United front

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The phone conversation between NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick and crew chief Alan Gustafson was short and to the point.

“ ‘Hey man,’ ” Gustafson said Hendrick told him, “ ‘The 88 has got to run good, capiche?’ ”

Sure thing, boss.

Hendrick Motorsports, the most successful team in NASCAR, ended last season with a serious organizational problem. Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon swept the top three spots in the final standings, but superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a distant 25th.

Earnhardt, NASCAR’s most popular driver, went winless in his heavily sponsored No. 88 Chevrolet. He notched just five top-10 finishes, had his crew chief – who is also his cousin – fired midway through the season, and suffered through the most confidence-rattling season of his 10-year Cup career.

It was clear that getting Earnhardt’s team back on pace with the other HMS drivers needed to be the top priority of the offseason. Although it’s a companywide effort, the task of making it happen primarily falls to Earnhardt crew chief Lance McGrew and Gustafson, who led Martin to five wins last season and a runner-up finish to Johnson in the standings.

But Martin, Gustafson and the No. 5 team are already at the top of the sport, perhaps just a step or two away from winning the coveted Sprint Cup. So why in the world would they agree to help McGrew and Earnhardt rebuild a team that seemed lost so many times last season? The move required a total restructuring of shop practices, and the shifting of Gustafson’s lead race engineer and a key mechanic over to McGrew’s team.

“This is something that’s near and dear to Mr. Hendrick’s heart, and these two cars have to perform. It’s his responsibility, and it’s my responsibility,” Gustafson said, motioning to McGrew. “If that 88 car doesn’t succeed this year, then the 5 is not going to succeed, either.”

Because the layout at Hendrick’s sprawling motorsports campus differs from many other organizations, his race teams aren’t all housed in the same shop. Johnson and Gordon are in one building, and the two teams established a system of efficiency and sharing from the first day. Since Johnson’s No. 48 team made its debut in 2002, Johnson and Gordon have combined to win 71 races and the last four Cup titles. The routine has never been disturbed, even during the teammates’ thrilling 2007 championship race that saw Johnson edge Gordon for the title.

Things were never as smooth after Hendrick merged his other two teams into a second building. The drivers changed, the crew chiefs changed and it was difficult to recreate the chemistry of the more successful 24/48 shop. Hendrick wanted the two shops to operate the same way when Earnhardt came to the team in 2008, but crew chief Tony Eury Jr. came with him, as did several of their team members.

Eury and his crew had their way of doing things, and even though they were willing to adapt to the Hendrick systems, not everything fell into place with Gustafson’s practices.

So when the wheels nearly fell off last season, Hendrick knew he had to demand that the 5/88 shop fall into place once and for all.

Neither team needed convincing.

“I have never in my career, in business or racing, challenged two guys and had them jump like Lance and Alan have done,” Hendrick said. “I want to have one team with two cars, and Alan was in agreement and ready to do it two races before the end of last year. … It’s amazing to watch these two guys work on this together, and I guarantee you they are going to have their stuff together this season.”