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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES: FORD ECOBOOST 400

November 20, 2016

Homestead, Florida

THE MODERATOR: We'll start our media availability with the winning crew chief Chad Knaus. His seventh championship in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Chad, similar result than you've had in the past, but quite a unique race. Can you break it down for us a little bit from your perspective?
CHAD KNAUS: Holy smokes, I don't know if I can even begin.
It was obviously a challenge from the onset, but it's not that‑‑ it's definitely not the race that we anticipated having. We thought we had a little bit more speed in our car yesterday. We didn't qualify well on Friday, so we didn't have the best track position throughout the course of the race, so we didn't really show the strength of our car until I think the very end.
But to be able to get up there, get clean air at the end of the end, Jimmie was actually able to do a fantastic job. I haven't had a chance to talk to him, if it was just him or if he thought the car was pretty good in clean air. So we'll have to find out what that was about.
We ran well, but we just couldn't broach into that top 5 the way we needed to throughout the course of the day, and the guys worked hard, and it was awesome. It's an honor and a privilege to be able to be here today doing this.
THE MODERATOR: Unique feature of the elimination format and how that impacted this race.
CHAD KNAUS: It's definitely different. You know, in years past, as we've been here battling for this, because this was our first time in this format, you kind of had your bogey and you knew or had a feeling about what it was you had to do throughout the course of the race, and you could almost strategize or kind of conduct your race around that. With what's going on now in this format, man, it is a challenge, and we came in here with a mindset of really kind of what we do every single week of going out there to try to put ourselves in position to win the race and capitalize on situation when they arise.
Man, the opportunity arose, and we capitalized.
It was really the same way we approach every single week for 39 events throughout the course of the year, and it ended up paying off for us. We could have very easily thrown in the towel and said, look, we're out of this thing. But this 48 team is very, very tenacious, and I think Jimmie and the guys proved that again tonight.

Q. We asked you the other day about what you want your legacy to be. Jimmie says you don't really think about it, except maybe after a couple drinks. Is this something you think about on your own?
CHAD KNAUS: It's really not. And again, I don't mean to be weird or disrespectful or anything like that, but that's‑‑ I haven't approached it throughout the course of our career. I really just think about the next event. The next event could be qualifying, the next event could be practice, the next event could be the race. It could be whatever it may be, and I feel like for me, that's the safest environment for me to operate, knowing that there's always that next goal that needs to be achieved, that next goal that needs to be accomplished, and keeping our guys in that mindset.
Not that I don't want them to enjoy and bask in the opportunity to go out there and battle for championships, or myself, I do enjoy it. That's why we do it. But looking at the numbers right now isn't really what I'm about.

Q. You were up against a lot of great racers tonight, guys who had won in the round, defending champion in the series. There were three guys that had won four races each who didn't even make it to the final, yet you guys are the champions, as you have been seven times now. What's the difference or what's different about how you guys do your business, conduct your business around the races, that's allowed you to win seven times and a lot of these guys don't have one yet and they are great racers?
CHAD KNAUS: Certainly. I hate to be this blunt, but it's Jimmie Johnson. You know, he is probably the most underrated champion in this sport, to be honest with you. He is a fantastic, fantastic individual, an amazing race car driver. Most people in the situation we were just in would crumble, and he didn't even waver. He knew what he needed to do. He knew what the demands were on him at that point in time, and he made it happen.
You know, and that's the difference in the whole thing from my standpoint. We've got a great team. We've got a great owner. We've got a great everything at Hendrick Motorsports is fantastic, but the fact of the matter is the real spark in this whole thing is Jimmie.

Q. About 95 laps left you said you were going to throw a lot of s‑‑‑ at it‑‑
CHAD KNAUS: You can't say that (laughter). Did I really say that?

