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Maturing crew chief, evolving sport bring ever-changing demands
If what Jeff Gordon said when Steve Letarte was promoted to crew chief of the No. 24 team in September is true, then for Gordon's bunch, the 2006 season is already nine races old.
And things are going well -- certainly better than the dismal summer the team endured in 2005.
While Letarte's first few races atop the pit box were anything but impressive -- Gordon was caught up in crashes at Dover, Talladega and Charlotte -- things improved drastically late in the fall. Gordon and Letarte visited Victory Lane together in just their sixth race as a duo, at Martinsville in October. What's more, the team scored three top-five finishes in the final five races of 2005.
Gordon expects more of the same in the near future.
"He's always got that positive attitude," Gordon said. "He works hard. He doesn't ask to be treated different or given anything special. Everything that he's gotten, he's earned from hard work, and I think he brings the same work ethics into the crew chief job."
Gordon, a four-time Cup champion, says what Letarte may lack in experience can be made up by other folks in the organization, at least in the short term.
"He just has not had the experience at making maybe that final call when it comes down to the end of the race [with] championships on the line," said Gordon. "I think if you look at our organization as a whole and the depth we have there, if we get the right cars out there on the racetrack, those calls are a lot easier to make.
"I believe he's capable of it, and I don't know if we had to go win a championship in February, if that was a final event that would be ready for that," Gordon said, "but I really believe that just in the last 10 races of last year, you know, what I saw in Steve was unbelievable, and that really has me excited about getting this season started."
And if past history is any indication, it will be a pressure-packed season for not just Hendrick Motorsports, but also for every team in NASCAR.
"These days, it's just basically run as hard as you can from the beginning of the race to the end of the race," Gordon said. "And the cars have changed so much and the aerodynamics have changed so much, how hard you have to push, not just throughout the race, but each lap, whether it be qualifying or the race.
"So I've certainly seen that trend continue on and I think in the last three years, I've seen it take bigger strides than I've ever seen it take."
And that means that even for a man as accomplished as Gordon, there's always work to be done.
"Obviously mile-and-a-halfs [intermediate tracks] are still something that we need to get better on," said Gordon. "We're definitely going through some changes in the offseason, and I think they are all positive ones that just build around Steve as the leader of this team and [giving] me the cars that I need and us and all around the best effort to go out there and win races in championships.
"I don't think that we're there today, but I think by the time the Chase comes around, I think that we will be."
If what Jeff Gordon said when Steve Letarte was promoted to crew chief of the No. 24 team in September is true, then for Gordon's bunch, the 2006 season is already nine races old.
And things are going well -- certainly better than the dismal summer the team endured in 2005.
While Letarte's first few races atop the pit box were anything but impressive -- Gordon was caught up in crashes at Dover, Talladega and Charlotte -- things improved drastically late in the fall. Gordon and Letarte visited Victory Lane together in just their sixth race as a duo, at Martinsville in October. What's more, the team scored three top-five finishes in the final five races of 2005.
Gordon expects more of the same in the near future.
"He's always got that positive attitude," Gordon said. "He works hard. He doesn't ask to be treated different or given anything special. Everything that he's gotten, he's earned from hard work, and I think he brings the same work ethics into the crew chief job."
Gordon, a four-time Cup champion, says what Letarte may lack in experience can be made up by other folks in the organization, at least in the short term.
"He just has not had the experience at making maybe that final call when it comes down to the end of the race [with] championships on the line," said Gordon. "I think if you look at our organization as a whole and the depth we have there, if we get the right cars out there on the racetrack, those calls are a lot easier to make.
"I believe he's capable of it, and I don't know if we had to go win a championship in February, if that was a final event that would be ready for that," Gordon said, "but I really believe that just in the last 10 races of last year, you know, what I saw in Steve was unbelievable, and that really has me excited about getting this season started."
And if past history is any indication, it will be a pressure-packed season for not just Hendrick Motorsports, but also for every team in NASCAR.
"These days, it's just basically run as hard as you can from the beginning of the race to the end of the race," Gordon said. "And the cars have changed so much and the aerodynamics have changed so much, how hard you have to push, not just throughout the race, but each lap, whether it be qualifying or the race.
"So I've certainly seen that trend continue on and I think in the last three years, I've seen it take bigger strides than I've ever seen it take."
And that means that even for a man as accomplished as Gordon, there's always work to be done.
"Obviously mile-and-a-halfs [intermediate tracks] are still something that we need to get better on," said Gordon. "We're definitely going through some changes in the offseason, and I think they are all positive ones that just build around Steve as the leader of this team and [giving] me the cars that I need and us and all around the best effort to go out there and win races in championships.
"I don't think that we're there today, but I think by the time the Chase comes around, I think that we will be."
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