Johnson's success literally built on strong foundation (cont'd)

Brian Whitesell, the Hendrick team manager who was the point man in the 24/48 merger, agreed. "It definitely helped the curve," said Whitesell, who now oversees the combined 5/25 shop that will become the 5/88 with Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s addition next year. "It got them going faster. Today, it's definitely a factor, as you see them so close in competition now."

Same but different

They share information, yet Jeff Gordon and the No. 24 team just can't catch Jimmie Johnson and it's because the two have completely different styles behind the wheel.

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It all looks so seamless today, and it is. Whitesell didn't want the cars segregated, with 24s on one side of the shop floor and 48s on the other. Cars for both teams are assembled in the same room in Harrisburg, N.C., randomly intermingled with one another. Parts are pulled from the same bins. They receive common engines and common chassis, and have their bodies hung by the same people. Crew chiefs work in adjacent offices. Mechanics and fabricators wear work shirts with a 48 on one side, and a 24 on the other.

"You can't separate these guys out. You really have to treat it as one team," Gordon said. "You have two road crews, two crew chiefs, and two drivers. That was the philosophy that we determined would make it work."

Naturally, there was some resistance at first. Yes, the Gibbs team that had pioneered the concept used it to win a championship with Bobby Labonte, and would go on to win two more with Tony Stewart. But the 24 guys were 24 guys. They worked for a driver who was the Hendrick organization's clear leader. And now they were supposed to share?

"At the time, we were a little selfish," admits Whitesell, a former member of Gordon's team who served as interim crew chief after Ray Evernham left.

"It was a little difficult, because at that time, it was all about Jeff Gordon," he added. "People were hesitant. It's like, 'Who's this new guy? How's this going to work? Is this going to distract from the 24?' So there was some resistance. There are a lot of those guys who are still there, and I'm sure they have a different story today than they did back then."

Today Johnson is the most dominant driver in NASCAR, a butt-kicking machine who leaves other competitors almost in awe. He and his No. 48 team have won four consecutive races, are about to win two consecutive championships, and will enter the 2008 season as the clear favorites to do it all again. And it might never have happened had crewmen on the No. 24 team not needed a little more elbow room, had Gordon not had a vision for the future, and had Hendrick not laid out a plan designed to keep up with his competitors, which instead led him to surpass them.

"I don't think it would have happened," Gordon said, when asked if Johnson's team would be in this position had the new facility never been realized. "Not to take anything away from Jimmie, but Jimmie wasn't spectacular. I mean, I remember you guys [in the media] saying, 'Jimmie Johnson, why would they hire Jimmie Johnson?' He wasn't a guy who set the world on fire in the Busch Series. But I just saw something in him, and I thought, you put him in the kind of equipment I'm in, and he'll do very well. And he did."