Q. Yeah, you used that word. Did any of that stuff work, and was a horseshoe at all involved by any means?
CHAD KNAUS: I mean, clearly it damn worked. I don't know, man. I mean, you come up with some good ones.
Yeah, I think we made the car better for sure. We were able to keep pace with those guys a little bit better. Jimmie was definitely able to run the bottom of the racetrack better. We just‑‑ in traffic we just couldn't get from that fifth to eighth‑‑ you know, in that area. Like it's just kind of like a black hole. It's very difficult to progress through that area, and we just couldn't get through there, so we needed to make some significant adjustments. We pulled some packer from the front. That helped the body attitude. He was able to get some good restarts, which put us in that position.
You know, yeah. Was there some luck involved or bad luck? I don't even know. I don't know what the conversations were about Joey and Carl and all that stuff, so however all that, did that open up the door for us? Absolutely. But the fact of the matter is we lined up out there and Jimmie drove that thing past those guys and won the race.

Q. Much like tonight, earlier this year the 48 team seemed to hit some headwinds. I was wondering, what do you say to your guys to get over it, and what do those of us watching you don't know?
CHAD KNAUS: It depends on the conversations that go on. It depends what the situation is for certain. I think the strength of this team is being able to look adversity in the eye and just deal with it. If you look at us throughout the course of our career, we've had crashes, we've had engine failures. We've had poor qualifying efforts. We've had things happen throughout the course of the race that we've been able to come back and win through.
This team is solid from the standpoint that‑‑ just we might get wavered, we might get shaken, we might get knocked back on our heels, but then we bounce back and we start jabbing right back, and that's the way that we've rolled, and we're going to continue to work that way until we're done.

Q. Chad, before the restart that had the big crash, it seemed you kind of had to will Jimmie a little bit to talk to you about the car. What did you sense from him at that point, and how have you learned to pull that out of Jimmie over time?
CHAD KNAUS: I don't even remember what you're talking about, I'm sorry.

Q. Talking about the changes a little bit.
CHAD KNAUS: Gotcha. Look, there's not one of us in here that can say we have any idea what guys through these guys' minds as they're out there racing these cars at 200 miles per hour. We can act like we do, we can pretend that we do, we could pretend that we understand, but nobody in here does, nobody. When they're in that situation and they start to clam up, the best thing you can do is try to be their friend and try to make their realize that, hey, we're going to make it better, we're going to go forward.
Sometimes I do that well, other times I don't. But maybe tonight I did it right.

Q. You kind of alluded to this a little bit, but you guys really had a lot of adversity to overcome this weekend between kind of the crazy way qualifying was with the time there and all the things that happened before the race and then him really not leading until the very end of this race. Could you speak to how you're able to do that? What is it that makes you guys able to overcome that?
CHAD KNAUS: I think the‑‑ here's‑‑ it's a great question, and honestly, we probably are better at it now than what we once were. I think a lot of it comes from security and comfort. I know that he believes in me, he knows that I believe in him. We know that we're not in fear of our jobs. We know that we've been able to win championships and win races. We've made a mark. We've made our mark.
What happens from this point is‑‑ you know, is the toppings on the ice cream, right. So there's a lot of comfort in that, and there's a lot of guys out there right now, they don't have that comfort. They don't‑‑ if they'd won a championship, yeah, they'd have been heroes. They didn't win the championship, okay, well, maybe not so much now. Guys that win races, guys that don't win races. Guys' jobs on the line, not on the line. There's a lot of things that go through that as you go through sports, in any sport.
I think that's the one thing that helps us the most is the fact that we know that we're committed to one another, we're committed to this team, we're committed to this organization, and we're going to trudge through no matter what the situation is.

Q. You guys overcame a lot of adversity today, and it started actually before the race. I understand if you don't want to get into technical details, but what did NASCAR take umbrage with prior to the race? How did you fix it? And just kind of give us a little insight as to what happened because we could kind of see what was going on but never really got any real info. If you don't want to explain it, I understand.
CHAD KNAUS: Yeah, I don't want to.
We started last, we finished first. We'll take that one. How's that?

Q. Fair enough.
CHAD KNAUS: No, man, it's just one of those deals, dude. You work. That's what we do. We work. Everybody works out there. Everybody. Every single team. It's just a matter of whether or not you get yourself into a situation that's crippling or not. Unfortunately today we did, and we were able to go through and make it happen, and that's really the facts. The facts are everybody is out there, everybody is doing everything they possibly can to try to get every ounce of speed out of their race cars, and we're going to do the exact same thing, just like everybody else.

