Chad Knaus’ 2020 season will be his final as crew chief for NASCAR Cup Series driver William Byron, as he will move to the role of vp of competition for Hendrick Motorsports, the team announced today, Sept. 29.
According to a statement from the team, Knaus will “oversee the technical development of Hendrick Motorsports’ entire stable of Chevrolet racecars, including its implementation of NASCAR’s 2022 Next Gen vehicle,” in addition to being “responsible for personnel dedicated to the organization’s four NASCAR Cup Series entries, including crew chiefs, pit crews, engineering, fabrication, assembly and other team-related staff.”
“When I started at Hendrick Motorsports (in 1993) working for Ray Evernham, my goal was to be a crew chief,” Knaus said in a team release. “Starting at a young age, I wanted to win every race we entered and battle for every championship… my competitive desire has not changed at all, but now I have a family that deserves my attention. This new executive role will allow me to compete in a different way with all four of our teams while spending more time with my wife and two young children.”
Knaus won seven Cup titles with Jimmie Johnson and is in his 19th full-time season as crew chief. He coached Johnson beginning with the driver’s rookie season all the way through 2018, winning titles from 2006-2010, along with the 2013 and 2016 championships and 81 total wins.
Congrats Chad https://t.co/TbkMuWWZTZ pic.twitter.com/UC0CBGLQKX
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) September 29, 2020
The 49-year-old also sits one title behind Dale Inman for the most by a crew chief in NASCAR history. He ranks third, behind Inman and Leonard Wood, on the all-time wins list.
“As we look to the years ahead, Jeff and Chad are going to play significant roles in our success,” team owner Rick Hendrick said in a statement. “They’re tremendous leaders who are respected within our organization and across the entire auto racing world. In addition, they each bring unique strengths and skillsets that will complement each other extremely well and benefit all of Hendrick Motorsports. We’re in the business of winning, and this combination is going to help us do just that.
“In life, it’s rare to witness true excellence first-hand, but that’s precisely what we’ve been treated to with Chad,” Hendrick added. “Today’s announcement is bittersweet because, in my opinion, he is the finest crew chief our sport has ever seen.”
I have learned a lot from Chad these last 2 years. Thanks for helping this team grow, win a race and make the playoffs 2 years in a row. pic.twitter.com/2tgkTsuJpF
— William Byron (@WilliamByron) September 29, 2020
Knaus and Byron scored their first win together at the most recent superspeedway race, Daytona International Speedway’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 in August. The pair has six more chances to get wins together, starting with Talladega Superspeedway this weekend.
Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He's freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek's Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.