{"id":22297,"date":"2018-10-11T05:15:42","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T10:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=22297"},"modified":"2018-10-11T05:21:13","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T10:21:13","slug":"hendrick-crew-chief-shuffle-breaks-up-championship-pair-johnson-and-knaus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/11\/hendrick-crew-chief-shuffle-breaks-up-championship-pair-johnson-and-knaus\/","title":{"rendered":"Hendrick crew chief shuffle breaks up championship pair Johnson and Knaus"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Both driver Jimmie Johnson<\/strong> and crew chief Chad Knaus<\/strong> have had their eyes on a record-breaking eighth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series<\/a> driver\u2019s championship, ever since the duo won their seventh title together in 2016.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s for Pros Chevrolet, talks with his crew chief, Chad Knaus, during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway on May 4, 2018 in Dover, Delaware. (Photo by Jerry Markland\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Thanks to a bombshell move by team owner Rick Hendrick, however, the pair won\u2019t have a chance to work together after the 2018 season. Knaus is moving to the No. 24 Hendrick Chevrolet next season to work with young driver William Byron, and Kevin Meendering will take over as crew chief for Johnson.<\/p>\n

The Johnson\/Knaus split brings to an end the longest-running driver\/crew chief combination in the Cup garage. Johnson is winless this season, in the throes of a drought that reached 53 races on Sunday at Dover, where Johnson didn\u2019t join the Gander Outdoors 400 until the race was 10 laps old, thanks to a lower ball joint failure right before the start.<\/p>\n

Johnson was eliminated from the series Playoffs on Sept. 30 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, where he wrecked in the final chicane while battling Martin Truex Jr. for the victory.<\/p>\n

Johnson, 43, and Knaus, 47, have worked together for 17 years. During their partnership, Johnson has won 83 races, most among active drivers, with Knaus calling the shots for 81 of them. (Johnson won twice in 2006 when Knaus was on suspension.)<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s\/Jimmie Johnson Foundation Chevrolet, talks to crew chief Chad Knaus on the grid prior to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 13, 2017 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

But Hendrick decided it was time to shake things up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no secret that Chad and Jimmie have experienced their ups and downs over the years,\u201d Hendrick said in a press release announcing the changes. \u201cThey\u2019re fierce competitors, great friends and have immense respect for one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey also fight like brothers. All three of us agree it\u2019s finally time for new challenges and that a change will benefit them and the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meendering, 37, will move to Hendrick from the organization\u2019s NASCAR Xfinity Series affiliate JR Motorsports, where he currently is serving as crew chief for Elliott Sadler as the Virginia driver chases the series title for the final time. Sadler has announced his planned retirement from full-time racing at year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving worked with a veteran driver like Elliott Sadler for three years is extremely valuable experience,\u201d Hendrick said. \u201cHe\u2019s the right fit for Jimmie at the right time. With an established No. 48 team behind them, I believe they will perform at a winning level next season and chase that eighth championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Kobalt Chevrolet, talks with crew chief Chad Knaus during practice for the NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 10, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The personnel moves include the promotion of Darian Grubb to technical director for Hendrick Motorsports. During Knaus\u2019 2006 suspension, Grubb won the Daytona 500 as Johnson\u2019s substitute crew chief and was also on the pit box for Johnson\u2019s Las Vegas victory in the third race of the that season.<\/p>\n

Grubb, 43, was Tony Stewart\u2019s crew chief at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2011, when Stewart won five Playoff races and claimed the series title in a tiebreaker over Carl Edwards. Grubb will finish out the season as crew chief for Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Byron. Together they have posted three top 10s in 30 races, with a best finish of sixth at Pocono.<\/p>\n

\u201cDarian has established himself as a respected leader in our company, and we\u2019ve seen him thrive in an executive role,\u201d Hendrick said. \u201cWe\u2019ve identified opportunities for improvement, and we know having him step up to technical director will help move us forward in those areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a champion who brings a wealth of knowledge that will continue to benefit us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Both driver Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have had their eyes on a record-breaking eighth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver\u2019s championship, ever since the duo won their seventh title together in 2016. Thanks to a bombshell move by team owner Rick Hendrick, however, the pair won\u2019t have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":11946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[659,63,16],"class_list":["post-22297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-chad-knaus","tag-jimmie-johnson","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/MIS_MENCS_Knaus_Johnson_081317-e1502674654202.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-5ND","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22297"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22299,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22297\/revisions\/22299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}