“What we want to do is…do the best thing we can for Hendrick Motorsports.” This line from the 2010 season may sound routine for NASCAR fans today. Of course, Rick Hendrick‘s team is the epitome of success in the Cup Series, boasting 313 race wins and 14 championships. But 83 of those race trophies and 7 of those Cup titles came under the guidance of a certain innovator. It is none other than Chad Knaus, the speaker of that intriguing statement.
The former crew chief for Jimmie Johnson‘s No. 48 Chevrolet was a car genius. Knaus had a knack for finding the smallest tweaks that could give his car an edge on race day. Yet, lurking behind this genius were darker controversies. Today, a new discovery has stirred up old memories for fans.
Remains of Rick Hendrick’s past innovations?
Since his first amateur gig at age 14 working for his dad, Chad Knaus had dreamed of becoming a NASCAR crew chief. When he finally got the chance in 2002, he made sure to leave a trailblazing legacy. After being paired with Jimmie Johnson on the No. 48 pit box, Knaus hunted for the tiniest spaces to make his team better. The mastermind found every gray area in the NASCAR rulebook and exploited it to his advantage.
Between 2002 and 2007, Knaus incurred four suspensions from his crew chief role. Yet, after every infraction, Hendrick’s innovative genius re-evaluated his approach, inching closer to the line of acceptability. This history of Chad Knaus along with Jimmie Johnson’s jaw-dropping record frequency raised eyebrows in the NASCAR community. Johnson’s five-championship streak between 2006 and 2010 was a period of hot controversy.
So when a fan on Reddit recently posted a wildly contorted version of a NASCAR Cup Series car, the questions from that period come back to mind. What is more, the car looks exactly like Johnson’s blue No. 48 car with lime yellow numbers imprinted on the side. The fan wrote, “Can someone please explain what this is and where it comes from.”
Can someone please explain what this is and where it comes from. (via u/Racingfan2043) https://t.co/pNP4MWqH3v #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/IRlZcaWfvl
— r/NASCAR on Reddit (@NASCARonReddit) March 28, 2025
It looks like a discarded prop from a sci-fi Hollywood movie, right? Well, given Chad Knaus’s reputation for tinkering with cars, this car may be one of his accidental innovations. NASCAR penalized Rick Hendrick‘s crew for rule infractions several times, like in 2007.
Knaus sat out six races for flaring out the front bumpers of Johnson’s car at Sonoma. It happened again in 2010. NASCAR ruled that the sheet metal between the roof and the side windows had been illegally modified. That landed him a six-race suspension and Knaus had to appeal before the Appeals Panel.
Yet Knaus’s nonchalant approach never went away: “As far as my reputation goes, I’m not too concerned about that. What we want to do is go out there and do the best thing we can for Hendrick Motorsports, the best thing for [sponsor] Lowe’s and try to win races and championships.”
Even Rick Hendrick lauded his dedication when Knaus shifted to a competition director role in 2020: “Chad’s work ethic, it’s unbelievable. To have him come off the box and really be responsible for four cars, keep the energy level where it needs to be, I think it’s going to be really good for our organization.”
But this new piece of evidence left a trail of doubts in the NASCAR community. Diehard fans started to call out Hendrick and Knaus’s secret operations.
NASCAR fans raise their eyebrows
Well, when you see a car that looks like a sci-fi movie prop, you are bound to blink twice. The picture posted on Reddit shows a car with its engine and gas pipes positioned outside like machine guns. Does this remind you of a popular Hollywood science fiction action franchise? If your memory fails you, some fans are here to remind you.
“Wow the youth dont know the transformers 3 Nascar crossover.” So, did Rick Hendrick and Chad Knaus strike a deal with Hollywood? That seems highly unlikely, so fans turned to another conclusion. This other-worldly piece of machinery could never be allowed in NASCAR, so a fan wrote sarcastically: “Most legal hendrick car.”
And if anyone in NASCAR could envision and create a Transformer-like car, who better than Chad Knaus? His multiple scrapes with the sport’s rulebook have never left the fans’ memories. One of them came up with an apt description of the weird contraption. “Something Chad was trying to get nascars approvals for, but they didn’t go for it.”
rom a two-race suspension in 2005 to a six-race suspension in 2010, Knaus has never failed to stir controversy in the garage. So another fan chimed with the common sentiment: “Told ya’ll Chad Knaus was a cheater! :)”
Jimmie Johnson‘s championship streak has astounded racing addicts for ages. What if one of those was slightly tweaked against the rules (with no disrespect for the duo’s winning streak)? One fan suggested, “It’s how Jimmie won that 7th championship.”
Evidently, Rick Hendrick’s mastermind has never faded from the NASCAR fanbase’s memory. The new piece of evidence may not be his, but Chad Knaus definitely left a mark in the sport for his genius talents.
The post Fans Unleash Sly Digs at Rick Hendrick & Jimmie Johnson’s Infamous Innovator Amid Resurfaced Hollywood Ties appeared first on EssentiallySports.