Jimmie Johnson’s sixth Sprint Cup championship moved him to within one title of NASCAR’s all-time leaders Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt, and it also moved his crew chief Chad Knaus to just two behind Dale Inman, who has eight championship — seven with Petty and one with Terry Labonte.
But just as it’s difficult to compare the accomplishments of Johnson’s with Petty’s because they came in different eras of the sport, the jobs performed by Knaus and Inman bear few similarities.
“I’m not even close to (Inman),” Knaus said during the champion’s interview at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “He’s an amazing individual. He actually stopped me (Sunday).
“He’s like, ‘Son, you don’t know what hard work is.’ I said, ‘You’re exactly right, sir. I have no idea.’”
Knaus pointed out that Inman won titles with different drivers and different teams, and did it in a time when crew chiefs actually were hands-on mechanics and often hauled the race cars to the tracks themselves.
“Yeah, we work hard,” Knaus said of crew chiefs today. “We get headaches. I work on a computer. That dude was in there cutting with a torch, cutting, building, stuff like that. No matter what we’re able to do with the 48 car, it will never surpass what those guys did.”
But Knaus has risen to the top of his class in the current environment, and Johnson is the first to acknowledge that he’s a big part of the No. 48 team’s success. It’s evident, Johnson said, when one considers that the other three teams at Hendrick Motorsports, as well as the three at Stewart-Haas Racing, all have the same tools and technology as Johnson and Knaus, but haven’t achieved nearly as much.
“We all have the same equipment,” Johnson said. “We do develop our own styles as far as a driver, a crew chief, the way we set our cars up. We kind of migrate off into different directions, although they are close together. We do end up with differences in our cars. That boils down to the crew chief and driver styles. …
“I put a lot of weight into the driver/crew chief relationship. Over the years we’ve seen pairings that work, and I feel fortunate to have that happen with me and Chad. … There’s something magical there, and it works. I say this confidently: I would not have the success I’ve had in this sport if it wasn’t for Chad and our relationship together.”
Crew chief changes: Tony Stewart isn't the only driver getting a new crew chief next season. Stewart-Haas Racing, in addition to pairing Stewart with Chad Johnston, has promoted Daniel Knost from race engineer for Ryan Newman's No. 39 to crew chief for the No. 41 and incoming driver Kurt Busch. Rodney Childers, who like Johnston most recently worked at Michael Waltrip Racing, will be crew chief for Kevin Harvick. Tony Gibson will return as crew chief for Danica Patrick.
At Roush Fenway Racing, Mike Kelley, who has been crew chief for the team’s No. 6 Nationwide Series car, will move to the Cup series and serve as crew chief for Rookie of the Year Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who worked with Kelley when he was in the Nationwide Series.
Chad Norris will take Kelley’s old job at the No. 6 team, where he will work with Trevor Bayne. Scott Graves, who worked with Stenhouse in Cup this year, will return to the Nationwide Series and work with Chris Buescher. Seth Barber will work with Ryan Reed on the No. 16 Nationwide team.
Jimmy Fennig will remain as Carl Edwards’ crew chief, and Matt Puccia returns to Greg Biffle’s team.”
Etc.: Chase Elliott has been named Driver of the Year by the Georgia Auto Racing Hall of Fame. Elliott, the 17-year-old son of former Sprint Cup champion Bill Elliott, won a Camping World Truck Series race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. He became the youngest superspeedway winner in ARCA history with a victory at Pocono Raceway and won numerous Late Model races including the All-American 400 at the Nashville (Tenn.) Fairgrounds, which gave him victories in all four of Late Model racing's major events. … Wix Filters is moving its sponsorship dollars from Stewart-Haas Racing to Richard Childress Racing, continuing its relationship with Newman, who is moving from Stewart-Haas to RCR, where he will replace Jeff Burton as driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet. Wix will be the primary sponsor of the No. 31 for three races as well as another for Brendan Gaughan in the Nationwide Series.
