—positively and with respect. Hendrick is a person that you never see talk bad about people, even when others may.

    One example would be Kyle Busch, 

     a driver whom Hendrick released in 2007. Everybody speaks of Busch in a negative light, due to how he’s reacted on track with his attitude. Everybody thought Hendrick let him go and did it due to that attitude and didn’t want to deal with him.

    Though according to Busch’s manager Jeff Dickerson, it was Hendrick who gave Busch and Dickerson the best advice in choosing a new team for Busch to go with. Dickerson recalled going to Hendrick numerous times to ask him questions and Hendrick would always be open to answering them. Dickerson credited Hendrick for being one of the main players in the changing of the teams. Busch also went on to add that nobody was to sit and blame Hendrick for letting Busch go, as that was partly the fault of Busch.

    The reason Hendrick had let him go and hired Earnhardt Jr. was because Busch was hinting that he was looking around, when actually he was liking the scenario at Hendrick Motorsports.

    So why does Hendrick have the theory to go out and be nice to everybody, even if they’re on an opposing team? Simple—it’s all about the people for him. When speaking of the success of his organization, he always feels the need to bring up the people first.

    “I think our people are the biggest asset,” he says. “If you can keep it together and tweak it, it’s much better off than tearing it down and rebuilding it every year. It slows you down.

    “I’ve seen this happen in my career here. You can have all stars together; there’s no guarantee they’ll work. I mean, you can guess the best so called crew chief and best driver in the garage area and put them together, and that’s not necessarily going to work. You know, what I’ve tried to do is promote tweaking it rather than rebuilding it. I’m a fix it kind of guy rather than a strip-it-and-rebuild-it kind of guy.”

    This attitude is what drives the employees to work so hard and why you’ll see Hendrick employees putting that extra effort in, according to Johnson, Alan Gustafson and General Manager Marshall Carlson.

    “It starts with Rick and his vision and what he has given us all to work with in his 25 years in the sport,” Johnson says. “He’s just done an amazing job. I’m happy to make him happy, I’m happy to make him smile.”

    “The way that he goes about keeping us going, he’s got one requisite, and that is that we race together, and that’s absolutely imperative,” Carlson adds. “Beyond that, he gives everyone a lot of flexibility and a lot of autonomy, a lot of—as far as the X’s and O’s, these guys figure that out, and these guys bring their game to the track.

    “And I think that competitive people who want to win are attracted to that. I think that’s why Jimmie was attracted to the organization and Chad and why they continue to want to be there. …There’s 500 teammates back at Hendrick Motorsports who have built that place, and every single one of us owes an incredible debt of gratitude to Rick for his leadership, for his commitment and dedication for giving us the resources to have these opportunities.”

    “I don’t think there’s any person that I’ve ever met who was more compassionate and who treats fellow human beings better than Rick Hendrick,” Gustafson says. “And I think that’s the key for me personally, and that’s all I can speak on.

    “…There’s not any magic. The fact is he’s willing to do more for people, for his people, than basically anybody else is. And he’s willing to put himself second time and time and time again for his company and for his people, and we all sincerely appreciate that, and we want to return the favor to him because he treats us so well.

    “I think he genuinely enjoys bringing good things and happiness to people’s lives, and he does a great job of it. So he’s just a super special person. The world would be a worse place without Rick Hendrick in it. He’s just a great guy and somebody you will do anything for because he will treat you the same way.”

    So when it came towards choosing someone whom to look up to, I did not have to look far past Rick Hendrick in including him on the list.

    Rick, you showed so many qualities that showcase a top quality of person. Your dedication and the success of your team have shown me that hard work pays off and even though it may get hard at times, I need to keep at it. The qualities you showcased well in getting through the hard times have showed you’re a fighter and that giving up is not an option. Though the heart you have is what brings you to the front of my mind. The friendship you have shown and how much you care about others is what makes you stand above others when looking for someone to look up to.

  • Determined and Motivated: Five-Time Championship Crew Chief Chad Knaus

    Determined and Motivated: Five-Time Championship Crew Chief Chad Knaus

    Through the history of NASCAR, there are only few driver-crew chief relationships that are capable of creating dynasties. One of those would be the combination of Johnson and Knaus.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]The strength of their relationship, plus Knaus’ desire, are two of the keys to that make them as good as they are. Knaus’ desire was seen even before he became the crew chief was Johnson; it was shown to Phillippe Lopez when Knaus worked for Stanley Smith as a shop-foreman.

