First in a series looking at the Verizon IndyCar Series championship season of Will Power through various eyes. Today, chief mechanic Matt Jonsson says it’s all about the group.

Matt Jonsson checks off items in his playbook to assure that every detail in preparation of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car for the championship-deciding MAVTV 500 is addressed.

A few hours later, the crew chief is in Victory Circle congratulating Will Power, who wrapped up the Verizon IndyCar Series championship in the 250-lap race at Auto Club Speedway.

Jonsson, who’s well into his second decade with Team Penske, is the anchor of the title-winning crew. He has been the chief mechanic for the team’s past four Indy car championships – Gil de Ferran for the 2000 and 2001 CART seasons and Sam Hornish Jr. for the 2006 IndyCar Series season in addition to Power’s rise.

“It’s been a matured relationship. We had a new set of crew together for 2013 and sometimes it takes longer than a year to gel and bond and get together and know each other’s languages perfectly. I think that came together toward the end of 2013, where we had a lot of good finishes and that continued this year,” said Jonsson, who completed his second season on the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car.

“Even as a pit crew you get to know each other’s body language and I think we had a solid year. Everybody knows the expectancy level, which is what you try to set first off.”

In another team sport, Jonsson would be the quarterback – running the instructions relayed from race engineer David Faustino in consultation with Power relative to the car’s setup for practice, qualifications and racing on the wide variety of racetracks. His foundation of experienced personnel supports those efforts day in and day out.

“A lot of guys have been with Penske Racing for so many years, which helps with the communication when you work closely with those guys,” said Jonsson, who, like other crew chiefs, is the outside right-front tire changer. “You have to work as a huge group and make sure all three cars are prepared exactly the same, and that is where a lot of the quality comes from. Then you have to be able to subdivide that to three individual race groups, and that’s where the pit stops and the setups come in when you break it down even further.

“That’s the interesting part with racing as a team sport – you have to function as a whole but it takes each individual to perform their tasks for it to work out in the end.

“It comes down to one thing, which Roger (Penske) has said many times: it’s a people business. It comes down to the people you work with, having the depth of skilled and dedicated people and people to do a good job. That’s where it starts.”