{"id":42960,"date":"2023-08-02T17:39:48","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T22:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=42960"},"modified":"2023-08-05T17:50:49","modified_gmt":"2023-08-05T22:50:49","slug":"driver-jimmie-johnson-crew-chief-chad-knaus-voted-into-nascar-hall-of-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/02\/driver-jimmie-johnson-crew-chief-chad-knaus-voted-into-nascar-hall-of-fame\/","title":{"rendered":"Driver Jimmie Johnson, crew chief Chad Knaus voted into NASCAR Hall of Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Josh Hamilton(C), Director of Racing Communications at NASCAR, speaks during the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Day at Charlotte Convention Center on August 02, 2023 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Reid Spencer<\/em><\/p>\n

NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

It was a no-brainer.<\/p>\n

How could you keep a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion with 83 career victories out of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility?<\/p>\n

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Josh Hamilton, Director of Racing Communications at NASCAR, speaks during the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Day at Charlotte Convention Center on August 02, 2023 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Clearly, the Hall of Fame Voting Panel agreed with the absurdity of that prospect, electing Jimmie Johnson overwhelmingly to the Class of 2024.<\/p>\n

Joining Johnson in next year\u2019s class is the crew chief who guided him to those seven championships and 81 of his 83 Cup wins.<\/p>\n

Chad Knaus, widely considered an inseparable part of the Hendrick Motorsports pairing that won a record five straight Cup titles from 2006 through 2010, will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall in 2024 alongside his driver.<\/p>\n

As announced by NASCAR president Steve Phelps at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Wednesday, the Hendrick duo will be joined by Donnie Allison, who was chosen from five nominees as the 2024 inductee from the Pioneer Class.<\/p>\n

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President of Wood Brothers Racing Eddie Wood speaks during the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Day at Charlotte Convention Center on August 02, 2023 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

In addition, Phelps announced that motorsports pioneer Janet Guthrie, who finished 15th in the 1976 World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in her NASCAR debut, will receive the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR.<\/p>\n

Johnson was named on 93 percent of the Modern Era ballots cast on Voting Day at the Charlotte Convention Center. After three starts in NASCAR\u2019s foremost division late in 2001, Johnson\u2014with Knaus as his crew chief\u2014made an immediate mark on the sport during his 2002 rookie season.<\/p>\n

After earning the pole position for the season-opening Daytona 500, Johnson went on to win three times, claiming his first Cup victory at his home track in Fontana, Calif., before adding a pair of wins at Dover, which would become one of his most productive tracks.<\/p>\n

For the next 15 years, the 47-year-old native of El Cajon, Calif., would win at least two races per season on the way to his 83 total\u2014tied with NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough for sixth-most all-time. Johnson\u2019s high-water mark came in 2007, when he won 10 times en route to his second straight championship.<\/p>\n

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A detailed look at the names of the nominees up for induction during the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Day at Charlotte Convention Center on August 02, 2023 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

To secure that title, Johnson needed a remarkable run of four straight victories in races six through nine of the Chase to overtake Hendrick teammate and fellow NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon, after the two drivers battled head-to-head for most of the season.<\/p>\n

Johnson won three more titles in the next three years, eclipsing Yarborough\u2019s record of three straight fashioned from 1976 through 1978.<\/p>\n

Adding championships in 2013 and 2016, Johnson earned the nickname \u201cSeven-Time\u201d for tying inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame Class members Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the Cup Series record.<\/p>\n

Even though he was an obvious choice, the selection nevertheless seemed surreal to Johnson.<\/p>\n

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Sports reporter Jamie Little looks on during the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Day at Charlotte Convention Center on August 02, 2023 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI know\u2014and I feel like Chad feels much the same\u2014we just wanted to go racing,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cFrom a very young age, racing was in our life. Our parents raced, our families raced. We just wanted to be racers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd sure, I know I tried to dream big, but I couldn\u2019t have dreamt this big. And to have everything play out as it has\u2014even looking back on those moments in time, with five in a row and seven championships in total, the super moments along the way\u2014I still can\u2019t believe it\u2019s happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess it\u2019s just\u2026 when you\u2019re a kid, dream big, and who knows, it might end up happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knaus received 81 percent of Modern Era votes. His record is inexorably linked to Johnson\u2019s, with a couple of notable exceptions. In 2006, Johnson won the first of his two Daytona 500s and the UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400 at Las Vegas while Knaus was serving a four-race suspension for aerodynamic alterations to the rear window of the No. 48 Chevrolet made before qualifying at Daytona.<\/p>\n

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Jim France, Chairman and CEO of NASCAR, looks on during the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Day at Charlotte Convention Center on August 02, 2023 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Substituting for Knaus, Darian Grubb is the crew chief of record for those two victories.<\/p>\n

In 2020, Knaus added a win to his record that\u2019s not part of Johnson\u2019s resume. Knaus guided William Byron to his first Cup victory in the August race at Daytona before turning the crew chief reins over to Rudy Fugle the following season, as Knaus assumed the role of vice president of competition at Hendrick.<\/p>\n

Up until the moment his name was called, Knaus wasn\u2019t convinced he would be selected in his first year of eligibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I was watching the video that played, once Jimmie was nominated, and I saw the way we grew up together,\u201d Knaus said, \u201cand as I sat back and was watching him, and I was thinking, \u2018My gosh, how much I\u2019ve learned throughout my career just because of Jimmie,\u2019 and I was really proud of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was probably more proud of the fact that he\u2019s in there than actually I am. For me personally, it\u2019s a huge, huge day. Very, very proud. Very proud of everybody that\u2019s helped me, and it\u2019s an honor to be here with Jimmie.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be here if it wasn\u2019t for Jimmie Johnson, in a lot of different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allison, one of the founding members of the famed \u201cAlabama Gang,\u201d was named on 53 percent of the Pioneer ballots, with car builder Banjo Matthews second in the voting. Allison follows brother Bobby Allison, a member of the inaugural class, into the Hall. <\/p>\n

Ironically, in each of Donnie Allison\u2019s first three NASCAR Cup Series victories, Bobby followed Donnie, as the brothers ran 1-2 at Rockingham in 1968, Charlotte in 1969 and Bristol in 1970.<\/p>\n

All told, Donnie Allison won 10 times at NASCAR\u2019s highest level, but he is perhaps more famous for a race he didn\u2019t win. Allison was leading the 1979 Daytona 500 when he and Cale Yarborough banged fenders repeatedly on the final lap, ultimately eliminating both cars.<\/p>\n

The drivers exited their crippled machines and confronted each other, with Bobby Allison soon joining the fray. That race, the first NASCAR event with live flag-to-flag coverage on national television, and the fight that followed put the sport on the map.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really nice,\u201d Allison said during an interview on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. \u201cIt\u2019s the culmination of a lot of hard work, a lot of patience. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been a joy to be a part of racing like I\u2019ve been. To have a career like I had and to go on to help young guys like Joey Logano, Trevor Bayne, different guys like that, and my grandson Justin, it\u2019s just an honor to be inducted into this Hall of Fame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guthrie raced sports cars and IndyCars before making her foray into NASCAR racing. In 33 NASCAR Cup Series starts, she posted five top 10s, with a best finish of sixth at Bristol in 1977.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service It was a no-brainer. How could you keep a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion with 83 career victories out of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility? Clearly, the Hall of Fame Voting Panel agreed with the absurdity of that prospect, electing Jimmie Johnson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":42968,"comment_status":"closed","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-42960","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\/2023\/08\/GettyImages-1588042527-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1552&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-baU","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42960","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=42960"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42970,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42960\/revisions\/42970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}