    “Chad wasn’t there for the check,” Lopez said. “He wasn’t there for the glory. He was a racer. He did everything the right way. Nothing was half-assed. But you knew right away he had big dreams. He told me he wanted my job. He wasn’t kidding.

    “But he would do whatever it took to make himself better. He was great with working on bodies and Bondo (putty used in fabrication), but he wanted to learn about shocks. He was consumed with learning about it, mastering it and then doing it better.

    “It wasn’t unusual for me to have to tell Chad at two or three in the morning that it was time to go home.”

    It was Knaus’ attitude, however, that almost broke them up.

    Johnson’s description of the breakdown at the end of the 2005 season was they both wanted it so bad that they were “butting heads in the process.” So Hendrick pulled them into his office, ready to discuss things between them and if needed, separate them.

    “It was getting to the point where Chad and Jimmie were having more bad days than good days,” Hendrick said. “I called them into my office … and said ‘If we’re going to act like kids, we’re going to have cookies and milk and we’ll have some down time where we can talk about what you don’t like about each.”

    With a play on what was seen as “childish behaviour”, he set the room up as if it was a kid’s room and served them Mickey Mouse cookies and milk. This meeting allowed both Knaus and Johnson to get all their feelings about each other.

    “The meeting was supposed to be how we split the guys up,” Hendrick said. “But in this meeting, these guys really put their heart on the table and they talked specifically about what they didn’t like. Instead of holding it in, they were able to become closer friends and still respect each other’s professional position in the team.

    “I’m real proud of them because I would have bet money that we couldn’t fix it. I think both of those guys would be successful in their own right, but I think they’re stronger together.”

    “It took a lot of effort on each other’s parts,” Knaus later on said in a different article. “At that point, we were both tired and very frustrated. We were on the cusp on winning a championship for the first three years and we weren’t able to pull it off. Expectations were high. We weren’t able to deliver. There’s a lot to wanting to deliver for Rick and Jimmie and I felt that I laid down a little. I didn’t make the right decisions.

    “It takes maturity, wisdom and you have to learn. We learned over a period of time. You have to go over life experiences and race car experiences to get what you really need. There was a point there that we had to make a decision whether we wanted to do this or not.

    “We just had to learn to rededicate ourselves to the cause—and that’s what we did.” This conversation with Rick helped their relationship a lot, allowing them to now be the driver-crew chief pair to beat.

    “Jimmie and Chad have something very, very special together,” Gordon said in the article “One More with Feeling.” “I know everything that goes into their cars and everything about their set-ups, and they’re still beating us. It’s frustrating but you’ve got to give them credit. They’re the best right now.”

    “My relationship with Chad has been unlike any relationship I’ve had before with a crew chief,” Johnson stated in November of 2008. “We’re close in age, which is a first for me, and we share a lot of things in common. We have two completely different personalities, and his strengths fit my weaknesses and my strengths fit his weaknesses. So I think the pairing of us both has been really good.”

    Knaus still has that desire, though now it is pointed in a direction that benefits them all and has equaled record material. Since that discussion, they have gone on a roll, winning the last five championships (2006-2010).

    His motivation and hard working style at times has got him in trouble in the process as he has been caught in a sense cheating and has been suspended.

    In 2006, Knaus was suspended for making an illegal adjustment to the rear window after Daytona 500 qualifying, which resulted in a four week suspension. Despite this, the No. 48 team still came out on top, winning the Daytona 500 with interim crew chief Darian Grubb.

    In 2007, Knaus was suspended for six races as a result of the shape of the fenders in between the template points being in question by officials.

    In 2009, Knaus was warned about getting close to breaking the rules of with regards to the height rule as he was only a 1/16 of an inch within the window allowed.

    A lot of people have labeled him with the label of a “cheater”, though he says that it’s him doing his job to push the limits and find an advantage for his team.

    “I don’t cheat,” Knaus told Jenna Fryer in 2009. “I think it’s easy for me to be labeled that way. We’ve done a lot of things to help the sport transition and develop new rules, but that doesn’t mean we are cheating. We are pushing the limits.

    “Look at Tiger Woods, because he trains more and practices more and pays more attention to club selection and studies the greens, is he cheating? That’s not true.

    “Look back at the things I’ve been in trouble for, and that was maybe two times that something was actually outside the rules. I think it’s a bad label, a bad label for the team. But it doesn’t bother me a lot because I know deep down it’s not the case.

