Of his 15 wins, only three came with Letarte and his driver getting the better of Johnson. There were both events at Talladega Superspeedway in 2007 with Gordon and then at Texas in 2009, also with Gordon.

On the other hand, Letarte was second to Johnson in a race finish four times with Gordon (2004 Charlotte; 2007 Las Vegas and Martinsville; 2009 Fontana) and once with Earnhardt Jr. (2016 Atlanta).

Letarte lightly chuckles and says, “it’s funny,” thinking about Johnson.

“I was at Hendrick Motorsports long before Jimmie got there, and when Jeff Gordon got us together in a room and talked about him bringing Jimmie on board, no one in that room that I know of had any idea how unbelievable that driver was going to be,” Letarte says. “He just hasn’t shown anything that I saw in the Xfinity [series] races on Saturday that made him be this sought-after talent. But Jeff was in a race with him, and it was so clear to him how talented [Johnson] was. It was just one more example of how the drivers on the racetrack see so much more than us.

“Then Jimmie came in and it became clear right away how unbelievably talented he was and how driven he was. And much like everyone, I feel like Dale [Earnhardt] Sr. set the standard, and then Jeff Gordon changed the approach, I think Jimmie Johnson came in and changed the approach again and he kind of redefined the era of the sport.”

Johnson’s work ethic and how that translated to his success came up repeatedly in interviews for this project. Being a teammate, Letarte was one of those who got to see it firsthand.

Letarte mentions a test at Homestead-Miami Speedway but doesn’t recall the year. He was still the crew chief for Gordon and says it was during the continual battle the two teams were having.

“I’ll never forget, the team met at, say, 6 or 6:30 to go to the racetrack at 7, and when we pulled out of the hotel to go to the racetrack, Jimmie Johnson was jogging back into the parking lot from his morning run,” Letarte says. “It wasn’t intentional, he was just out for a run, but there is no way as a competitor you don’t see that and think to yourself, like, holy crap, what are we up against?

“He balanced [things] on and off the racetrack. He balanced his emotions with Chad. He balanced his friendships in the garage with his competitors. He found a way to be successful and it’s so easy to look back and look at the track lineup and how it was this way and that way, but the simple fact is, there are so many ways for things to go wrong. There are so many mechanical gremlins, flat tires, bad pit calls, bad restarts, and mistakes by a driver.
Letarte (right) worked alongside Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus (left) for a number of years. Motorsport Images

“To avoid those for such a span of time and be a champion year after year after year, I don’t think I appreciated it enough when I was trying to beat him, sharing a building with him and Chad, but the farther and farther we get away from those accomplishments, just the more mind-boggling it really is.”