NASCAR: Johnson, Knaus master head games

Even for a six-time (now seven-time) champion, starting from the back of the field in the biggest race of the year – which Johnson had to do after the team was deemed to have made unapproved changes – is a daunting task for both driver and crew.

But when it arguably hurt his competition on Sunday – a late-race pit stop lost defending champion Kyle Busch several spots before the final restart – Chad Knaus' 48 crew was able to get the job done, much as they did for most of the 2016 season.

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"I think the strength of this team is being able to look adversity in the eye and just deal with it," said Knaus, who now Knaus sits one shy of the all-time crew chief championship record held by NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Inman. "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."

Johnson made it from 40th to the top 10 in about 30 laps, but handling issues seemed to dampen his optimism to the point where Knaus had to work a bit harder to get on the same page as his driver. Sometimes it's successful; sometimes it's not.

"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," Knaus said. "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.

"We probably are better at it [dealing with adversity] 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.

Tean owner Rick Hendrick considered splitting up the Knaus-Johnson partnership this summer – ending a 14-year run that built one of the most successful partnerships in NASCAR history. It might be hard to imagine.

"I love [Jimmie] like a brother," Knaus said. "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 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."

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