    “The fenders on the cars on Sonoma? Those were not illegal. The casual fan doesn’t understand it. It’s easy for someone to label that a person is a cheater, when in reality it wasn’t cheating, it was just not done the way it should be.”

    Knaus is referring to the last piece of the art of “creative interpretation”, which is reading the rules and interpreting them in the way you feel, though also maybe a way that they were intended to be. It’s about finding that grey area.

    “I think that’s our job, to find those areas of interpretation, the gray areas, and do just that,” ex-crew chief Robbie Loomis said in an article. “Interpret. There is a lot less room in there to find an advantage than there used to be, but that’s part of the challenge.”

    Knaus is not the first of his type, too. There were others before him who pushed the rules and have been recognized as some of the best.

    Smokey Yunick was one of the most famous people for doing this as he always was looking to see what he could do within the rules. There’s a story where in tech inspection, NASCAR removed his fuel cell and Smokey turned around, asking, “Are you done yet?” and they told him. He then proceeded to drive away from the officials, but how’d he do that?

    He had a fuel line of 11 foot coils of two inch diameter (equaling five gallons) and had enough fuel still in the car. He did that to therefore gain more fuel millage but most importantly, because the officials forgot to write that rule. Now if you read the rulebook, you notice there’s a length specified.

    Then there was Ray Evernham, who came out with the car T-Rex at the 1997 Winston, dominating the show. After the show, Evernham was pulled aside and NASCAR specifically told him that he was not to bring that car back.

    “We went through the rule book and wherever there was a real gray area or no specifics regarding certain components, we worked hard in that area with new things,” Eddie Dickerson, manager of Chassis Engineering at Hendrick Motorsports, said in an article on NASCAR.com. “There are no major changes you can make to components on these cars. So we worked hard in different little areas. It was a combination of things. … [But] we did not do anything illegal with the car.”

    Richard Petty was quoted in a NASCAR.com article saying, “I always told my guys, ‘Cheat neat and you’ll get by with a bunch of stuff.’ I don’t particularly tell my guys to cheat. I just tell them not to get caught.”

    It’s all about the art of the teams trying to find that advantage.

    “Every team out there is trying to do something to be faster than the next,” Knaus told Ed Hinton in 2009. “If they’re not, they’re not running competitively. I can promise you that.

    “And if the crew chief is not trying to push something to make his car faster, then he’s not doing his job and he’s not living up to his responsibility.”

    Johnson feels that Knaus has this motivation due to his own fear of losing.

    “I think it’s a fear of losing that motivates him more than anything,” Johnson said. “He is more motivated by dominating, in a sense. We’ll have what we consider the best car in practice and look at lap tracker and we might have a tenth on the field and he’s like, ‘We need more.’ That’s just his mindset. It’s more, more, more. We’ve got to be better. We’ve got to be better.

    “I feel that he’s afraid of losing. When he loses, something goes on in his head and I don’t know if it comes from being a kid and racing and working his way up through the ranks or watching his dad race or whatever, but there’s something there that he is afraid of losing. And that’s why when he wins, he’s kind of chilled and relaxed because it satisfies what that fire is inside of him.”

    “I don’t want to lose,” Knaus said. “I don’t. There’s some validity to that. Everybody wants to be good at something and this is what I want to be good at. I don’t want to let anybody down. I’ve not had a lot of other stable things in my life and the race car has always been there.”

  • Earnhardt Jr., Gordon and Martin Get New Crew Cheifs and Crews for 2011

    Earnhardt Jr., Gordon and Martin Get New Crew Cheifs and Crews for 2011

    Rick Hendrick announced yesterday that he would be switching the crew chiefs up at Hendrick Motorsports to benefit all four teams.

    [media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]The championship combination of Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus will remain together with the No. 48 team. Also, Knaus would get his original No. 48 crew back. Though changes will be made to the team via the struggles they went through this past year.

    The rest of the teams would then be swapped aroumd.

    Mark Martin will work with Lance McGrew, who was crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr. this past year.

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. will work with Steve LeTarte, who was crew chief for Jeff Gordon this past year.

    Jeff Gordon will work with Alan Gustafson, who was crew chief for Mark Martin this past year.

    In a sense, Hendrick is cycling the “drivers” around as he calls it to “improve the organization across the board”. Hendrick clarified today that the drivers are just moving around as each crew chief will keep their core members in place.

    Basically, you’ll have the same crew chief, car chief, crew members and shop members, yet different driver, number and sponsors on each team.

