CONCORD, N.C. -- As he shuffled through some expected storylines for the 2008 Sprint Cup Series season during the Lowe's Motor Speedway media tour on Monday, Brian France mentioned a continuation of one from last year.

The chairman and CEO of NASCAR said that Hendrick Motorsports "is on the way to being the New England Patriots on wheels. Can they continue their dominance?"

Felix Sabates, who owns a piece of Chip Ganassi Racing (enough for it to officially be named "Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates"), thinks he knows the answer to France's pointed question.

"If Hendrick puts a car on the track and everything is perfect, nobody is going to touch him," Sabates said Monday during the first stop on the 26th annual tour.

Long one of the most outspoken owners in NASCAR, that wasn't all Sabates had to say. He said that he believes the key to Hendrick's success throughout the years -- which includes back-to-back championships for the No. 48 car driven by Jimmie Johnson the past two seasons and a total of seven championships since the first of four for driver Jeff Gordon in 1995 -- is loyalty.

"Rick, for one thing, is probably the nicest guy I've ever met in my life. He's also the most loyal guy I've ever met in my life," Sabates said. "He doesn't fire people; he promotes them to better jobs. It's like, 'Rick, aren't you going to fire that guy?' And he'll be like, 'No, I'm going to give him a promotion so he's out of the way.'

"If you look at the people who work for Rick, they're like Moonies. If he tells them to drink the Kool-Aid, they're going to drink the Kool-Aid."

Humpy Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway, added of Hendrick: "He's a great motivator. If he had been a football coach, he would have won Super Bowls."

Sabates pointed out that employees very rarely leave Hendrick, and said that when they do, it's usually because of special circumstances such as when former crew chief Ray Evernham left to start up his own race team for Dodge or, more recently, when Hendrick essentially traded Kyle Busch for Dale Earnhardt Jr. last season.

"Ray Evernham, he left for the big bucks. He became very rich overnight because of Dodge," Sabates said. "Then you had Kyle Busch. He had to leave because he didn't fit there. He was going to leave or they were going to leave him. And I think Rick did that kid a big favor -- because I think Kyle Busch is going to be a much better person, not being at Hendrick.

"You know, Rick and I are very, very close. And he was telling me the other day, 'If Kyle had been the way he was the last six or seven races of the year in the first half of the year [in 2007], I never would have even thought about bringing Dale Earnhardt Jr. in.'"

Now that's he's on board, though, Earnhardt should be a good fit for the Hendrick organization because of his laid-back style and his long relationship with the Hendrick family, according to Sabates. (read more)

"You've got to remember Junior was very close friends with [the late] Ricky [Hendrick, Rick's son]. I mean, Ricky used to live across the street from me, and Junior was there all the time. They had a real friendly relationship, and I think that has transferred to Rick," Sabates said.

"I think Rick looks at Junior more as Dale's boy than he does him as Dale Jr., which is great for Dale Jr. because then he can look at Rick as a father figure, not as a boss figure. Dale would not be a good fit with Jack Roush, because Jack would expect him to do this [racing stuff] 24 hours a day -- and Dale doesn't want to do that. Rick is a great fit. But the pressure is going to be on him to win."

That pressure will be intense, Sabates added.

"I just think he's going to have his work cut out of him. He's with the best organization in racing -- and if he doesn't win six or seven races this year, people are going to say, 'What's wrong with him?' Nobody's going to be asking what's wrong with Hendrick," Sabates said.

• Daytona Countdown
• Acceleration
• Preseason Thunder
• Get your tickets
• Book your travel

What also sets Hendrick apart from other teams, Sabates added, is money. As in Hendrick has lots of it because of various other business ventures.

"Hendrick isn't like a lot of other car teams. Chip's livelihood is automobile racing. He doesn't have another business. Roush now has a partner who demands a return on the big money he paid him," Sabates said. "[Joe] Gibbs has to live off this business; it's how he makes his living. [Richard] Childress doesn't have any other income, plus he's got a partner who owns 50 percent of his business, anyway. So this guy has a responsibility to make cash.

"Rick doesn't need a dime. If he breaks even, he's happy. If he loses money, he's still happy."

That makes it difficult for other teams to compete on a level playing field, Sabates argued -- although he added that he doesn't begrudge Hendrick anything he and his organization have earned.

"It's hard to do. That's what I'm saying," Sabates said. "No one is going to be able to catch Hendrick. Unless NASCAR makes a rule that Hendrick can have three tires and the rest can have four, no one will catch them. No one is ever going to catch them.

"That doesn't mean they're going to win every championship. That doesn't mean they're going to win every race -- because they don't. But that means when you go to the racetrack, that's the team you have to beat every week. You can beat 'em. People have beaten them before; but you've got to have a lot of luck to beat 'em. All things being equal, you can't touch 'em."