Let's start with the first one: Stewart-Haas Racing gets their engines and chassis from Hendrick Motorsports. Additionally they have an open book policy so that if Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman or their crew chiefs (Darian Grubb and Tony Gibson) want to go look at setups or notes that Hendrick has, they can do that.

Sure, Stewart-Haas is a separate operation and separate company but they all utilize the Hendrick resources.

The same scenario exists for when Brad Keselowski drives for Phoenix Racing. They also get their support from Hendrick Motorsports when Keselowski is behind the wheel.

This is different from the other sports because in football, baseball, basketball, you name it, it's one team vs. another team. Obviously there is no benefit to sharing the resources there. Those sports are all about talent — how you can catch the ball, hit the ball, kick the ball, etc. That's different in our sport.

Remember that this really isn't that new for Hendrick and Haas. Before Tony arrived, Haas Racing had an alliance with Hendrick Motorsports for two or three years. However, his two teams struggled to be in the Top 35 in points every week, so there was no information Hendrick could gain there.

Now with Tony and Ryan behind the wheel and everyone else behind the scenes, those two teams are competitive and that now makes it a two-way street for information sharing. I would bet that Hendrick Motorsports benefits today from the information they get back from Stewart-Haas Racing.

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Obviously we can't lose sight of the fact that this is a business situation for Rick Hendrick. I would wager to say his company makes good money from Stewart-Haas Racing from selling them cars and leasing them motors plus all the ancillary things that go along with that. You have to believe it is a very lucrative business model for Rick Hendrick or he wouldn't be doing it.

Why is that so important? Well, that leads me to the second question.

The thing about Hendrick Motorsports is that they have all their teams working as one. It's just one team that fields multiple cars. That's the mentality they work with over there. It's not the No. 24 and the No. 48 versus the No. 5 and the No. 88.

Listen to the interview Jimmie Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, gave after Indianapolis. Yes, only his team won, but he talked about how he and Mark Martin's crew chief, Alan Gustafson, sat down together to compare and share notes. And that's not a one-time incident — you hear Tony Stewart's crew chief talking about how he talks with Knaus too and so on. So it's no surprise to me to see them win and run up front all the time.

Obviously nobody wants to give away what they have, but all six of those teams, the four Hendrick cars and two Stewart-Haas cars, would rather try to beat the other 37 teams and not worry about beating their teammates. That's just what they do the best job at.

How many other teams do you see it where one driver wins, the other drivers come to Victory Lane to congratulate them? Do you see that with the other teams? You really don't. If you look back at the other Hendrick Motorsports victory lanes from 2009, you will see that their teammates came to Victory Lane to pat their teammate on the back for a job well done. To me, that's where that group really shines. They truly are a role model for how a multi-car operation is supposed to work. It all goes back to the leadership and direction from the top and that is Rick Hendrick.

Sure it is talent behind the wheel, or on the pit box or in the pit crew, but our sport is all about mechanics. It's about making horsepower. It's about making the car turn better in the corners. It's about car setup and getting your car to handle for 500 miles so you can beat the other guy.

That's why there is strength in numbers at Hendrick Motorsports. I think what Rick Hendrick has with his four teams, the two Stewart-Haas teams and when you throw in Phoenix Racing when Brad runs, that's a lot of different pipelines of information coming back.

FOX race analyst Larry McReynolds has more than 25 years of NASCAR experience as a mechanic, crew chief and broadcaster. He and his fellow Crew Chief Club members take you behind the wall at www.crewchiefclub.com.

"How to Become a Winning Crew Chief" is on bookstore shelves, or you may order your own autographed copy from www.DWStore.com.