By Lee Montgomery, Turner Sports Interactive January 14, 2004
2:25 PM EST (1925 GMT)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Hendrick Motorsports is celebrating its 20th anniversary in NASCAR this week, and its four drivers have started the party in fine fashion.

All four of Hendrick's Nextel Cup drivers are at Daytona International Speedway for NASCAR Preseason Thunder testing, and all four have been fast.

On Wednesday morning, two Hendrick Chevrolets were fastest of all. Jimmie Johnson stayed atop the speed chart with a 187.398 mph lap, and Jeff Gordon moved up to second at 187.313.

The two other cars, those of Terry Labonte and rookie Brian Vickers, were a little further down Wednesday's list, but Vickers was eighth Tuesday morning and Labonte was 13th.

Ricky Rudd continued to be fast, too, in the No. 21 Ford. He was third Wednesday at 187.278, with Casey Mears fourth at 186.679 and John Andretti fifth at 186.664.

The rookie Vickers was 15th at 185.464, with Labonte 19th of 26 cars at 185.044.

Johnson's lap wasn't as quick as his 187.535 lap Tuesday that remains second-fastest overall behind Michael Waltrip. Gordon, however, moved up to sixth overall, tied with Bill Elliott. And Rudd moved to eighth-fastest among all the cars that have tested.

Johnson has been fastest in two of the three sessions this week, and he was fifth in the other. He and crew chief Chad Knaus have been good in qualifying at Daytona, so being fast this week is no surprise.

"Qualifying, there's so much that goes into it," Johnson said. "There's such a build-up for qualifying, and there's so much that goes into it, and everybody gets focused on that. Chad is great at the restrictor-plate races, and especially in qualifying. We are focusing on that, trying to find speed like everyone else does."

But Johnson wants to be good in race trim, too. He said the No. 48 team has a "workhorse" car, and another one that is trimmed out to find the most speed.

"We're really focusing on getting a good driving race car for the 500," Johnson said. "It's great to be on the pole. We were able to do that in our rookie year, and we really want to come back and have a shot at winning the race. We came close last year, so we're looking forward to another shot at it."

Johnson finished third in the rain-shortened Daytona 500 last year, while Gordon has won The Great American Race twice.

A major contributor to Hendrick's success has been the cooperation between the four teams. In Daytona's garage area, all four teams share the same building, making it easy to communicate. But the cooperation goes a lot deeper for the team that pioneered the modern multi-car team.

"We've got an unbelievable organization," Gordon said. "Rick (Hendrick's) vision has always been this, to see all the teams working so close together, sharing so much information and have the talent that we have. I'm real excited about it.

"I also recognize that I'm going to have to battle my own teammates, but that's a good thing. You still have those resources to tap in to."

Hendrick began fielding two teams in 1986, back when cooperation, even among teammates, was a novel concept. Eventually, Hendrick got things the way he wanted, where each team helped the others out.

Hendrick Motorsports has won 109 races, 107 poles and five NASCAR championships.

"It's taken us a long time to get the chemistry and the way you build cars to be on the same page," Gordon said. "We're as close as we've ever been now. It's awesome. That's going to help separate us from the rest. That's why we had three cars in the top 10 last year. I think we have the potential to get four in there."

Johnson was runner-up to champion Matt Kenseth in 2003, with Gordon fourth and Labonte fifth. With the up-and-coming Vickers in the No. 25 car this year, the future looks bright.

Vickers, the 20-year-old who took over for Joe Nemechek last year, is having a ball this week. His wide-eyed enthusiasm reminds Gordon of himself 12 years ago. Vickers knows he's with a good team, but he's still impressed with how things are run.

"Jeff and I were talking about this the other day and how it brings back memories about his first time here with Hendrick Motorsports and all the engineers and all the great people," Vickers said. "That's what it comes down to is the people that put everything together. It's really a neat time."

And this is just a test. Imagine what Vickers will be feeling when he comes back for Speedweeks.

Gordon, though, will be feeling confident when he comes back next month.

"We always want to be a little faster, and we've got two more days to work on it," Gordon said. "We're really looking forward to getting back down here for the 500 and getting the season started. The team showed that look in their eye all winter long. We just added in some areas where we felt we needed to make ourselves stronger. We're looking forward to putting that out on the race track."

And so are his three Hendrick teammates.