Chad Knaus

Chad Knaus

Personal information
Full name	Chad Anthony Knaus
Nationality	American
Born	August 5, 1971 (1971-08-05) (age 40) Rockford, Illinois
Website	www.chadknaus.com
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	NASCAR
Team	Hendrick Motorsports

Chad Anthony Knaus (pronounced /kəˈnaʊs/; born August 5, 1971) is the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief for Jimmie Johnson. He is currently employed at Hendrick Motorsports. Knaus has 52 victories as Jimmie Johnson's crew chief and is the only NASCAR crew chief to win five consecutive championships.^[1] He has been a crew chief in NASCAR for 12 years. Over this time, he has worked for three teams: Melling Racing, Tyler Jet Motorsports, and Hendrick Motorsports.

Early life

Born in Rockford, Illinois, Chad Knaus grew up around the racetracks of the Midwest helping his father, John, race against the likes of Mark Martin, Alan Kulwicki, Rusty Wallace and Dick Trickle. By the time he was 14, Knaus served as crew chief during his father Rockford Speedway championship season. The father-son combination also won the Great Northern Series championship and finished second in the NASCAR Winston Racing Series. A few years and seven track championships later, Knaus moved to North Carolina in 1991 to pursue a job in national stock car racing.^[2]

After working with Stanley Smith's stock car team, Knaus landed a job working on the #24 Hendrick Motorsports team led by crew chief Ray Evernham and raced by driver Jeff Gordon. From 1993 to 1997, Knaus advanced from being a general fabricator to managing the entire chassis and body construction program for the #24 team. Serving as a tire changer on the original Rainbow Warriors pit crew, Knaus was a part of the 1995 and 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship teams.

Following the 1997 season, Knaus joined Dale Earnhardt, Inc. as car chief, where he worked with Steve Park and later Darrell Waltrip. During the 1998 season, he moved to Tyler Jet Motorsports, and in 1999, the call came that would lead Knaus to Dodge, Melling Racing, and his ultimate career goal. Ray Evernham wanted Knaus to lead the Dodge development team, an opportunity he quickly accepted. During two Dodge test sessions, Knaus worked with Melling Racing driver Stacy Compton. The two worked well together, resulting in Knaus' hire as crew chief for Compton in 2001.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Career

In 2001, Knaus was crew chief for Mark Melling's operation, which was sponsored by Pinkerton Tobacco, with Compton as driver.

In 2002, Knaus was offered the position of crew chief for a rookie driver in the Hendrick Motorsports stable, Jimmie Johnson. Knaus led the rookie team to unprecedented success in 2002, earning 3 wins, 6 top 5s, 21 top 10s, and 4 Bud Pole Awards. Johnson became the first rookie in Cup Series history to ever lead the point standings, eventually finishing fifth overall. He also finished second in Rookie of the Year honors to Ryan Newman. In 2002, Knaus took home the inaugural IRWIN "Crew Chief of the Year" award. During the 2002 season at Dover, Knaus was fined for swearing on national television during an interview.

For the 2003 campaign, the #48 team had 3 victories, 14 top 5s, and 20 top 10s. Johnson finished the season second in the points standings to Matt Kenseth.

Knaus working on the #48 car in 2004

In 2004, the season began with some early disappointments in weeks two and three at Rockingham and Las Vegas. However, the team quickly rebounded with a week five win at the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Raceway. Subsequent victories at the Coca-Cola 600 and the Pocono 500 helped solidify their place in the NASCAR Chase for the Cup towards the end of the season. However, poor finishes at Talladega (37th) and Kansas (32nd) nearly stopped their chances to win the Nextel Cup, but three consecutive wins, and four in the final six races, put the #48 team 18 points behind leader Kurt Busch going into the final race. The second victory at the Subway 500 in Martinsville on October 24, 2004, was marred by tragedy when Rick Hendrick's son, Ricky Hendrick, nieces and brother were killed in an airplane crash en route to the race. All eight passengers and both pilots died in the incident. The team eventually finished second in the Nextel Cup Series points, losing to Kurt Busch by just 8 points.

Knaus and Johnson took a step back in 2005, finishing the season ranked fifth in the standings after a crash in the season ending race at Homestead.

In 2006, Johnson and Knaus won their first Nextel Cup Series championship with 5 wins, 13 top 5s, and 24 top 10s.

