Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Knaus in the House?

Originally Posted on Foxsports.com on March 13, 2006.

Jimmie Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus was penalized after qualifying for the Daytona 500.  He has not been present at the track since Nascar escorted him from Daytona during the week of February 12th. 

Knaus, a student of Ray Evernham, has been serving a 4 race suspension at home.  However, he is able to contact the team via cellphone, computer, instant messages etc. 

Is that fair?  Is it really a penalty to not be present, but to be able to make the call long distance?  In this age of technology, Knaus may have a better idea what is going on in a race via his track pass/ cellphone then he would have sitting on the box.  Presumably, he doesn't have to deal with the circus that goes on at the track.  But if a basketball coach is ejected from the game, he doesn't get to instant message the assistant.  He doesn't get to e-mail the next pay into the point guard.  Why does Nascar allow Knaus to communicate with the team when he's being punished?  Are they so naive to think he can't run the team from home in his pajamas?

Granted, it is more difficult to visualize something than to see it, but given that Knaus has worked with his team (and selected the individuals for the team), I don't imagine he has much difficulty understanding what they are explaining to him.

Johnson has admitted to speaking daily with Knaus about the cars, set up and life in general.  Other than his physical presence missing at the track, Knaus hasn't missed a beat. 

Meanwhile, Johnson continues to march onward, collecting two wins and a second in three races.  While that appears to be a testiment to Darian Grubb's interim crew chiefing, it may be due to Knaus's finger still being on the trigger.

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