The team manager for Hendrick Motorsports' No. 24 and No. 48 teams tells what it's like to have two cars in the Chase. Credit: Autostock

Conversation: Brian Whitesell

RICHMOND, Va. -- With Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson first and second, respectively, in the NASCAR Nextel Cup points standings, it would be hard to argue against Brian Whitesell being the best team manager in the sport.

AUDIO Conversation: Brian Whitesell Listen to the Conversation

Whitesell oversees both the No. 24 and No. 48 teams, working closely with crew chiefs Robbie Looms and Chad Knaus, to make sure both teams are as well-prepared as they can be.

Whitesell, one of the pioneering engineers in the sport, has been with Hendrick Motorsports for 13 years, serving as Gordon's crew chief for a brief spell after Ray Evernham left.

Whitesell is a key component to the success of Hendrick Motorsports and recently spoke with NASCAR.COM staff writer Lee Montgomery about his job and about Hendrick's preparation for the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

Q: First of all, tell me about your job. What are some of your daily duties and responsibilities with Hendrick?

Brian Whitesell: As team manager of the 24 and the 48, I work with Robbie and Chad to make sure that they've got everything they need on the personnel side. I do the forecasting for scheduling, which cars we're going to take where, and I run that by the crew chief. And I make sure the communication between the crew chiefs and the guys in the shop is as good as it can possibly be.

Working with the guys in the shop, as they run into issues, we can reschedule stuff. Basically, (my job) is to give a management-type role. If the crew chiefs can't be there, then I can make a call or make a decision or make sure the crew chiefs get contacted if they're not there.

I also take care of gear and transmission selection for each race, coordinating with Tex Racing on what we're going to use and making sure that's stuff taken care of. And I do just a little bit of overall engineering help and support for the team, to make sure that if any issues come up or a call needs to be made, I can do that.

Q: Sounds like an 80-hour-a-week kind of job. Just curious, what are your hours?

Whitesell: I generally work seven days a week, usually about 12 hours a day. It depends on week-to-week. If we're testing, yeah, it may run a little bit longer than that. But we just do whatever each week requires. Sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less. It stays pretty steady at seven days a week."

Q: Has the Chase affected your job at all, as far as scheduling and things like that?

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Whitesell: The main difference that we've got is what we call our third backup car. If something would happen and we need another car at the racetrack, we're going to make sure that that car is within a few hours and that its condition is more like a regular backup car. Whereas normally, we wouldn't take that great of pains with it. It would be at the shop, but it may not be in immaculate shape to come (to the track). We've taken steps to make sure that we have at least three cars per weekend, to make sure that they're good.

The engine shop has built closer to a race motor for us to have in a backup and in that third car. Really, our third car is going to be more like our backup cars now. That's the biggest change we've had.

But since we've always considered ourselves a championship team, we're not doing much different than we've done all year. It's still the same level of preparedness. We're saving some cars. Like here at Richmond, we may have normally run (a car) here or even a few races back, we put some new cars or cars that we wouldn't normally have run into the system so we can take out best equipment for the final 10.

Q: A lot of people assume that you work more with the 24 rather than with Jimmie and Chad just because of your past relationship -- you were a crew chief. Is that the case? Is it 50/50 with your time split among the two teams?

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Whitesell: Depending on the issue. It's definitely not 50/50. I try to make it that way, but realistically, you can't be in two places at one time. My office is primarily in the 24 truck, just because it always has been. But I try to spend at least as much time in the 48 truck as I can, trying to maintain the communication between the 24 and 48. If I feel like one team's failing behind vs. the other one, I'll go see what the other team's been gaining on and try to communicate with the other team and try to make sure that line stays open all week.

If anything happens at the track, I'll make sure that gets communicated back to the shop, to Mark Thoreson -- my right-hand guy at the shop -- to make sure that stuff gets done. All in all, yes, on race day I still put on a 24 uniform, just because Robbie and I work together up on top of the box. I do try to put in as much as I can, but you can't be everywhere at the same time.

Q: Jimmie's team, by his own admission, did some "experimenting" as he called it. Has any of that paid off yet? Or is that something that in the last 10 might pay off for both teams?

Whitesell: Oh, absolutely. As soon as we kind of felt like we were locked in to the Chase, we started getting even more radical than we had been. That was the reason that we were willing to take more chances and maybe run more gear than we would have if the Chase was in last year's format. And in setups, as well. All of it was in preparation for these final 10. We took the chances once we realized we were locked in, rather than taking them now.

Q: As far as radical, like in gear selection, were you turning more rpms overall, that kind of stuff?

Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson Credit: Autostock

Whitesell: Yeah. If you would run a certain gear ration, maybe we would go ahead and push the envelope one more gear ratio to turn more rpms. Relative to us, that is radical, depending on the driver to take care of the motor more than you would normally. Those types of things. And then the setups were things that you might take a chance on a component that wouldn't survive or just something you wouldn't normally try, but you're willing to take that chance.

Q: Was that more the 48 than the 24? Or was it both teams?

Whitesell: No, both teams took their turn at that. There were some weeks even Chad was surprised with Robbie. They way it all started out, Chad always had what you'd consider not the old, conservative setup. Throughout this entire year and going back into last year, they were much closer and bouncing back and forth between who really had the radical setup or who didn't.

Chad takes pride in making sure he's always one step further than anybody on anything, not just Robbie. Sometimes the 24 would try things that the 48 was doing, and vice versa.

Q: Have you felt any more pressure in your job as the Chase has gotten close. Or is it the same this year as last year? Has it changed the way you deal day-to-day with things?

Whitesell: As we were locked in, it allowed us to look at things a lot differently and start to work to get prepared for the end.

Q: Maybe less pressure.

Whitesell: At that point, there was less pressure. Because the guys (fighting for a spot in the Chase) were under pressure. We weren't. We could take a chance on a setup one last time before we go. This was our last test before going to Loudon. Therefore, we tried things that maybe we wouldn't have if we were running for the race.

Up until today, there was less pressure, and we really enjoyed and took a lot of pride in the fact that we bounced back and forth between one and two (in the points). That's the perfect script for the team and the concept.

But now, it starts all over going into these final 10. We've built up the confidence and that knowledge base getting to this point. We feel very strongly going into the final 10.

Q: What's the test schedule like for both teams? Are both teams doing a lot? Have you saved tests for the last 10?

Whitesell: We definitely saved tests and rearranged some things. Our shop is doing a lot of work right now. Our hours backed off to where they were real nice, but there's been a couple days where we had to work a little bit extra, mainly because of the extra testing that we're going, the extra preparation -- preparing three cars when we used to prepare two.

You've got the same amount of people, so it does make a difference. For example, this week, the 48's going to be in Alabama, the 24's going to be in Delaware. You start working on those logistics, it makes it tougher. But throughout the year, we're beefed up enough that it really doesn't wear anybody out. It's just not quite as easy as we had it.