Meanwhile, Earnhardt Jr. stumbled through the second half of the season when his luck ran out. After winning at Michigan in June, he started fifth in points when the Chase began. But his good fortune and momentum was gone, as he slid to 12h in points by seasons end.
All of his good notes must have gone to Jimmie Johnson, and in return Earnhardt Jr. got....what?
What does it mean to work with your teammates? If everyone has all the same equipment and they all say that they share notes, then why do some succeed and others don’t?
“Your teammates aren’t really your teammates,” said Mark Martin. “If they were, they would only be on the track to make sure you won.”
Instead each is out there trying to win for themselves. And that's what racing is about.
Most teams do have an open-door policy and require that they all share everything except their wives. But after the way that Johnson, Edwards and Busch ran compared to their teammates, are they really telling their teammates everything?
“You hear all kinds of things,” Greg Zipadelli, now crew chief for Joey Logano says. “You hear about some teams that share information, others that don’t, and some that share some (but not all) information.”
If one driver and crew chief have found something they really like, then they obviously aren’t going to tell anyone about it.
Take Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus who a) don’t allow any photographers in their garages and b) who have no problem taking information from their teammates, but you rarely hear of their teammates learning anything from them.
Not once, did either of them say thanks to Tony Eury Jr. or Dale Earnhardt Jr. after winning the championship in Homestead.
Or case in point: take last year at Martinsville, after practice Jimmie Johnson was 43rd on the practice sheet and only using three of his four wheels while trying to control the car. Then Chad Knaus asked Steve Letarte for the set-up from the No. 24 car.
Johnson went out and won the race; Gordon finished second.
Gordon has also used Johnson’s set-up, but not with the same results. Edwards also passed along his set-up to teammates but they never won a race this year.
His teammates were wondering why he was getting better fuel mileage than they were.
Busch’s teammates must have been wondering why his chemistry with his team was better than there's was with their teams, who were together longer.
Yes, all teams “share” information. The only problem is, they're not sharing what they should: the true information they have about what the track and tires doing or how the cars are reacting.
John Fernandez, Chip Ganassi’s managing director said, “There might be a few little secrets that a crew chief has hidden here or there.”
Then why have teammates at all?
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