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Chad Knaus Told Jimmie Johnson To Damage Car In Case Of Talladega Win!
http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2011/10/26/2516121/chad-knaus-jimmie...
A recording of Knaus and Johnson's conversation captures the crew chief telling his driver to intentionally crack the back end of the No. 48 car if he was to win Talladega.
Oct 26, 2011 - Chad Knaus told driver Jimmie Johnson to intentionally damage the back end of his race car if the No. 48 team won Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway, the crew chief acknowledged Wednesday.
Knaus admitted giving the five-time NASCAR champion the pre-race instructions in order to "cover our bases" in case 500 miles of bump-drafting knocked the car beyond NASCAR's strict tolerances. Officials likely would have accepted the damage as an excuse if the No. 48 car had not fit NASCAR's templates in post-race inspection.
The conversation between Knaus and Johnson occurred when the crew chief leaned inside the No. 48 car before the race to give Johnson some final words of encouragement. Because Johnson's in-car camera was live on NASCAR.com's RaceBuddy application, the chat was broadcast to anyone watching the feed at the time.
The orders were recorded by a fan (who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of backlash from Johnson supporters) and obtained by SBNation.com.
"If we win this race, you have to crack the back of the car," Knaus could be heard telling Johnson on the recording. "Got it?"
"Really?" Johnson replied, sounding surprised.
"Yes," Knaus said. "Got it? You don't have to have to hit it hard, you don't have to destroy it. But you've gotta do a donut and you've gotta hit the back end, or somebody's gotta hit you in the ass-end or something. OK?"
After Johnson responds with apparent silence (he can't be heard saying anything else), Knaus added, "You'll be alright. Can't take any chances."
When asked Wednesday whether the conversation indicated Knaus was trying something fishy on the back of the car, the crew chief replied, "I don't think that's a fair assessment."
"To be honest with you, here's the deal – racing at Talladega is tough, and I think everybody understands that," Knaus said in a phone interview. "You run 500 miles at 200 miles per hour, and you're bump-drafting and you're beating on one another, and it's real easy for these cars to get outside of tolerance.
"It's a tight tolerance that we're held in. It doesn't take much to be a few thousands (of an inch) off and have NASCAR raise an eyebrow. Just being proactive, I just told Jimmie, 'Look, man – we've just got to make sure there's a tire mark or some type of visible damage.' Just because cars do move when you race them like that."
NASCAR allows a small tolerance beyond the exact measurements specified in the rulebook, and race teams try to use as much as possible without crossing the line.
Officials have warned teams who decide to live dangerously by pushing the limits, and Knaus said restrictor-plate races are stressful for crew chiefs because they can alter the cars more than planned.
"You don't really know how some of that stuff happens from time to time – especially at a place like Daytona or Talladega," he said. "... We all know how sensitive superspeedway racing is to everybody, and when you go into those races, you're nervous about everything.
"From a crew chief's standpoint, there's a lot of things that are said quickly and maybe out of anxiety that don't even mean much."
Knaus said the car was inspected three times prior to the Talladega race – the initial inspection at NASCAR's Research and Development Center, a pre-qualifying inspection and post-qualifying inspection – and passed each time.
In addition, he said it was the same car Johnson used in the spring Talladega race. Johnson won that event, so the car (which was undamaged) was taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center for an extra look.
NASCAR rules are stricter than ever, with severe penalties handed out to those who go too far outside the box – as Michael Waltrip Racing found out on Tuesday after bringing illegal windshields to Talladega.
Knaus has been on the wrong side of the NASCAR law in the past, too. But he said his comments to Johnson were out of concern that a legal car would be bump-drafted beyond the tolerances.
"It's a tight championship Chase," Knaus said. "Everybody's trying to get into it, everybody's trying to do the best they can for their team and their organization. And to try to cover a base, I just threw that out there. We didn't need it anyway, so it doesn't really much matter."
A recording of Knaus and Johnson's conversation captures the crew chief telling his driver to intentionally crack the back end of the No. 48 car if he was to win Talladega.
Oct 26, 2011 - Chad Knaus told driver Jimmie Johnson to intentionally damage the back end of his race car if the No. 48 team won Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway, the crew chief acknowledged Wednesday.
Knaus admitted giving the five-time NASCAR champion the pre-race instructions in order to "cover our bases" in case 500 miles of bump-drafting knocked the car beyond NASCAR's strict tolerances. Officials likely would have accepted the damage as an excuse if the No. 48 car had not fit NASCAR's templates in post-race inspection.
The conversation between Knaus and Johnson occurred when the crew chief leaned inside the No. 48 car before the race to give Johnson some final words of encouragement. Because Johnson's in-car camera was live on NASCAR.com's RaceBuddy application, the chat was broadcast to anyone watching the feed at the time.
The orders were recorded by a fan (who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of backlash from Johnson supporters) and obtained by SBNation.com.
"If we win this race, you have to crack the back of the car," Knaus could be heard telling Johnson on the recording. "Got it?"
"Really?" Johnson replied, sounding surprised.
"Yes," Knaus said. "Got it? You don't have to have to hit it hard, you don't have to destroy it. But you've gotta do a donut and you've gotta hit the back end, or somebody's gotta hit you in the ass-end or something. OK?"
After Johnson responds with apparent silence (he can't be heard saying anything else), Knaus added, "You'll be alright. Can't take any chances."
When asked Wednesday whether the conversation indicated Knaus was trying something fishy on the back of the car, the crew chief replied, "I don't think that's a fair assessment."
