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One of the biggest storylines of the 2010 season has been the conflict we’ve seen between high caliber teammates.  First, it was Jeff Gordon taking exception to some moves that Jimmie Johnson made at Texas and Talladega.  Both races resulted in destroyed race cars for the Dupont team, and Gordon didn’t hesitate to tell everyone who he thought was at fault.  It appeared that even Gordon was starting to suffer from the JJ fatigue that some fans complained about regularly.  The most recent example we’ve seen is the trouble brewing between Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch following a run-in at the All Star race.  Busch felt Hamlin blocked him on a late race pass attempt, and subsequent contact with the wall would later result in a cut tire for Busch.  Since the incident, the feud appears to be an on-again, off-again affair, with each driver taking shots at the other via the media.

In both cases, some were calling for Rick Hendrick and Joe Gibbs to step in and fix the situation between their drivers.  The fear was that conflict between the drivers would hurt the organization as a whole.  While I don’t know the extent to which both got involved, I’m sure there was at least conversations that happened.  I’m not so sure they were necessary though.

Unlike traditional sports, it’s not vital to the success of a race team for teammates to get along.  If Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin never speak again, there is no reason to think they couldn’t still contend for championships.  The people within a race team who’s collaboration is necessary to success are the crew chiefs, mechanics, and engineers.  They need to share information and work together towards making the equipment better.  That is where races and championships are won.  Besides at maybe a restrictor plate track, drivers like Hamlin and Busch don’t work together on track anyway.

Where a problem between two teammates could become an issue, is if the conflict spreads from the drivers to the teams.  There have been cases before where two teammates have tangled on track, and the incident spawned discontent between guys on the teams and in the shop.  When the teams quit working together, the advantages of being a multi-car operation go away.  I actually wrote a post about this exact topic a few years ago (see it here).

If I’m Mr. H. or Coach Gibbs in either of these situations, I’m monitoring my employees to ensure the conflict doesn’t spread.  I may also step in to make sure that these “feuds” aren’t affecting my sponsors.  And while I certainly don’t want my drivers to hate each other, I don’t mind if they don’t hang out when they leave the race track.  Besides, a little rivalry between my guys might actually push them to be better.

What are your thoughts?  If you are a fan of a driver that has tangled with a teammate, were you worried about how it would affect the team?  What would you do if you were an owner and two of your drivers tangled?

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In any sport, there is no success without chemistry.  A team must have it to work cohesively as a unit, towards a common goal.  A lack of it can destroy an organization.  NASCAR is no different.  And one major obstacle in building chemistry within a race team is finding a way to get the two major factions within the team to work as one; the road guys and the race day guys.

The majority of teams are really two teams in one.  The “A” team, as its commonly known, consists of the crew chief, mechanics, and engineers who are at the track all weekend and work through practices and qualifying to setup the race car.  Once the race starts, they have various duties behind the wall, and some are also pit crew guys.  On the other side is the “B” team, or race day only guys.  This group comes to the track on race day only, and consists of pit crew and pit support guys.

What you may (or may not) be surprised to know, is that sometimes these two groups don’t get along.  It’s usually not quite as bad as UNC fans vs. Duke fans, but it can get ugly.

Picture yourself as the owner of a race team.  And within your race team, you have these two groups of people.  For a reason you can’t seem to figure out, your team isn’t performing how it should.  The cars are good, the driver is top five, and the people are top notch.  There is trouble in paradise though.  For whatever reason, the A teamers and the B teamers hardly speak to one another.  How difficult do you think it is to overcome the fact that the two halves of your team don’t see eye to eye?

While the previous example might just be a hypothetical example in a random blog post, there are teams that have this problem right now.  And some don’t even realize it’s a problem.

It’s easy to see why this rift happens though.  The two groups spend a great deal of time working with the people within their own group.  For example, road guys spend all weekend at the track together.  Bonds are going to be made.  The really good teams find ways to break down this wall.

I’d love to be able to give you a specific example, but the nature of my position just doesn’t allow it.  And unfortunately, this isn’t something that the fans can see on TV or by taking a stroll through the garage area.  If your favorite team struggles though, has done so for a while, and seems to have a lot of turnover, maybe they need to look a little harder at the relationship between their own A and B.

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