NASCAR Newsmaker: Rick Hendrick

Car owner Rick Hendrick celebrated his ninth Sprint Cup Series championship this year when Jimmie Johnson won his fourth consecutive Chase for the Championship.

Hendrick talked about his team's success after clinching the championship in November at Homestead, Fla. Here are excerpts of that interview.

Q: Now that you've got nine championships and your team finished first, second and third in this year's Chase, what kind of goals do you have for next year?

A: You know, this year I would like to have seen Jeff (Gordon) win No. 5, Jimmie win four straight, and Mark (Martin) win his first one. So I think my priority right now is the 88 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) team. We're working on them to try to make that team stronger. The goal going into next year now will be win races and get all four teams in the Chase. So I feel real good about the fact that we're rolling into the year with virtually no changes. You know, seeing the competition get stronger, so much stronger, like the (Richard) Childress cars and the (Joe) Gibbs cars are there all year anyway, and the Penske cars. It's going to be a dog fight. You know, we know we're going to have to be on our toes and work hard here now in the off-season. But we're very, very thankful of what we've gotten done. These guys kind of set their own goals.

Q: How will Jimmie Johnson's run of four consecutive championships be remembered in the sport's history?

A: I don't think people really start looking at where a driver ranks until he's retired or down the road. I mean, I watch David Pearson, and I knew David Pearson was great. And I knew that Richard Petty was unbelievable. But you don't really give them their time in the sun or you don't acknowledge how great they were until after. Usually sometimes they retire or they quit winning. I think when you look at Jimmie's stats, I don't think he's through. I think he's better this year than he was the year before. He just gets better all the time, he and Chad (Knaus, crew chief) both. I think he got to say with looking at what he's accomplished and he was eight points away from this one being No. 5 in a row. He's got to be one of the greatest of all time.