"To be honest with you, here's the deal – racing at Talladega is tough, and I think everybody understands that," Knaus said in a phone interview. "You run 500 miles at 200 miles per hour, and you're bump-drafting and you're beating on one another, and it's real easy for these cars to get outside of tolerance.
"It's a tight tolerance that we're held in. It doesn't take much to be a few thousands (of an inch) off and have NASCAR raise an eyebrow. Just being proactive, I just told Jimmie, 'Look, man – we've just got to make sure there's a tire mark or some type of visible damage.' Just because cars do move when you race them like that."
NASCAR allows a small tolerance beyond the exact measurements specified in the rulebook, and race teams try to use as much as possible without crossing the line.
Officials have warned teams who decide to live dangerously by pushing the limits, and Knaus said restrictor-plate races are stressful for crew chiefs because they can alter the cars more than planned.
"You don't really know how some of that stuff happens from time to time – especially at a place like Daytona or Talladega," he said. "... We all know how sensitive superspeedway racing is to everybody, and when you go into those races, you're nervous about everything.
"From a crew chief's standpoint, there's a lot of things that are said quickly and maybe out of anxiety that don't even mean much."
Knaus said the car was inspected three times prior to the Talladega race – the initial inspection at NASCAR's Research and Development Center, a pre-qualifying inspection and post-qualifying inspection – and passed each time.
In addition, he said it was the same car Johnson used in the spring Talladega race. Johnson won that event, so the car (which was undamaged) was taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center for an extra look.
NASCAR rules are stricter than ever, with severe penalties handed out to those who go too far outside the box – as Michael Waltrip Racing found out on Tuesday after bringing illegal windshields to Talladega.
Knaus has been on the wrong side of the NASCAR law in the past, too. But he said his comments to Johnson were out of concern that a legal car would be bump-drafted beyond the tolerances.
"It's a tight championship Chase," Knaus said. "Everybody's trying to get into it, everybody's trying to do the best they can for their team and their organization. And to try to cover a base, I just threw that out there. We didn't need it anyway, so it doesn't really much matter."
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by NIKAL on
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NASCAR releases a statement regarding the recorded discussion between Chad & Jimmie.
NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp has issued a statement in response to SB Nation's story Wednesday about Chad Knaus' instructions to Jimmie Johnson to intentionally damage the No. 48 car if he won Sunday's Talladega Superspeedway race.
Here is Tharp's statement in full:
"We became aware of this piece of audio this morning and certainly want to get all the facts before making an opinion and reaching any conclusions. We'll visit with the parties and pull all the facts together best we can. While Talladega is done and the No. 48 was not the winning or random car, we certainly have an interest in getting the facts straight on behalf of the balance of the competitors."
Though officials might be steamed at Knaus, it might be difficult for NASCAR to issue a penalty in this situation. While Knaus may have intended for Johnson to wreck the back of the car had the 48 team won the race, nothing ever actually happened.
NASCAR will likely tell Knaus it's not happy with his intentions, however.
http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2011/10/26/2517173/nascar-chad-knaus...
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Permalink Reply by Thomas on
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Paul Menard hit the wall at Indianapolis in his celebration. Not many people do donuts on the front stretch....
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Permalink Reply by Kathy Kubara on
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JJ didn't need to tear up his rear end when he won in April. So what was different this time?
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Permalink Reply by Turtle7 on
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I still say the best way to level the field and reduce owner costs is to have the manufacturers build the cars and lease them with the drive train to the teams.
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Permalink Reply by JerseyJeff on
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that will end in Nascar selling franchises. which is where they are headed anyway...
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Permalink Reply by Mike Kenyon on
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When Na$crap introduced the COT, what was really happening is the car's (COT) became Nascar's intellectual property.
Teams just own the steel.
Brian France will need to get over his greed for the good of the genre. Not going happen.IMO
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Permalink Reply by Michael Martinez on
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Jumping on the roof .....gone. There should be a rule about damage in celebration. When my son ran full bore towards Tony Stewarts car as it was being pushed to post race after a Glen win the team was like holyshit stop that kid quick!!!!!!
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Permalink Reply by blitz on
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who cares they have given him far more than his talent merits, not saying his is a bad driver but be real he is not 5 in a row good without help from nascar and lowe's he is an average guy who nascar picked to be the face of there dying act
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Permalink Reply by Brett Crawford on
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So you think NASCAR wanted the same guy winning 5 years in a row? Don't think so, unless it was Junior...
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UPDATE:
NASCAR met with Chad Knaus Friday morning and Martinsville and then released the following statement: "We had the opportunity to visit with Chad and Jimmie this morning in Martinsville. As the sport's governing body we were doing our due diligence to look into this and gain some insight into the comments Chad made before the race at Talladega. We have a responsibility to the rest of the garage area to ensure that everyone is competing on a level playing field with the inspection processes we have in place. The 48 organization knows that from this occurrence that their car is likely to be a regular customer at the R&D Center for post race inspection the balance of this season."
Knaus said Friday's meeting at Martinsville Speedway with NASCAR president Mike Helton, director of competition Robin Pemberton and Spring Cup series director John Darby was held simply to clear the air. "I have a very clear understanding of what they expect and the way they expect us to conduct ourselves," Knaus told ESPN.com immediately after the meeting. "I meant no disrespect to NASCAR or any of the competitors by no means." NASCAR officials said no punishment would result from Knaus' comments and that the purpose of their discussion with him was to gather information.
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Permalink Reply by brian campbell on
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THAT'S RACING!!
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so much for post race checks being "random". Again nascar makes up the rules as they go... what an outfit.
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