Jimmie Johnson credits former crew chief Chad Knaus' “management skills” behind NASCAR Cup Series dominance

Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus are arguably one of the greatest driver-crew chief pairs in the history of NASCAR. Johnson and Knaus make into the NASCAR Hall of Fame's Class of 2024 as seven-time Cup champions together.

Johnson gave credit to his longtime crew chief Knaus behind his Cup dominance during Hall of Fame Induction night on Friday (Jan 19). Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion said that Knaus had management skills in controlling the release of information about their car setups to maintain a competitive advantage.

Reflecting on the successful partnership and strategy the duo built during their time together in the Cup Series, Jimmie Johnson said (via NASCAR.com):

“And he just had this stuff kind of waiting. And at times we had so much stockpiled that we could actually take our time when we needed to release it and save it for the end of the year and save it for the championship battle. And if we showed up too early with our stuff, everybody around us would have it.”

“So there was this way to manage the environment that he was so good at and I didn’t realize it at the time. But looking back on it, he had many more management skills than I wanted to admit at the time.”

In their 17-year-long driver-crew chief working relationship, the numbers speak for themselves, with record-tying seven Cup championship (including a five consecutive titles from 2006-2010), 81 wins, and a slew of other stats that prove the Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus was the number one pair for a decade and a half.

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“Chad was just tireless with his development of our race cars” – Jimmie Johnson

The 48-year-old driver further stated that Chad Knaus’s tireless dedication to the development of their race cars, emphasizing the extensive testing they conducted before testing rules were implemented.

Jimmie Johnson said:

“We were just a few steps ahead. And Chad was just tireless with his development of our race cars. We would test nonstop back before the testing rules. We were just always on the road — test, test, test test — and I was open to it. And we got into this practice to where he wouldn’t even tell me what he was doing with the car. Occasionally, he’d said, ‘Hey, tiptoe into this one.’ Other times, he’s like, ‘No, this is going to be good.’”

Having a great partnership on the track, the driver-crew chief pair won several big events, including the Daytona 500 (twice), Brickyard 400 (four times), Coca-Cola 600 (four times), Southern 500 (twice), and four all-star races.