Jimmie Johnson Sans Chad Knaus

The Hendrick Motorsports Lowe's team 48 enjoys an idyllic life in modern day NASCAR racing.  It leads one to wonder though what Jimmie Johnson would be sans Chad Knaus.

If we were to take the winning equation of Johnson and Knaus, subtract the latter, what would we have as the remainder?  Let us put Darian Grubb, Alan Gustafson or Lance McGrew in as crew chief and see how prolific team 48 would be.  Interesting to speculate on how Johnson's record would compare against reality.

Jimmie Johnson sits as king amongst his peers with the Sprint Cup Championship trophies he has amassed the last four consecutive years.

Chad Knaus is poised to go down in the racing history books as one of the all time great NASCAR crew chiefs.  His accomplishments with Jimmie Johnson have been potent.

Knaus known for cutting edge innovations that on occasion went over the edge.  It may be suspected he has some mystical powers as well or perhaps just exceptional good luck.

We have a smooth, talented driver highly motivated to win.  Jimmie is a racer having started racing 50cc motorcycles at age five.  He moved on to off road vehicles, the ASA series and Nationwide series.

In 2002 Chad Knaus joined Hendrick Motorsports as crew chief for a young rookie Jimmie Johnson.  During that year the talented driver lead the points and finished fifth overall.

Knaus born in 1971 grew up around midwest racetracks serving as his father's crew chief at age 14.  His father had a championship season at Rockford Speedway, won the Great Northern series Championship and finished second in the then NASCAR Winston Racing series.  Being a crew chief was his destiny.

In 2006 Chad Knaus was suspended by NASCAR after the Daytona 500 until March 22nd.  His adjustment to the rear window was too innovative.

Darian Grubb filled in as crew chief and Johnson continued his winning ways.  Knaus was not totally out of the picture, but merely a blackberry away.

In June, 2007 Knaus was suspended for six races and fined $100,000.  There appeared to be a design flaw on the fenders of Johnson's new COT.  NASCAR took the necessary action with Chad and did not allow Jimmie to qualify the car.  He started at the end of the field for the Save Mart race and finished out of the top ten.

With Knaus absent as crew chief, Johnson continued optimal performance.  Does that make the point he is just that darn good?  Remember in the above instances Knaus was never really very far away though not at the track.

Chemistry is a prime factor between a racecar driver and a crew chief.  Johnson and Knaus have the ultimate chemical connection.

Perhaps Jimmie's ability to give Chad the proper and precise feedback is key to their wins and consistent racing with finishes often in the top ten.

Perhaps it is the ability of Knaus to extract the exact information he needs from his driver.  He is the consummate coach and brilliant at his job.

Jimmie Johnson has mastered driving the COT.  He would perform masterfully with any talented crew chief and the equipment he has at HMS.

Would Johnson win championships without Knaus?  Maybe he would have won one or two, but not four in a row.  There is indeed magic with the Johnson/Knaus combo, but the magic dust may be running low in 2010.

Our Sprint Cup champion has won one of the two races so far and more wins will come his way this season.

As far as we can see this awesome coupling will remain intact.  Knaus has said he is married to racing.  Johnson 34, still has many years ahead to race.  There would be no obvious reason for this team to ever part company.

We will probably never know how Jimmie Johnson would perform sans Chad Knaus.