Q. Mr. H, when you’re talking about doing these deals, it’s like you walk down the hallway, you run into Jeff, you’re there for life, how about you, Chad.
What is doing a deal with Jimmie like? You deal with his agent. How does it come down for you two. It sounds so casual when you mention the deals with your guys.
RICK HENDRICK: Well, you know, anytime you’re dealing with a guy that’s accomplished what he has in the sport, it’s a huge commitment on both parts because you’re looking at five years - really six years, because we have next year and five beyond. Is that right? Jimmie and I were working on that this morning.
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah.
RICK HENDRICK: We’ve committed we want to be together. At the same time he deserves it, he’s got the best record. He’s got to be financially - his deal has to be there, too. You know, I think we have the kind of relationship we can work on it. Of course, he’s got his people looking at it, our people looking at it. Marshall had a lot to do with working with his attorneys and so forth, you know, trying to make it a good deal for everyone.
It’s a huge, huge, huge deal for both of us. But we feel really good about it. Lowe’s has always been really extremely good in their incentives. They like to win. Chad and Jimmie have delivered.
I think everybody’s happy in this deal.
Q. Jimmie, with this contract extension, does this mean your consecutive Cup streak goes through 2015 also?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: For myself, I would love to say that’s the case (smiling).
Q. Rick, when you got started as a team owner in this sport, generally a top driver and team, their expectancy together was usually about three years. Is that because there’s more money in the sport to keep the great talent there more so in the days when guys would kind of wear out their welcome, go to another team?
RICK HENDRICK: I think today, in the last probably 10 to 15 years, you’ve had more sponsors that are coming in that are using the driver as a spokesman in their marketing more so than you did way back when you had tobacco and beer and other sponsors.
I think when you get all that chemistry working well, you know, it’s to everybody’s advantage to keep it going. I don’t think you see, again, if a sponsor’s going to spend the kind of money that they’ve spent on Jimmie Johnson, surely they want to perform, but they think long and hard before they make a change.
So it’s almost like a brand, building a brand, building a brand with a driver and a sponsor. I think that’s why you see these things last.
Both the driver, the sponsor and the owner want to get these deals negotiated early so they can get on with business. They’re not simple, but they’re important.
Q. Rick, the question that’s been coming up a lot lately is, What can stop the 48 team? No one has an answer to that, except maybe if they were to stop themselves. Does a deal like this help put any of that to rest? Not that you have to worry about complacency with Chad and Jimmie, but is there anything you have to do to keep them motivated, focused going forward, having done so much already?
RICK HENDRICK: No, I think the real success to the 48 team is the drive and determination of both Jimmie and Jeff and the whole organization. Jimmie is just as hungry for the fourth as he was for the first. I think if you can be any more committed, he is. Chad is the same way.
It’s somewhat of a distraction when you’re getting down to the end just because you know you got to do it, everybody wants to do it, get it behind them, I think you just don’t have to worry about that. You don’t have people saying, When is your deal up, maybe someone new coming in talking about it.
It’s just a healthier deal for us to go on with it. But these guys are just as hungry. I think if we were in the last year of our negotiations, they’d still be racing the same way. It’s just one of those things, because of lead time, long-term marketing, sometimes these companies are doing commercials a year in advance, just getting all that put to bed, then the long-term planning can go into effect.
But I never worry about having to motivate these guys. They’re plenty motivated. I think you made a good point. We’ve said this a million times. Usually good organizations split up from the inside, they don’t get broken down from the outside. We’re doing everything we can to make our deal nice and tight so we can be competitive for years to come.
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