Why would a man stop cheating when all he was losing was chump change? The championship points weren't being taken away, and that's all that matter rights?
The cheating stopped for a little while and the next timed they were in the news was after Johnson's Las Vegas winning car failed to meet the minimum height in post race inspection early into the 2005 season. The team was docked 25 championship points, which knocked Jimmie out of the points lead, and yes, Chad was fined $35,000 and suspended for two races.
Days later, he appealed his suspension and it would be overturned, replaced with 90 days of probation. The fine and points penalty, however, were upheld.
The next time Johnson's winning car would fail inspection would be at Dover in the fall, when Chad "exploited" a loophole in the NASCAR rulebook. NASCAR would change the rule and no points or fines were handed out, but the damage had been done.
It now looked like they couldn't win a race without a little help.
Speedweeks of 2006 didn't help their case. After qualifying for the Daytona 500 on February 12, the car failed post-qualifying inspection. Johnson's time was disallowed and, on February 13, Chad Knaus was ejected from the Daytona 500.
He would later be suspended for four races for raising the rear window on Johnson's car to alter the aerodynamics and help make the car go faster.
Jimmie Johnson would go on to win the race much to many peoples displeasure.
However, Chad's cheating days started before he came to the Sprint Cup Series. Here's a brief history:
On March 21, 2001 he was suspended for two races and fined $5,000 for using unapproved shoulder harnesses in a car driven by Stacey Compton. On October 22, 2001 he was fined $750 for using unapproved window clips on Compton's car.
This man will stop at nothing to win a race, even if it means breaking the rules and losing other's respect.
The highest amount of championship points taken away from a driver is 151. This happened to Jeremy Mayfield in 2000, when his crew chief altered fuel.
In 1983, Richard Petty lost 104 points after winning the race his car was found to have to right side tires on the left side of the car and vice versa; that "adjustment" allowed the car tp pick up speed.
But it didn't end there. Maurice Petty, Richard's brother and engine builder, admitted that the engine was too big. He went on to say that Richard had no idea what was going on, the same thing Chad Knaus said in Daytona.
But would any driver get into a car without knowing what was in it?
So, Chad is not the only one, he's just the one that isn't very good at hiding his cheat sheet, and has the most offenses, along with the entire Hendrick Motorsports organization.
There are always ways to minimize the amount of cheating in NASCAR. For example, you could make the fines a lot worse. Every offense is at least 150 championship points and $125,000 to $150,000. Let's face it, they won't cheat if they are constantly losing a lot of money and points.
If your caught cheating in qualifying, you should be sent home and not allowed to race that weekend.
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