SCENEDAILY - 06:12AM ET SUNDAY JULY 1, 2007 -
BY SCENEDAILY STAFF REPORT
JIM MCISAAC / GETTY IMAGESLOUDON, N.H. - Jeff Gordon was sailing along this season, leading the point standings, winning four times and finishing in the top 10 in 14 of the first 16 races.
Then last week at Infineon Raceway, his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet failed inspection, and in the fallout, the team was docked 100 points and crew chief Steve Letarte was suspended.
Gordon's teammate at Hendrick, Jimmie Johnson, also was hit by the same penalty, but Johnson's team has been through this before. Gordon will be without Letarte for six weeks, six crucial races leading up to the 10-race title-determining Chase For The Nextel Cup.
In Letarte's place is car chief Jeff Meendering as Gordon tries to keep the momentum in these summer months.
"It's just getting used to dealing with somebody else on the radio, communicating," Gordon said. "It's all about communication when you're here practicing, trying to fine-tune the car. It's about giving good information and getting good feedback from one another and just building the chemistry, and that's something that Steve and I did immediately.
"We had great chemistry, and so now I have to do that with Jeff Meendering, and so far it's gone very well. I mean, he's very in tune with what goes on with this team, with our setups, and he and Steve are really close so they can communicate a lot with the preparation coming into the weekend."
Gordon said the roughest part of the penalty wasn't losing 100 points but losing Letarte.
"I think Steve and I are going to stay really close through this whole time because we're going to talk a lot on the phone," Gordon said. "I'm going to see him a lot away from the race track and we're going to talk on the phone in between practices and all those things. I think in some ways this is going to bring the team closer together. It's going to bring me and Steve and our communication closer.
"The only thing that we're really lacking is him at the track and him on that box, and that's huge, because even though it's a small amount it's huge because those are crucial times and he's done such an amazing job calling the races. I mean look at the pit strategy he's pulled off."
Letarte's strategy helped Gordon win the rain-shortened race at Pocono and helped rally Gordon from the back of the field at Infineon last week to finish fifth.
But even with Letarte out, Gordon said he won't try to increase his involvement in strategy.
"It's the crew chief's job, the engineer's job to evaluate everything that's going on out there," Gordon said. "They have much more resources at their fingertips to figure what the best strategy is and information that I don't have."
BY SCENEDAILY STAFF REPORT
JIM MCISAAC / GETTY IMAGESLOUDON, N.H. - Jeff Gordon was sailing along this season, leading the point standings, winning four times and finishing in the top 10 in 14 of the first 16 races.
Then last week at Infineon Raceway, his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet failed inspection, and in the fallout, the team was docked 100 points and crew chief Steve Letarte was suspended.
Gordon's teammate at Hendrick, Jimmie Johnson, also was hit by the same penalty, but Johnson's team has been through this before. Gordon will be without Letarte for six weeks, six crucial races leading up to the 10-race title-determining Chase For The Nextel Cup.
In Letarte's place is car chief Jeff Meendering as Gordon tries to keep the momentum in these summer months.
"It's just getting used to dealing with somebody else on the radio, communicating," Gordon said. "It's all about communication when you're here practicing, trying to fine-tune the car. It's about giving good information and getting good feedback from one another and just building the chemistry, and that's something that Steve and I did immediately.
"We had great chemistry, and so now I have to do that with Jeff Meendering, and so far it's gone very well. I mean, he's very in tune with what goes on with this team, with our setups, and he and Steve are really close so they can communicate a lot with the preparation coming into the weekend."
Gordon said the roughest part of the penalty wasn't losing 100 points but losing Letarte.
"I think Steve and I are going to stay really close through this whole time because we're going to talk a lot on the phone," Gordon said. "I'm going to see him a lot away from the race track and we're going to talk on the phone in between practices and all those things. I think in some ways this is going to bring the team closer together. It's going to bring me and Steve and our communication closer.
"The only thing that we're really lacking is him at the track and him on that box, and that's huge, because even though it's a small amount it's huge because those are crucial times and he's done such an amazing job calling the races. I mean look at the pit strategy he's pulled off."
Letarte's strategy helped Gordon win the rain-shortened race at Pocono and helped rally Gordon from the back of the field at Infineon last week to finish fifth.
But even with Letarte out, Gordon said he won't try to increase his involvement in strategy.
"It's the crew chief's job, the engineer's job to evaluate everything that's going on out there," Gordon said. "They have much more resources at their fingertips to figure what the best strategy is and information that I don't have."
