Nascar has a long and storied history, but it also has a past littered with “What If?” questions. Join author Mike Mackler as he takes a look back at stock car racing’s 100 most-intriguing hypotheticals in “100 Stock Car Racing ‘What Ifs’”, the book available on Amazon in both Paperback and Kindle formats. Here’s a preview of one of the one hundred “What If” questions asked throughout the book:
97. What if Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson never worked together?
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| Jimmie before Chad |
Background: Chad Knuas is unquestionably the most-successful crew chief of Nascar’s modern age. After a stint working for the famed “Rainbow Warriors” pit crew of Jeff Gordon, he bounced around a number of teams before crew chiefing Stacy Compton’s Melling Racing car in 2001. In 2002 he returned to Hendrick Motorsports to work with rookie driver Jimmie Johnson.
What Actually Happened: Knaus went to work with Jimmie Johnson in 2002, and he hasn’t left since. Knaus has helped Johnson to seven Cup Series Championships under a variety of Chase/Playoff formats, surpassing the Jeff Gordon/Ray Evernham pairing as the most-successful in recent memory.
What Could Have Been the Turning Point: What if Chad Knaus was never asked to return to Hendrick Motorsports in 2002?
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| Chad before Jimmie |
What COULD Have Happened: Knaus was a rising star in Nascar’s crew chief ranks, having taken the Melling team to a pair of pole positions in 2001 despite limited resources and a brand-new manufacturer in Dodge. He likely would have found himself working for a top team (perhaps Evernham Motorsports) before too long.
And if THAT Happened…: Would Jimmie Johnson have been as successful without Chad Knaus? That is a question we may never know. While its hard to argue that Johnson isn’t a talented wheelman, its also hard to argue that his success hasn’t been at least a bit due to the help of Knaus’s expertise. Perhaps their true talent is in staying together all these years, so we may never know the answer.
What Else Could Have Happened: While Johnson may not have been as successful without Chad Knaus as his crew chief, he may have succeeded with much less controversy. Knaus has been a master at exploiting the “gray areas” of Nascar’s rulebook, occasionally running afoul of the sanctioning body for it.
Why It Had to Turn Out The Way It Did: The two of them just work well together, and kudos to Rick Hendrick for noticing that prospect.