Q. Is the satisfaction level any different in this one, sort of winning it in an unforgiving tournament style format almost, and in the middle of the year when it seemed like Toyotas were winning everything, did this seem at all plausible for you?
CHAD KNAUS: It was pretty bleak at that point, wasn't it. It wasn't looking good. I still don't think that we necessarily had the speed that we need week in and week out. We've got to get our cars better, for sure. I mean, it was evident tonight, right. I don't know that ‑‑ the 24 didn't run that great, the 5 didn't run great, the 88. So we've got some work to do to continue to be able to compete with those guys.
The one thing that we have in our corner is we have Jimmie Johnson. He is the one that makes things happen when we don't necessarily have the race cars. When we do have the race cars that we need, he does phenomenal things.
This format is unique. It's different. It did give us an opportunity to breathe and rest and relax a little bit after Charlotte, after Martinsville, which was honestly nice. It really was. Not that we took any of those other races lightly in the least little bit. We didn't for sure. Man, we put ourselves in position to win a lot of those races, which was great.
But it's a unique format, man. It's a challenge. You guys came up with a good one on this. That's for sure. I look forward to hopefully being here again next year.

Q. Rick was in here the other day, and he said that the two of you will pretty much ride off into the sunset together‑‑
CHAD KNAUS: That's really cute.

Q. No, but I'm just saying, would you have it any other way, given what the two of you have accomplished? The two of you are like brothers. Would you have that any other way?
CHAD KNAUS: Gosh. That's going to be hard on me, man. Damn. Probably the way it's going to roll out for sure. It really is. I love him like a brother. He's a fantastic individual.
Jimmie has taught me more about life than life itself has taught me. He's taught me about family. He's taught me about relationships. He's taught me about being a champion. You know, when we started this thing, all I was was just a racer guy, and he was a cool California kid, and we kind of grew up together. To be in this situation to where we know he's got a handful of years left, whatever they may be, and for Jimmie and Mr.Hendrick to want me to stick with the 48 car and be at the helm of this ship, man, it's flattering. It really is flattering, because let's be honest, I'm getting older just like everybody else is. None of us is as young as we once were, and I look forward to the future with these guys.

Q. It was a very exciting championship celebration out there; Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr., Tony Stewart, seemed like everybody was coming out. What was the emotions like there? It seemed very special.
CHAD KNAUS: I'll tell you, Jeff is a nervous ninny. I'll tell you something. Golly, him on top of the pit box? Man, you guys don't even know. He is stressful.
But nonetheless, it's awesome having him there. As you guys all know, I started ‑‑ my real Cup career wasn't necessarily with the 24 car, but the first real serious phase was with the 24 car, so knowing Jeff from a young man to where he is now is awesome having him there.
Dale Jr., I've known him for a long time, as well. You know, man, just having him come up and showing that respect to Jimmie and the team and myself, I don't think you guys realize how much that matters to a guy like Jimmie.
To have him there and just kind of like, hey, man, that's cool. That emotion was really, really spectacular, and Tony on his last race hopping up there, he's a good dude. Tony, he's fantastic. He understands his role in the industry. He understands the role that he played. He was the typical bad guy, per se, which was great. He accepted that role. He loved that role.
Tony was one of our biggest adversaries, one of our biggest competitors. He was a nemesis, an enemy throughout a lot of our careers, but he was also the same guy that when things were down with Jimmie and I, he would call me on the phone and say, "Hey, man don't give up on this thing. You guys got it." It meant a lot having them up there.

Q. Jimmie Johnson, 2013 champion versus Jimmie Johnson, 2016 champion.
CHAD KNAUS: He is definitely a lot more mature. He's always been great. He's always been California cool. But he is in a spot right now to where he is so comfortable and willing to go out there and make things happen that most should be pretty scared, honestly. He's too comfortable in his shoes, man. He's pretty spectacular.
THE MODERATOR: We're joined now by the owner champion, Rick Hendrick, from Hendrick Motorsports. Congratulations, champ.

