Hendrick crew chiefs find strength in differences

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Chad Knaus gets to work at 6:45 every morning, arriving at the Hendrick Motorsports shop with his shirttail tucked in, his face shaven, his mind completely focused and expecting each of his crewmen to appear the same way. Steve Letarte struggles to get moving in the morning, and prefers to swap stories with other employees and nurse a cup of coffee until about 8:15.

Autostock

Steve Letarte

One is an ultra-intense gearhead who feeds on data and is obsessed by performance, the other a more carefree people person with a wife and kids back home. The respective crew chiefs for Nextel Cup championship contenders Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon are the best of friends, men who play golf and go to dinner together, and have worked side-by-side for much of their professional careers. They were both raised as the sons of racing fathers. But they go about their business in very different ways, playing opposite but complementary roles for a Hendrick team on the brink of its seventh title at NASCAR's highest level.

"Chad is really more like an engineer, more into looking at the squiggly lines from the data ... and really about the nuts and bolts and advancement of the car," Johnson said. "Whereas Stevie works with that stuff, but is probably stronger on his people skills. You have Chad kind of cracking the whip, pushing the guys, driving technology, and Stevie coming through the shop loving on everybody and making sure everybody is in good shape and just smoothing things over from all the extra hours and the hard work. So in some ways they have a good cop-bad cop role they play in the shop, where Chad is pushing and Stevie is showing the support and the love that they need after working so many hard hours."

It works. Entering Sunday's event at Texas Motor Speedway, the eighth in the 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup, Gordon leads Johnson by nine points. Their next-closest pursuer, Clint Bowyer, is 111 off the lead. The Hendrick teammates are in this position because of skill, luck, and two crew chiefs who work well together despite personalities and tactics that stand in stark contrast to one another.

Letarte, Gordon's crew chief, is a 28-year-old New Englander with two children who dabbles in real estate, doubts whether he'll be in the same position 10 years from now, and likes the Patriots' chances against the Indianapolis Colts. Knaus, Johnson's crew chief, is a 36-year-old super-focused Ray Evernham protégé and Illinois native who likes powerboats and snowboarding, but has had to force himself during the past two seasons to take more time off. Letarte began by sweeping the floors at Hendrick while in high school, while Knaus was calling shots as a crew chief for his father's late-model car at 14.

They're far from Gordon and Johnson, two drivers who often seem mirror images of one another on the track as well as off. Yet Letarte and Knaus, who were both members of Gordon championship teams in 1995 and 1997, have forged a friendship that's just as strong. (Continued)