    With this swap, the “248″ and the “5/88″ shop will now become the “48/88″ and the “5/24″ shops via the swap of drivers within the two buildings.

    Today, Hendrick held a press conference at 10a.m. EST to talk about the changes to the media.

    Hendrick said that you ”never know until you try. Staying where you are is not going to make you that much better.”

    When it was announced that there’d be a new crew chief for Earnhardt Jr. a couple weeks ago, some people pointed towards Ron Malec, car chief on the No. 48 team. Hendrick discounted doing that, saying Malec is helping to write history there, is happy in his current position and doesn’t want to move up at this time.

    Malec and Johnson have worked together for years, before NASCAR, so it doesn’t make sense to have them seperate via their friendship. Also, Knaus has stated that he only wants to be a crew chief for five to eight more years, so he currently may be putting Malec through the training to take over his role if Johnson chooses to drive beyond that point.

    Hendrick made the choice to bring LeTarte over to Earnhardt Jr. instead as LeTarte is best friends with both Earnhardt and has already brought observations to the table that he wasn’t aware of. Hendrick noted their team debriefs where LeTarte made observations about Earnhardt.

    Hendrick went on to say that, “I feel like Letarte is a seasoned crew chief. He has been in every Chase, he’s never missed one.”

    He also noted that “he’s got some broad shoulders. Jeff gets excited on radio, too. Stevie works through that.” in reference to the fact that Earnhardt can be a handful at times. He added that, “”Steve is a leader and he is a no nonsense guy when it comes to racing. Stevie will be the perfect person for Dale Jr.”

    A lot of people have noted that Earnhardt needed someone he could connection on a “people-connection” level, and Hendrick said that “LeTarte, out of all the crew chiefs, is more of a people person. He is very smart, but has a tremendous personality.”

    Though Hendrick was quick to note that the problems on the No. 24 team weren’t due to LeTarte, yet due to “being dumped by Busch & Burton & then losing a motor.”

    Hendrick went on to add, with reference to the No. 88 team, that he has never had a more perplexing challenge as Dale Jr., though vows to get the team right and fulfill his promise.

    “I knew when I brought Junior on that the world was watching and we needed to make it right for him.” Hendrick said.

    With that extending over to Gustafson now going with Gordon, Hendrick said, “Alan with an engineering background is very technical, not a lot of talk – all business. I think that fits Jeff well.”

    Fans have had numerous theories and one discussed is some people have argued that Mark Martin is getting the short end of the stick as he’s getting what some call the weakest link of the organization. Some say this is due to Mark Martin leaving at the end of the year. Hendrick countered this saying, “I talked to Mark and asked him for his help. He has one more year in our organization. We have to look down the road. I have made a commitment to Mark Martin. The make up of what he’s going to have next year is mostly what he had in 2009.

    “”We’re not going to have a lame-duck situation. We’re going to go for wins and championships.

    “We’re going to do whatever it takes for Mark Martin to win races and have the opportunity to go for the championship again. Mark’s not getting the short end of the stick. He’s gonna get all the stick he wants. And that comes from me.”

    Hendrick also said, “Lance is a technician. Mark Martin is a guy that understands chassis as well as anyone I’ve ever listened to on the radio.

    “I have total confidence in Lance and Chris (Heroy, lead engineer). With Mark’s tech expertise with those 2 guys. Will be a match that surprises a lot of ppl.”

    Heroy has worked along side Martin before as he worked with Martin and Gustafson in 2009, yet was moved to the No. 88 team for 2010 to help improve them.

    In looking at the changes as a whole, Hendrick is just placing those together whom he feels have the best connection to therefore create the best situation for the team overall.

    Lastly, some people have questioned Hendrick bringing championship crew chief Ray Evernham back in the picture at the team now that he has no connection to Richard Petty Motorsports. Hendrick said that wasn’t the case as Evernham isn’t looking for a full-time role.

    “I can see Ray being involved with us in many areas,” Hendrick said. “I’m sure Ray and I will be doing something together.”

    Hendrick added that him and Evernham have been in discussions, though they center more towards maybe producing high performance parts together.

  • Angie’s Excellent Adventure at Darlington Raceway

    Angie’s Excellent Adventure at Darlington Raceway

    I recently had the opportunity to cover the NASCAR races at Darlington Raceway as a member of the media. Below is a summary of my experience, slightly skewed for entertainment purposes.