Q. Chad, looking at this Chase, looking at the mid‑season struggles you guys had, it looked like you were going to have‑‑ it didn't look like a championship‑winning team during portions of this year. Is this the sweetest? How does this compare to the other ones?
CHAD KNAUS: It's definitely the sweetest today. Yeah, of course. I mean, how is it not the sweetest? The first was awesome. How much more can I use these words, awesome, terrific, fantastic. But this is really, really special. To go through a bit of a lull, not make the Chase, not be able to come down here and compete for two years straight, that is so difficult, I don't think you guys can even understand because it's not like we just only decided to work hard once in a while. We as a group work so hard for 38 events to lead up to this race.
So this one is pretty sweet, to be able to put Jimmie's name in that same header as Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Petty, it's an honor to be a part of it. I swear to you, it is. I'm just glad to be his buddy and be by his side.

Q. Chad, y'all won two races early in the year. You had a long‑‑ not a dry spell but weren't very good for a long time, then you sort of won near the end. Was there a moment during that drought where y'all sat down and said, we need to do this, this and this to get back on track?
CHAD KNAUS: The thing is as you're going through those moments in time, you don't know what this, this and this are. When you're not running as competitive as what you need to be, because everybody is doing everything they can all of the time, that it's very difficult to pinpoint what the situation is or where the lack of speed is.
But yeah, as a group it's been documented. We've talked about it. Mr.Hendrick sat us down. He said, "Look, guys, we're gonna get together. We're gonna work together. We're gonna build better cars. We're going to build more downforce. We're going to have more horsepower. We're going to make this thing better." And everybody buckled in.
We're very fortunate we've got right at 600 people at Hendrick Motorsports, 630‑something I think maybe, and everybody raised their hand and wanted to help. And when you get that many smart people together and that many people with the same goal, it's hard to be beat.
Now, again, we didn't come here and we didn't necessarily have the fastest car clearly, but we definitely put ourselves in position to execute, and that's all we can ask.

Q. What time of year did y'all have that little get‑together?
CHAD KNAUS: I guess it was shortly after probably Indianapolis, which we performed well at Indy. We had a very fast race car. I think we ended up finishing third. We had a pit road penalty. We were able to pass back up through that and get ourselves into the top 10. But it was in that time frame. We were working really, really hard, and words from this man right here, boy, he can motivate just about anybody. I can say the same thing to somebody, and it just doesn't have the same effect as if he says it. I don't understand that. But he does a good job.

Q. Rick, you've had many highs and lows in your life. Where do you place today, and do you steel yourself from thinking‑‑ you always credit your team, which is correct. Do you steel your way away from thinking about an eighth title for Jimmie?
RICK HENDRICK: You know, when you think about what it would mean to see Jimmie get eight, and especially when you do it under several different formats, I think that we've all talked and you guys have asked me about, do I think he gets the credit he deserves.
I think the five in a row was pretty phenomenal, and I think winning seven and tying seven is pretty special. I'm excited to see him, he and Chad, try to break the record now because we're tied, and you can't go to eight until you get seven. That's been pretty special.
Yeah, just being a part of it and seeing the organization, we were talking earlier, it just seems like yesterday we didn't think we'd even make it through the first year, and now we've won 12 of these things, and they're hard to do. I mean, tonight my wife is back there in the back, and with 10 laps to go, I said, we're not going to‑‑ we're not going to do anything. She said, "You're going to win the race." I said, "Well, that's pretty funny." (Laughter).
But anyway, when we had that last caution and he came out and took the lead, I thought‑‑ I couldn't believe it. I was actually stunned because we had so many ups and downs in that race, and I'm not a big fan of restarts because I usually come out on the wrong end.
But anyway, it's special to see him tie those guys. I think it's good for the sport, and I think it draws a lot of attention to our sport. We had Gatorade had a lot of guys like Peyton Manning telling him how neat it was, and Serena Williams and people like that. I thought it was pretty cool. I think it's going to be a big shot in the arm for not only Jimmie but our sport.
THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thanks for joining us. You're now free to go.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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