2007 was the best season yet for Knaus and Johnson. The tandem took home their second straight championship with a series best 10 wins. Hendrick Motorsports was the dominant team in 2007, amassing 18 wins in 36 races. Knaus and Johnson led the Hendrick charge that saw the championship battle come down to a race between themselves and teammate Jeff Gordon.

In 2008 Chad and Jimmie Johnson tied NASCAR history with three straight championships set by Cale Yarbrough. The Lowe's Racing team had 7 wins, 15 top-fives, 22 top-tens, and 6 poles.

Chad and his team working on Jimmie Johnson's car at Bristol Motor Speedway.

In 2009 Chad Knaus shared 13 top-fives, 20 top-tens, 6 wins, and 1 DNF with his driver Jimmie Johnson.^[3]

Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Statistics

Year	Driver	Races	Wins	Poles	Top 5	Top 10	DNFs	Season Rank
2001	Stacy Compton	34	0	2	0	1	7	33rd
2002	Jimmie Johnson	36	3	4	6	21	3	5th
2003	Jimmie Johnson	36	3	2	14	20	3	2nd
2004	Jimmie Johnson	36	8	1	20	23	7	2nd
2005	Jimmie Johnson	36	4	1	13	22	5	5th
2006	Jimmie Johnson	36	5*	1	13	24	1	1st
2007	Jimmie Johnson	36	10	4	20	24	4	1st
2008	Jimmie Johnson	36	7	10	16	22	-	1st
2009	Jimmie Johnson	35	7	3	14	21	1	1st
2010	Jimmie Johnson	36	6	3	17	23	4	1st
2011	Jimmie Johnson
Totals		300	53*	19	107	164	35

• 2 Race wins (Daytona 500 & Las Vegas) he was suspended at the time.

Criticism

While working for Hendrick Motorsports Chad Knaus was accused of cheating after Jimmie Johnson's 2006 Daytona 500 qualifying run. Knaus made an illegal adjustment to the rear window, which resulted in his suspension from Sprint Cup events until March 22. Despite the loss of his crew chief, Johnson won the Daytona 500, and two of the first three races overall, with interim crew chief, Darian Grubb.^[4]

Knaus again found himself at the center of controversy during the road race debut of NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow. On June 23, 2007 the #24 crew (chiefed by Steve Letarte) and the #48 crew entered the inspection line for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway with the newest body style out of the Hendrick shop. While both cars fit the templates, NASCAR officials questioned the shape of the fenders in between the template points.[1] Johnson was not allowed to qualify the car, and he started at the back of the field. Knaus was fined $100,000 and was suspended for six races.^[5]

Outside activities

Chad Knaus is a regular commentator on NASCAR Performance, a program that broadcasts from each track every week on Speed. Each program provides a crew chief perspective on the hot topics in NASCAR, as well as a preview of the weekend's race. Knaus is joined by Bootie Barker of Germain Racing and a weekly special guest. The program is anchored by Fox broadcaster Larry McReynolds. Knaus has also appeared in television commercials for Kobalt Tools by Lowe's, the primary sponsor of the #48 car. He also voices the crew chief in NASCAR games which include NASCAR 08 and NASCAR 09 on the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3.

References

1. ^ "All Time NASCAR Sprint Cup Winners". Jayski.com. 31 October 2010. http://www.jayski.com/stats/alltimewins.htm#chief. Retrieved 31 October 2010. 
2. ^ "Rockford Speedway is a "NASCAR home track"; Kevin Ramsell; March 6, 2007; Retrieved October 22, 2007
3. ^ "2009 Cup Jimmie Johnson". Nascar.com. http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/jjohnson00/cup/data/2009/index.html. Retrieved 31 October 2010. 
4. ^ "Knaus ejected from Daytona Speedweeks". Nascar.com. 5 March 2010. http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/headlines/cup/02/13/jjohnson.knaus.suspension/index.html. Retrieved 6 March 2010. 
5. ^ "Gordon, Johnson fail initial qual inspection at Sonoma", June 22, 2007, David Caraviello, Retrieved September 7, 2007

External links

• The Official Chad Knaus Website
• Team Lowe's Racing
• Hendrick Motorsports
• NASCAR
• NASCAR Performance
• Jayski's NASCAR
• Cheesin' Chadwick (Fan Site)

Persondata
Name	Knaus, Chad
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 5, 1971
Place of birth	Rockford, Illinois
Date of death
Place of death