1on1: Rick Hendrick (cont'd)

Q: But why put him in a Cup car now?

Hendrick: He wasn't in any hurry [to get in a Cup car]. I told him before, 'You can have only one audience with the Pope. There's only one Grand Opening.' You've got to be careful that you pick the right time and you don't get in a position where you create a problem or go out there and you aren't the best prepared that you can be. By going out there for just a couple races here, there isn't any pressure. It's not going to be the end of the world if we don't even make the races. We would be disappointed, but we don't have sponsorship riding on it. We don't have to sell anything to anybody. We're out here just as part of a learning curve, and I'm looking forward to it. But there is not a doubt in my mind that he can't get it done.

We've had him test back-to-back with our guys, and they've raced with him on the racetrack and seen the talent that he has. And then when the engineers and all the crew chiefs offered their feedback on him, they were like, 'The kid's really good. He feels the car and knows just what to do in the car, and knows exactly what he wants in the car.' And if he has this positive attitude outside of the car, I don't know how you can go wrong.

Q: When do you see possibly putting him in a Cup car on a longer basis, and is it possible he could split a ride with Mark Martin as early as 2010?

Hendrick: If you could get NASCAR to change the rules and let us add a fifth car, he'd probably be in one today. But he's not in any hurry, and we're not any hurry. We know we're going to have openings and situations that can change. But right now we're just focused on two things: one, we want to just run these two races and gain as much experience as we can; and then, two, we want to really go after the Nationwide championship hard next year, just like this year. We've been second in the points and we're up against some pretty tough competition. I'd love to have our RO7 motor in the car and then I think the world would be a lot different. But we're focused on the future, and he's a student of the sport.

He reminds me a lot of Jimmie Johnson. He wants to understand and he's interested in all the aspects of it, and not just showing up and driving the car. I think that's part of his family upbringing, that his family is a family of racers. He's just a really neat young man when you sit down and get to know what he's all about. He's got a road map to be successful, and I don't think he'll stray from that in any way. I'm sure going to try to help him get there, because I think he can offer a lot to our organization down the road.

Q: What did you mean by saying you wish you had the RO7 engine?

Hendrick: I'm talking about how it doesn't make any sense that we don't have our motor now. We're using the SB2 in the Nationwide Series. That's our old motor. We didn't want 'em to cut Toyota back [on horsepower], make it look like they were pulling Toyota back. We just wanted them to give us our motor.

We'll get it next year. We'll have it going into next year. I just never could understand why should there be a motor approved that is good for Cup, but it's not approved for the Nationwide Series. And there is no explanation that makes sense to me in that area. If the Dodge motor and the Toyota motor were approved for Cup and Nationwide, why would GM be the one that didn't have the motor approved [for Nationwide]?

Q: Well, what was the explanation offered by NASCAR that didn't make sense to you?

Hendrick: [They said,] 'You don't need it.' I think we won too many races or something. (Continued)