    My journey began with a trip to Darlington to pick up my media credentials to cover the upcoming Nationwide and Cup Series races. While I was there, I just had to stop by the Darlington Raceway Stock Car Museum.

    As I stepped out of my car and looked at the faces adorning the front of the museum, I knew that I was in for a treat. Everywhere I looked, I saw a different piece of stock car racing history. Some things were immediately familiar like the number 43, trademark blue, 1967 Plymouth of Richard Petty.

    And then there were the surprises.

    Over to one side was a 1956 Ford convertible. This particular car won 22 races in a single year racing in the convertible series. One of my favorite parts of the museum was a glass case with an array of confiscated items taken off the competitors cars. I just had to laugh at the ingenuity of these drivers who used every advantage they could find to win…at least until they got caught. It seems like some things never change.

    I also got to see the Dodge Hemi engine that powered Buck Baker’s car when he won the 1964 Southern 500. This same engine was outlawed for the 1965 season. The museum also houses Darrell Waltrip’s 1991 Chevy Lumina, which rolled eight times in the 1991 Pepsi 400. It’s still considered one of the worst crashes in stock car history.

    I could go on and on, but you get the idea. It may not be the biggest or fanciest racing museum out there, but it is well worth the $5.00 price of admission. Besides, bigger is not always better.  This wonderful slice of NASCAR is a perfect complement to the Darlington Raceway.

    Now that I’d had a little preview of Darlington, I could hardly wait for the racing to begin.

    On Friday morning, I was at the racetrack by 9 a.m. and Nationwide Series practice had already begun. I found my seat at the media center and settled in for what would prove to be a wild ride. Press conferences were set to begin about 10:15 am so I took a little walk outside to take a look at the action out on the track while I waited.

    As I stood there watching, I realized that I had a big grin on my face.  I just couldn’t help myself. The pungent smell of exhaust fumes was like the sweet aroma of roses and the roar of the engines was music to my ears. Or maybe the gas fumes were making me delirious. All I know is that I couldn’t stop smiling.

    The driver interviews soon began and I had to keep reminding myself that I was there as part of the media. I had to conduct myself with professionalism at all times. Today I was not a fan; I was a journalist.

    Although I’d seen these drivers interviewed countless times, it gave me an entirely new perspective to see them in person. Their charisma and personalities came through so much more clearly. Everything was going smoothly until Jimmie Johnson’s press conference. He was patiently explaining how the entire Hendrick Motorsports organization was working to perfect their programs.

    Perhaps he should have put more thought into the phrasing of his explanation as he summed it all up by saying, “So we are all kind of massaging our packages.” At this point, I’m biting my tongue to keep from laughing and berating myself for being childish. But then, I look around the room and see the same pained expressions on everyone’s faces as we’re all trying not to laugh out loud.

    I’m not ashamed to admit that it was my favorite quote of the weekend.

    Another highlight of the day was watching the qualifying runs. The media center was situated right in front of pit road and I was able to stand within a few feet of the cars as they waited their turn to qualify.

    Earlier in the week, I had arranged to interview Trevor Bayne after he finished qualifying. I decided I’d walk over to pit road to watch him and was almost side swiped by someone driving a golf cart. Imagine my surprise when Kyle Busch jumped off the cart and ran over to climb into his race car.

    It was time for my interview so I headed to Bayne’s hauler. I’d talked to him a couple of times over the phone but this would be my first time in person. We walked into his hauler and there were about six other guys in there, including a couple who were lying on the floor.  They all continued to talk and go about their business as if I wasn’t there. Not the best setting for an interview, but interesting, to say the least.

    I’m guessing they weren’t too impressed by this journalist but Bayne was completely focused and gave me his full attention as I asked my questions. I headed back to the media center just in time for the next press conference and then it was time for Cup qualifying.

    Did I forget to mention, there’s a race tonight?

    I won’t go into every detail. Just think of yourself as an insignificant piece of debris in the eye of a hurricane. You’re standing still while there’s a whirlwind of activity around you. You just have to hold on tight and enjoy the ride.

    After a great Nationwide Series race, I submitted my race review, finally headed home and climbed into bed about 2:00 am.

    Saturday got off to a little slower start and I arrived at the media center around 1:00 pm. I   took a few notes in preparation for the Cup race and caught up on what I’d missed. I was amazed to learn that while I’d been sleeping, painters had been working all night re-painting the walls of the track.

    I’d like to take a moment and say thanks to the folks at the media center. They kept us constantly updated with transcripts of all the press conferences, race results, points standings and more. If you had a question, chances are you already had the answer at your fingertips.

