Steve Letarte, Crew Chief for Jeff Gordon and the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet race team, plays a pivotal part in the outcome of every race. Steve has been with Hendrick Motorsports since 1995 and moved up to the crew chief position in the fall of 2005. His exceptional knowledge of the sport provides the leadership, confidence and certainty needed for the 24 team to battle for victories and championships.

Steve Letarte is no stranger to the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet race team and driver Jeff Gordon. He began his career at Hendrick Motorsports as a teenager and has been employed there ever since. Steve started when he was just 16 years old, helping out part-time at Hendrick while he was still going to school. "I started out sweeping floors; I was just happy to be involved," Letarte says.

Jeff Gordon has known Steve since the beginning. "What I love about Steve and his story is that his father was into racing in New England and then moved down to North Carolina, and that's when it started for Steve. Here he is- this young kid who has been going to the race track forever and gets a job at HMS sweeping floors during high school- he started from the ground up," said Gordon. "He learned all there is to learn about this sport and he had a goal, which was to become a crew chief one day. His accomplishment didn't come without a lot of sacrifices and a lot of hard work."

Letarte jumped on board full-time in 1996 as a tire specialist and mechanic. In 1997, he continued as a tire specialist and experienced his first NASCAR Cup Series championship (the team's second) with Gordon, crew chief Ray Evernham and the famed "Rainbow Warriors" pit crew.

Steve continued to hone his skills through the late 90's as the team won another championship in 1998 racking up a staggering 13 victories, and experienced another seven wins in '99. He then graduated to a full-time general mechanic's position in 2000.

2001 marked another year of championship success for the No. 24 team, with Letarte continuing as a mechanic under the leadership of crew chief Robbie Loomis. In 2002, Steve was promoted to the car chief position prior to the close of the season. With this new role came added responsibility, something he enjoyed. Among other duties, he was in charge of overseeing the set-up of the cars before they took to the track.

Steve carried on in the car chief position for the 2003 and 2004 seasons. In the fall of 2005, the guard was about to change. Crew chief Robbie Loomis announced he would embark on a different career path, and to Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon the logical person to fill Loomis' shoes was Steve Letarte. After only five races as the new commander of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet team, he led Jeff and crew to a victory at Martinsville Speedway.

Jeff Gordon is one among many who are thrilled to see Letarte achieve success. "Steve is the kind of person you want to see good things happen to. He is a really good, hardworking person who's very sharp and I just love seeing him get his opportunity to be a top crew chief in this series," said Gordon.

Admittedly, Steve continues to grow and learn every day as a crew chief. In his first full term as team leader in 2006, he guided the group to two wins, two pole positions, a birth in the Chase and a sixth place finish in points. The 2007 season ended with another amazing list of achievements, including six victories, seven poles, 21 top-five's and a modern-era record 30 top-10 finishes.

2008 probably proved to be Steve's most challenging season yet with the introduction of the "Car of Tomorrow" to the full NASCAR schedule. Although the team didn't capture a victory in '08, they finished a strong seventh in the points, scored four poles, and racked up 13 top-fives and 19 top-tens.

Steve is back to lead the No. 24 race team this year and with his proven successes as a young crew chief thus far, it is clear that he has positioned himself as one of this sport's premier leaders.