CONCORD, N.C. -- As he shuffled through some expected storylines for the 2008 Sprint Cup Series season during the Lowe's Motor Speedway media tour on Monday, Brian France mentioned a continuation of one from last year.

The chairman and CEO of NASCAR said that Hendrick Motorsports "is on the way to being the New England Patriots on wheels. Can they continue their dominance?"

Felix Sabates, who owns a piece of Chip Ganassi Racing (enough for it to officially be named "Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates"), thinks he knows the answer to France's pointed question.

"If Hendrick puts a car on the track and everything is perfect, nobody is going to touch him," Sabates said Monday during the first stop on the 26th annual tour.

Long one of the most outspoken owners in NASCAR, that wasn't all Sabates had to say. He said that he believes the key to Hendrick's success throughout the years -- which includes back-to-back championships for the No. 48 car driven by Jimmie Johnson the past two seasons and a total of seven championships since the first of four for driver Jeff Gordon in 1995 -- is loyalty.

"Rick, for one thing, is probably the nicest guy I've ever met in my life. He's also the most loyal guy I've ever met in my life," Sabates said. "He doesn't fire people; he promotes them to better jobs. It's like, 'Rick, aren't you going to fire that guy?' And he'll be like, 'No, I'm going to give him a promotion so he's out of the way.'

"If you look at the people who work for Rick, they're like Moonies. If he tells them to drink the Kool-Aid, they're going to drink the Kool-Aid."

Humpy Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway, added of Hendrick: "He's a great motivator. If he had been a football coach, he would have won Super Bowls."

Sabates pointed out that employees very rarely leave Hendrick, and said that when they do, it's usually because of special circumstances such as when former crew chief Ray Evernham left to start up his own race team for Dodge or, more recently, when Hendrick essentially traded Kyle Busch for Dale Earnhardt Jr. last season. (Continued)