Jeff Gordon says Hendrick Motorsports spies on other teams

The tight confines of the NASCAR garage, where members of opposing teams work in close quarters and often bump into one another, doesn’t lend itself to anything being kept secret for too long.

If an organization hits on a magical formula -- be it an aerodynamic chassis setup or something within the engine -- that produces a multitude of victories, it’s not uncommon for personnel from other teams to employ some rudimentary form of espionage. That is currently the case with Joe Gibbs Racing, which has won eight of the past 11 races.

“We have spies everywhere, constantly looking at our competitors,” Jeff Gordon said on Thursday at Chase Media Day in downtown Chicago.

Unearthing a team’s advantage takes added importance with the Chase for the Sprint Cup beginning on Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. A quarter of NASCAR’s 16-driver playoff field comprises members of JGR with Matt Kenseth, who’s won three of the last six races, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin all expected to challenge for the championship.

JGR’s dominance has come at the expense of Hendrick Motorsports, habitually NASCAR’s most superior team having won 11 championships since 1995. But despite Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualifying for the Chase, Hendrick is looking to erase a noticeable gap between itself and JGR.

While Johnson owns four victories -- the same number as Kenseth and Busch -- three of his wins derived via track position and strategy and not outright speed. And Earnhardt’s pair of victories came at the restrictor-plate tracks of Talladega and Daytona where the playing field is largely leveled.

“I know our guys are digging deep,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if it’s the spy aspect, but I do know our engine shop is bringing more and more each week. They are highly motivated. Our engine shop is all hands on deck and Rick (Hendrick, team owner) has made it clear that we’re going to get better and finish the Chase stronger than where we started it.”

Unlike his teammates, Gordon was winless during the regular season and made the playoffs only by earning enough points to claim a wildcard spot. Despite the futility, he expects to be more competitive, especially with half the Chase consisting of intermediate tracks where Hendrick has concentrated most of its efforts to improve.

“We know what we’re lacking,” Gordon said. “When the driver says ‘I need to get through the center of the corner better, I need to get off the corner better,’ you know what you’ve got to do to make the car better.”

And does Gordon and company go about improving? “You learn from your competitors,” he said smiling.

One such method is walking pit road or the garage observing how a competitor’s car is aligned. Is the nose pointed in a certain direction? How much ground clearance is there? These are among the signs that can give away how one team is outperforming another.

“When you’re parked next to each other, everyone is looking at each other’s cars and you can see things,” Johnson said. “And with the photos you receive during practice sessions, you can see the attitude of the car and how low they are and all the things that are going on.

“It takes so many small details to separate yourself and find an advantage.”

So, in the quest to recapture supremacy, does that mean Hendrick isn’t averse to using undercover surveillance?

“I didn’t know we had spies,” Johnson said. “That’s awesome. That’s news to me. Fantastic. I’m feeling more optimistic for the weekend.”