One team will win all of Team Hendrick the Cup

Two races to go and Rick Hendrick has two drivers with a shot at the 2007 Nextel Cup. Two drivers, but Hendrick likes to think of it as one team.

I know, it is hard to swallow that the 24 team of Jeff Gordon would be just as happy if the 48 team of Jimmie Johnson won the championship, or vice-versa. I don't believe that. I believe they would be happy for them but you know that each individual team wants to be the one that delivers the Nextel Cup championship to Hendrick Motorsports.

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Rick Hendrick knows that, too. But when you listen to him talk about his teams, you can believe he thinks of them as one team. In 2007, Hendrick Motorsports got off to a strong start. Right now it is clearly geared up for a strong finish.

"Ya know, I think we came off a good year last year and came out of the gate hot," Hendrick said.

"Jeff had a phenomenal year and really the other guys came on early in the summer, winning races and climbing up in the points. I think we really kept everyone together and kept rolling from '06 into '07. Jimmie had won the championship. Jeff has had a good year. It really has been a phenomenal year."

You can classify that as an understatement. There is no denying the strength of Hendrick Motorsports, the talent it has behind the wheel and the depth and discipline it has in the shop. And one of the big reasons it is where it is today is the Car of Tomorrow. Everybody had a shot to put their program together; some organizations decided not to spend the time, or the money, until the specs for the COT were finalized. Hendrick did not wait. It fired everything it could at the project. The time, and money, invested is paying off.

"We've had a lot of luck this year," Hendrick said.

"We did a tremendous amount of preparation on the Car of Tomorrow. We really worked hard to try and figure that car out. All the guys in the shop worked hard on it. David Green did a lot of work for us driving the cars and Max Papis on the road courses really helped us.

"We probably did more preparation for this season than we ever have before. You know, whoever figures it out first is going to be running better than the other guys. And I have to give a lot of credit to the Joe Gibbs guys. Tony [Stewart] had them covered at Bristol before he had trouble and we've had problems, too. But we were probably more prepared than ever before."

Right now, that really shows. Actually, we have seen it all season. I remember when Hendrick was involved in a news conference early in the season, when all of his teams were running extremely well. He explained something that every racer knows: you can cool off just as quickly as you caught fire.

"Just wait a couple of weeks," Hendrick said at the time.

"Then you'll be asking me what happened. Why aren't you guys running like you were?"

The numbers posted by Hendrick Motorsports tell quite a story. But for the rest of the story you need to listen to the boss.

"We had a game plan. We sat down and said we know this thing [COT] is coming," Hendrick said.

"We can't ignore it so let's do as much as we can to be ready for it. It was a real task for all of our teams. We were running the old car, the new car, the old motor, the new motor. Honestly, the guys worked hard."

And that is the way it has been for a long time at Hendrick. Put a plan in place and work hard to follow it. The rewards Hendrick is reaping this year come from working hard for a number of years. Plans put in place in the past will continue to pay off in the future. As for the present, Hendrick works hard to make sure all of his teams are racing in the same direction, with the same pieces, the same parts and the same support.

"The thing you fight with multi-car teams is that the fans and sponsors feel someone is getting the short end of the stick," Hendrick said.

"I'll give [former chief engine builder] Randy Dorton credit for this. It used to be that different guys would be doing different things in different places. They would be working on valves or machining parts and go in and lock the door and nobody could see what they were doing. Randy changed all that. He said we're going to be doing everything for everybody in the same place and everyone thought he was crazy but it worked.

"Years ago we decided to build our own chassis and engineer them and do things like that along the way to insure no team is lacking. The motors are the same, the chassis is the same. We are sharing information. Now, it took a long time to get here, but to have four teams capable of winning and four teams capable of finishing high in the points, it makes you proud of the whole organization."

While it would be a team victory much of the attention will always focus on the biggest names at Hendrick -- the drivers. Superstars Gordon and Johnson both came to Hendrick in a similar fashion. And, as Hendrick likes to point out, the same can be said for Kyle Busch and Casey Mears. Each had shown promise and had potential to be, well, above average, to say the least. But there is always a risk when you hire young drivers with no Cup experience and drop them in the seat. There are endless stories of the guy who was going to be the next big stock-car star, only to watch him struggle in the series and fade away. It happens at every level of racing, but in the Cup Series, the spotlight is by far the brightest.

Hendrick respects the odds, but he craves the challenge.

"I look at the talent," he said.

"When I look back what really gets me is the pictures of me and Jeff in Victory Lane. He was younger then, and I was a lot younger then.

"I think of him coming into the trailer carrying a briefcase and the only things in it were a Game Boy and a stock-car magazine. His parents were giving him $500 a week. Now look at him. When you really think about it, all that makes you feel good. And there are others. Jimmie Johnson used to sleep on Ron Hornaday's couch. I watched Kyle Busch race a truck at 16.

"I just see something. I just try to get a young guy and mold them. I try to show them where the potholes are and then watch them take it to the next level. I'm looking forward to doing that with [Dale Earnhardt] Junior. He has so much talent but has had terrible luck this year. I want to give him good equipment and then watch what he does with it. I've said this many times, if Junior is successful next year it's because he has tremendous talent. If he's not, it's because I'm not giving him the right stuff."

Hendrick knows he is fortunate; he has picked guys that have the right stuff. Now one of them could deliver his organization another Cup championship.

"It's tough to win one, anyway, anyhow," Hendrick said.

"I'm not a big fan of the Chase. I think with the season he's had, the wins he has and the points and the lead he had [after 26 races] Jeff Gordon should be champion. But we are where we are.

"Now what makes the championship extra special is because there are so many variables, a 10-point lead, 30, 35 points, that's nothing. In one race over a 10-race stretch, anything can happen. A flat tire, you can get hit on pit road, little things can take you out of a race. You can't make a mistake. I don't know how it is going to end up."

But if it ends up with Hendrick Motorsports hoisting the trophy, Mr. H will know it was a team victory.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.