A Recipe For Success: "The Jimmie And Chad Show"

The predictions that play into the "who is hot, who is not" scenarios are beginning to heat up around the various NASCAR boards.

Especially now that we only have two races to go until the start of the season-ending chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.

This season’s chase looks like it is beginning to shape up to be a very interesting one, especially when you look up and down the list of drivers who are still fighting for that No. 12 spot.

For the next two races, this will be a do-or-die for situation for those drivers, and it will get very tense as each team pulls out all the stops to give their driver every advantage possible.

Now, the bottom half of the field has their own battle to contend with. What is the mindset of those drivers who are already locked in? What will their race strategy be for the upcoming weeks before the start of the chase? And how does a team prepare themselves for a championship run?

The best example by far is the domination that the No.48 team has shown since the chase was first instituted back in 2004.

Chad Knaus and company have done their homework, coming up with a recipe that has been proven successful. And that recipe yields the fruits of success, as evidenced by their winning three of the five championships run using the chase system.

The recipe can be attributed to Chad, who has made it known in years past he uses the regular season to prepare his team for the chase. He already knows championships aren’t won in the first 26 races, but the last 10.

And from the looks of things, they are right on target to get a fourth.

THE DRIVER: Jimmie Johnson

First off, championships are not given away nor are they handed out just because a driver may feel that he is above the rest.

Instead, they are won by a driver’s ability to foresee what lies ahead. They are won because a driver can almost predict what his own outcome will be, even though at times he may fall short.

Championships are set aside for those drivers that are willing to pay the price at any cost. It not only takes a strong will, but also an attitude of discipline and trust. Discipline is probably the hardest of all our emotions to control. Especially when circumstances are playing havoc with them for the three-plus hours the drivers are stuck behind the wheel during a typical race.

Circumstances come in many different forms, and usually pop up at the most inopportune times.

Such circumstances can be manifested in a poor-handling car, a bad pit stop, spotter error, driver error, or a number of other mishaps that can occur within a matter of seconds.

Any situation that arises during the course of a race can also be thrown into that same category. Think about how hard it must be for a driver to sit on pit road while his team tries to repair the car.

And to make matters worse, he's looking out the window watching all the other cars drive by.

This is where trust plays a big part, because once the driver goes back out on the track. The driver has to have the confidence that his team did the best that they could given the circumstances.

Very seldom do you ever hear Jimmie get mad on his radio. Instead, he stays calm and gives his team the best input that he can. Jimmie is very good at doing his part to keep the team in contention for a good finish. And just like the rest of the team, he knows it’s impossible to win every race.

We have heard a lot fans say it’s because of Chad that the team does so well. And any true fan of the sport knows that it takes a very good driver to be able to overcome all the circumstances that arise during a race.

Jimmie is the final say-so when you think about who is actually driving the car. All the team can do is hopefully make the right adjustments to keep their driver in contention, but it’s ultimately up to how the driver adjusts to the changing conditions.

When you look at whom the best overall drivers that are out there today. it’s easy to put Jimmie at the top of the list.

THE CREW CHIEF: Chad Knaus

You have to give props to Chad for using the “lucky dog” rule to his advantage at Pocono a few weeks ago. Chad knew that there were no other cars a lap down.

So Chad took the time to fix the car, knowing that eventually he would get the laps back as long as no other driver went a lap down. I’m not a big fan of the “lucky dog” rule, but it is what it is and Chad is well-schooled in each and every rule that NASCAR has in place.

This is just one of the many traits that make Chad the crew chief that he is today.

Chad is not one to go into panic mode, he just keeps his cool and always looks for ways to improve the car while trying to get the best finish possible. Continuity plays a really big role in today’s high-tech world of NASCAR, especially when it comes down to making those race-saving calls.

Think about a crew chief who can take a really bad day, when nothing seems to go his way, but by the end of the race puts his driver in contention for a top 10 finish. It takes a lot of stress off the driver as well as the rest of the team. There are many words that can describe Chad, but anything less than brilliant would be a huge understatement.

He has taken the position to a whole new level.

Many times we have witnessed with our own eyes and heard with our own ears the awesome display of leadership that it takes to get his driver into victory lane. He sits atop the box like a vulture looking for the next victim that his driver can devour, and all the while you could swear that he has ice running through his veins.

Very seldom do you ever see any emotion on his face as the race is being run, but when you look into his eyes you know that his mind is constantly working.

So Chad continues to show the racing world how to win as a team with the right pit calls. No matter what adversities might come their way during a race, there can always be light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

“You know, we come to the racetrack every single event with the hope and the desire to try to win. That’s been our mindset since we started together in 2002," he said.

And with that mindset along with his recipe, it's time to pull up a chair because “The Jimmie and Chad Show” is about to begin.