MULTICARS Battling teammates have unique relations

Until recently, it was unthinkable for drivers to share information.
By MIKE HARRIS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In an age of multicar teams dominating NASCAR's Nextel Cup series, it isn't surprising that half the field for the new 10-man, 10-race championship playoff features two sets of teammates.
Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin drive for Roush Racing, while Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are with Hendrick Motorsports.
There would seem to be a delicate balance when teammates compete against each other on the racetrack, particularly when it's for a title. How much information do you share? How much help do you offer on or off the track?
What they say
According to the drivers involved, there's no problem at all.
"We're going to work together six days out of the week and we're going to race on the seventh," said Busch after he and Kenseth finished 1-2 last Sunday in Round One of the playoff at New Hampshire International Speedway.
Until the last 10 years or so, it would have been virtually unthinkable for teams and drivers to share information. Racing was a fraternity filled with secrets and with competitors trying to get a leg up on everyone else.
"We never shared nothing if we could help it," said Richard Petty, who won seven championships and 200 races in a career that ended in 1992. "It was hard enough to stay ahead of the competition for even a little while without telling somebody else what you were doing.
"And nobody really wanted teammates much."
Now, just about everybody has at least one teammate, and it's considered a plus by most.
Passe
"There aren't a lot of secrets anymore, anyway," said Chad Knaus, crew chief for Johnson. "The teams all work too close together in the garage, and we stay at the same hotels and eat in the same restaurants and people move from team to team. Information gets around."
Still, how much do you share with your teammate when you're trying to beat them?
"We share all our information at Roush," said Kenseth, whose Cup teammates also include Greg Biffle and rookie Carl Edwards. "We've done that the last few years since, as a company, we had a terrible year in 2001."
Four-time series champion Gordon and Johnson, who has only been in Cup races for three years, have not faced the struggles the Roush drivers did, but they are equally free with their information sharing.
"Our teams work the way they work and this is really the only way we know to go about it," said Gordon, whose Cup teammates also include Terry Labonte and rookie Brian Vickers.
Weekday vs. race day
"During the week, the guys in the shop sometimes don't even know whose car they are working on," Gordon added. "When we get to the racetrack, it's an open-book policy of information. We know what every Hendrick car has underneath it.
"When we're on the racetrack, we're competitors. We want one of us to win this championship. But, as far as sharing information as to what the cars are doing, I don't think that's ever going to change because I'm going to help him to confirm what I'm doing and vice versa. It helps both of us out and helps both of our cars go faster."