Here's your lock: Hendrick wins again

Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009

Only one man is guaranteed a Sprint Cup Series championship this season.

Jimmie Johnson looks like a lock for a NASCAR-record fourth consecutive title, but his win isn't certain.

His team owner, Rick Hendrick, however, can already begin making celebration plans.

Hendrick owns the top-three teams in the series standings, including the only two that can win the title – those of Johnson and teammate Mark Martin.

The title will be Hendrick's ninth NASCAR championship and should Johnson, Martin and Jeff Gordon (currently third) all remain in the top-three in points, Hendrick would be the first in NASCAR history to accomplish that feat as well.

"You know, we thought we would be good this year, knowing that one of our cars is going to win it," Hendrick said after Johnson's victory at Phoenix.

"(Now) Jimmie could be getting his fourth and setting a record, Mark could get his first one, or Jeff could get the fifth one."

But wait, there's more.

Hendrick Motorsports also provides car chassis and engines for Stewart-Haas Racing and its drivers, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman. With one race remaining, Stewart is four points ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya for the fifth spot.

Should Stewart hang on, that's a Hendrick connection with four of the top five in the final standings.

Not since team owner Jack Roush placed all five of his Cup teams in the then-10-driver Chase in 2005 has there been such domination by one organization.

But even in 2005, Roush failed to win the title, as Stewart won his second series championship.

How difficult is it to maintain a successful multicar organization while asking its members to battle each other at the same time?

"Well, I think the important thing is in the organization for everyone to believe that if we work together and share information and make each other better, at the end of the day one's going to out-perform somehow the other three," Hendrick said.

"They all know that that's what got us here. The task at hand is to try to make sure that we don't forget how we got here and work together. Jimmie's got to believe that even if he's going to outrun the other guys."

There is no better example of that philosophy at work than what transpired when Johnson wrecked on Lap 3 of the Texas race two weeks ago.

Not only did Johnson's team start thrashing away on his car after it went to the garage, but workers with the teams of Martin, Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. did, too. They repaired the car well enough for Johnson to turn a 43rd-place finish into a 38th – a difference that could well help carry him to his fourth title this weekend.

"It's taken us a long time to get here, to get to this point," Hendrick said. "They've got to believe, and they do."

In the end, though, there is just one Rick Hendrick. So what happens after Sunday's race, when there is one driver champion and two others disappointed?

"I'm going to go to the loser first, then I'm going to go to the guy that finishes second, and I'm going to tell them all that so they know," Hendrick said.

"The worst thing in the world would be if I'm doing high-fives in the pits, Jimmie broke, Mark won, these guys are going to say, 'Hey, he wanted Mark to win anyway.'

"I love 'em all. I want to settle it on the track."

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