For Letarte, drivers who finished second or even third to Johnson is a Hall of Fame type list. The ones that were beaten repeatedly by Johnson are just as impressive as what Johnson was doing.
Letarte would know because he’s on that list. Working with Jeff Gordon, a four-time champion, the pair finished second to Johnson in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings in 2007 after a furious battle in the season’s final weeks. They finished third to Johnson in 2009 when Johnson picked up his fourth consecutive championship.
“It seems very easy to take any sports figure and find a stat that argues the alternative, but there are a few that break through that, and you just can’t get to,” Letarte says. “The Michael Jordans, perhaps Kobe or Tiger. Jimmie Johnson is kind of that guy in NASCAR. I challenge any stat person to find anything factual to try to break down what he built up. Man, it’s hard to do.”
In his nine full years as a crew chief – 2006 through 2014 – Letarte accomplished plenty, first working with Gordon and then Dale Earnhardt Jr. While his drivers never beat Johnson for a championship, Letarte won 15 races, including a Daytona 500 in his final season.
Not only was Letarte a Hendrick teammate, but he was housed in the same building as Johnson’s No. 48 team and worked very closely with Johnson’s longtime crew chief Chad Knaus.
Gordon made it clear during his Hall of Fame career that Johnson was his biggest rival and never shied away from those wondering how many more championships he’d have won if not for Johnson. In 2010, the Gordon/Johnson rivalry played out publicly when notably at Texas in the spring, Gordon said Johnson was “testing my patience” after a move Gordon didn’t like on the racetrack.
Texas in Spring 2010 was a tense time for Johnson (left) and Gordon (right). Motorsport Images
At the same track later that year, after Gordon wrecked out, Knaus swapped out Johnson’s pit crew with Gordon’s. Gordon and Letarte finished ninth in the championship standings, while Johnson won his fifth straight.