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The results speak for themselves.

“I believe in the system and I know what we have done before the Chase as a team got us where we are, and we need to keep doing that stuff,” said Johnson. “ … There are weeks where we've had the fastest car in the Chase and our teammate that we're racing with for the championship can take our setup and make their car better and put up, you know, a good finish. And we've been doing this long enough to where we have needed the help. So through time, it just kind of balances out. We found a way to do it.”

And that means putting aside egos, agendas and personal needs, a tough thing to do in the high-pressure world of Sprint Cup racing. Johnson said it’s something every team can do.

“I don't think it's easy. It's challenging for all of us,” said Johnson. “I don't think that if you put Roush in the situation or Childress, some of the other teams, I'm not sure how they'd handle it. I think that we do a really good job of dealing with all of the issues that come from it and respect one another.”

This year, Hendrick Motorsports agreed to provide engines and chassis for the new Stewart-Haas Racing organization, as well as sending longtime Hendrick engineer Darian Grubb to SHR to serve as Tony Stewart’s crew chief.

As a result, Stewart is fifth in points and his teammate Ryan Newman is ninth. The openness in sharing with Hendrick has been a critical component in the performance of SHR this season.

“That was part of what weighed into my decision to do what we're doing here and that's knowing that we have a good engine package and good chassis package that's proven,” said Stewart. “The key to that is making sure that the information is going both directions. It's not one-way information from them to us or just us to them, it's making sure that we keep that constant flow of information and that's what is helping all of us.”

Without question, the system has been successful. And Johnson thinks he knows why.

“I think bottom line is respect,” said the soon-to-be four-time champion. “We respect each other enough to have this thing work.”

“They all know that that's what got us here,” said Hendrick. “ ... All of us, everybody pulling the same way, has helped us to get to this point where we are battling three cars against each other for the grand prize. But I think all of them will say that's what got us to the party.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to