All Jacked Up

Talk about a gutsy call at Phoenix

Posted by: Jason Randall

Sunday, April 13, 2008 8:04 PM

Well, just as I predicted in Saturday's News-Gazette, Jimmie Johnson ended Hendrick Motorsports' losing streak with an unbelievable performance at PIR.

There might not be a better driver in the series than Johnson when it comes to conserving fuel, and there's no doubt, Chad Knaus is the best crew chief in the business.

With about 50 laps to go, pretty much every team knew they wouldn't make it to the end with the amount of fuel they had left. Most would have to come in with around 12 or so laps remaining.

The 48 didn't get that memo. Knaus urged Johnson to conserve fuel and it paid off in a big way. With as big a lead as Johnson had, he could afford to get out of the gas a little earlier than normal heading into the turns and it helped him find his way to Victory Lane.

A couple of years ago, when I had the opportunity to cover the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard (a race that Johnson won), I spoke with Knaus before the event.

Regardless of who you're a fan of, Knaus couldn't have been a nicer guy. We chatted about what kind of car he thought he had for the race that day. He told me he figured it was a top 5 car, but didn't know if it was a car that could win. It was.

It goes to show how that Lowe's team never stops working during a race, and the tweaks Knaus made to that car and the decisions he made were on point.

We chatted in the garage area for about five minutes and Knaus didn't care that I was from a small paper in East Central Illinois. He was open and answered all my questions with honest answers in the same way I feel as he would if it were ESPN talking to him.

Folks who don't like racing think it's nothing but a bunch of dumb southern hillbillies. But Knaus is an example of the many smart people who make the sport great. There are so many good people involved with NASCAR and Knaus is right there among the nicest.

What an amazing call to stay out Saturday night. Johnson actually said he ran out of gas with about a half-lap remaining, but was able to save enough at the bottom of the tank to do a burnout. Good stuff.

Some quick thoughts:
- How can Carl Edwards' team be performing so well and Matt Kenseth's be performing so poorly?

- Jeff Gordon's team has a lot of problems, and it might be time to replace crew chief Steve Letarte.

- We didn't have to hear "boogity, boogity, boogity" Saturday night because of the Red Sox-Yankees game running long. Thank you baseball!!

- It's very clear that power steering fluid on the track is a BAD thing. NASCAR made the right choice by red flagging the race when Ryan Newman's car was spilling the nasty stuff.

- There's a week off before Talladega. My early pick is Junior.

That's all for now. Until next time, keep hittin' your marks!

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