    By this time, I was almost giddy with excitement. Thanks to a colleague from SpeedwayMedia.com, I was going to take a ride in the pace car. With Brett Bodine at the wheel, we took off in a Camaro for a couple of laps around the track. We only got up to about 122 mph on the straightaway, but what a thrill.

    This was probably the highlight of my weekend and I was ready for more. My shouts of, “Do it again, do it again,” however, fell on deaf ears. Of course, I didn’t really shout out loud but the phrase was certainly bouncing around in my brain.

    Still full of adrenalin, I decided to take a walk and do some more exploring before it was time for another press conference. It was another day full of everything NASCAR and I loved every minute of it.

    It was getting close to race time and I decided to head for the Press Box located in the Sprint Tower. Overlooking the track above turn three, we had a panoramic view of the entire facility. After watching another exciting win by Denny Hamlin, it was time to file my last story. I caught a ride back to the media center where my car was parked and headed home.

    I was exhausted. “The Lady in Black” had welcomed me with open arms and it was an experience that I will never forget.

    In closing, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my “sponsors,” SpeedwayMedia.com, NASCAR, the staff of Darlington Raceway, Showtime and the city of Darlington.

  • Trevor Bayne: One Step Closer to his Dream

    Trevor Bayne: One Step Closer to his Dream

    Trevor Bayne was born in Knoxville, TN and like many young boys played all kinds of sports including t-ball and football. His life took a different direction at the age of five when he began racing go-karts and discovered his true passion.

    Since then, this talented eighteen-year old has accumulated 22 championships.

    He spent eight years on the go-kart circuit and achieved three World Championships, 300 feature wins and 18 State and Track Championships combined.

    The next stop was the Allison Legacy Race Series where at 13 years of age, Bayne became the youngest to win the Top Rookie award. In 2005, he became the series National Champion.

    It was while racing in the Legacy Series that Trevor met Donnie Allison who would become one of his biggest supporters. Allison influenced Bayne both on and off the track.

    “Donnie’s a great guy,” says Trevor. “He taught me a lot about momentum and really about how to treat people.”

    Bayne’s first big break came in 2008 when Dale Earnhardt Inc. signed him to their driver development program. While there, he competed in the Camping World East Series, finishing fourth in the points standings at season’s end.

    2009 started off with a bang as Trevor finished second in the Toyota All Star Showdown and won the Sunoco Rookie of the Race award. His season, however, came to an abrupt end when DEI experienced economic setbacks and Bayne lost his ride.

    Just when things looked darkest, a chance encounter would bring Bayne, his second big break.

    In February of this year, Trevor Bayne was introduced to Gary Bechtel and began a friendship that would change his life.

    “We both share a passion for racing and became friends right from the start,” Bayne said.

    Bechtel, former owner of Diamond Ridge Motorsports, worked with Michael Waltrip Racing and put together a deal for Trevor to race in the Nationwide Series in 2009. Trevor took full advantage of the opportunity.

    “We put together a deal between MWR and Gary Bechtel to put me in the seat for 8 races. Well those 8 turned into 4 more races so we had 12 total.“

    His Nationwide Series accomplishments include one pole, two top-10 and six top-15 finishes.

    Trevor looks at 2009 as a success, saying, “We were able to prove ourselves in that amount of time.”

    Obviously Gary Bechtel and Michael Waltrip agree with that assessment.

    This month Bechtel and MWR announced the formation of Diamond- Waltrip Racing which will enter a full time Nationwide Series team in 2010 with Trevor Bayne as their driver.

    “We had all the pieces, it was just a matter of putting all the pieces of the puzzle together,” Trevor said.

    So far DWR has sponsorship for only nine races but Bechtel is committed to running a full schedule and giving Bayne the opportunity to compete for the championship.

    “We expect him to be one of the frontrunners next year.”

    However, Bechtel’s belief in Trevor doesn’t stop with the Nationwide Series. Bayne is also slated to run a minimum of seven Cup races in 2011 and an eventual full time Cup schedule by 2012.

    Trevor is grateful for all the opportunities he’s been given and the promise that lies ahead.

    But for now, he’s taking the advice of four time Sprint Cup Champ Jimmie Johnson who told him to “take it one step at a time, keep his head down and work hard.”

    Trevor Bayne is living his dream and is passionate about his future.

    “I can’t wait to get to Daytona next year to begin a race for the championship.”