NASCAR: Chad Knaus Soaks in a Safari While Jimmie Johnson Tests for 2012

It was quite peculiar to learn that Chad Knaus, crew chief of the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet team driven by Jimmie Johnson, was not present for the initial tests that took place at Daytona International Speedway. He was in Africa.

This is certainly not breaking news, but as the story settles into the collective conscience, it seems almost surreal. How could a five-time consecutive championship crew chief prefer to watch lions and giraffes on safari rather than get his race team back into championship format?

Moreover, how did he ever get the approval of Hendrick Motorsports to do such a thing at such a critical time during the season?

Jimmie Johnson offered a fairly unsatisfying explanation:

"We've got a very confident race team, and everybody is following the test plan, and we're going through the motions," Johnson said.

"Truthfully a lot of the work for this test was done at the shop getting prepared, and now we're just following a test plan. It's worked out well for Chad to take some time for himself, and I'm really happy that he has decided to do this."

"As we all know, he doesn't give himself much personal time, and I've been on a similar trip to the one he's on now and know how special it was to [wife Chandra] and I. I can't wait to hear the stories when he gets back and what he goes through. It's been a nice calm test so far."

Johnson sounds as if he is trying to downplay the absence of an integral part of his team during a fairly important part of the season. Over the years, Johnson has become adroit at the act of self-deprecrating his own personal accomplishments as well as a myriad of other related issues.

The five-time champion surely did not intend to sound arrogant, but claiming that the majority of the effort for the test sessions was completed in the garage smacks of perhaps a subtle hubris.

How is this possible? It seems quite difficult to truly test a new type of engine in a shop while the vast majority, if not all, of the NASCAR crew chiefs opted to attend the sessions.

In all fairness, the drivers and teams had chances to test the new engines last year. Perhaps, Knaus was satisfied enough with those tests that he felt a safari was a more valuable use of his time.

However, NASCAR has tweaked the rules since those initial 2011 tests. Moreover, it has altered the size of the radiators to prohibit the extended tandem drafting that has caused super speedway racing to become bland.

For whatever reason, Knaus disallowed Johnson to attempt any pack racing and severely limited his practice at drafting with the the new engine configurations.

If anyone in NASCAR can be confident in his instincts, it's Knaus. Perhaps, he really is the "super genius" that some purport him to be.

In any case, if the No. 48 team struggles at the Daytona 500 and gets off to a slow start in 2012, it's doubtful whether Jimmie Johnson will really care to hear Chad Knaus's stories about his vacation on the South African plains.