Tech Q&A: Chad Knaus

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- The fun never ends for a crew chief, Chad Knaus said. Goodyear's softer tire was supposed to make things easier this year, many thought, because everyone would pit for four tires when the time was right.

Not so fast, Knaus said. The new tire has made things more difficult because everything is different. Crew chiefs are having to learn new strategy, and it's not simply throwing on four tires on every stop.

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This weekend, Knaus and driver Jimmie Johnson head back to the place that made them famous - or at least got them their first win. Knaus made a call to take on fuel only late in the 2002 NAPA Auto Parts 500 at California Speedway, and Johnson made it stick by winning his first Cup race.

Will that strategy work again? What's the toughest part about getting around California Speedway? Have things changed aerodynamically after NASCAR's rules adjustments? How has the Chase for the Championship affected strategy?

These were all questions Knaus tackled with NASCAR.com's Lee Montgomery.

Did you guys test out there? If so, how'd it go? If not, why not?

Knaus: No, we didn't test out there. We're kind of holding our tests to the tracks where we feel are going to be real pertinent to the final 10 events, the Chase for the Championship.

We feel like we can go out to Fontana and run in the top 10. Really, at this point in the season, that's what we need to do, run in the top 10. So we just didn't think it was necessary.

Saving tests like you guys are doing has changed from previous years. Do you see any negative side to that?

Knaus: If we're not in the top 10, yeah. If you're not in the top 10 in points rolling into July, it's going to get pretty scary, and you're going to have to start testing to make sure you are in the top 10 going into those last races. Yeah, it's going to be tricky.

If you're not there, it's going to be real frustrating. You're going to have to get in there and use your tests up, probably, at places you don't want to. Let's say, Pocono, which doesn't really play a factor in that. The road courses don't play a factor. Yeah, it's going to be interesting.

Are you a guy in favor of eliminating testing like some people? Would that be a way to save any expense? Or will teams just spend it somewhere else?

Knaus: No. You'll just spend it somewhere else. If you eliminate testing, that's not fair. It's not fair to the teams, not fair to the drivers.

	Cars head into Turn 1 at Fontana in 2003. Credit: Autostock

If you've got a driver that's relatively inexperienced, say in his sophomore year - let's say you give the rookies tests and abolish it for everybody else - that's not fair to the guy who's got the sophomore driver because these guys don't spend enough time in the racecars as it is to know what they're going to do.

That's probably the biggest difference between Nextel Cup, Busch Grand National and Truck Series racing compared to any other form of professional sports. Those other guys actually have field time, they're able to play scrimmage games.

Our guys aren't able to do that because they aren't able to get in the car enough. That would be terrible.

Even if they came in a day early, just to practice and test? That wouldn't do any good?

Knaus: No, because if you come in the day before, it's so, so hectic to try to get things done that you can't do it. If you came in the day before and did testing, you would only get two, three hours tops of testing.

Now, actually track time, you can cut that down to less than an hour. So what good is that?

You guys finished 15th at California last year. What happened at the end?

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Knaus: We ran real well. We ran in the top five all day long. Got down toward the end of the race, and the car was a little bit loose and spun on the last lap. It was just one of those things.

Do you have anything to prove out there?

Knaus: No. I love Fontana. I think it's a great racetrack. We obviously got our first win there, Jimmie's hometown is nearby. We go out there with a lot of confidence because we know the Hendrick engines are going to run very well, we know that our aero package is going to be pretty decent.

The Dodges seem to have a little bit of an advantage over everybody else, but not a huge advantage. We're definitely closing that gap, so going out there is not having something to prove to anybody but to ourselves that we are a good team, that we can go and run in the top five, top 10 every single week.

Is the most critical part of handling at that track getting into Turn 1 because you're going so fast and carrying so much speed. Is that the crucial part of the racetrack?

Knaus: Really, Turn 1 isn't the hard part. Turn 3 is the hard part. Even though you are going slower down the back straightaway, Turn 3, the way the transition is from the back straightaway into the corner really makes the car real light and predictable.

That's actually a lot worse in than what it is in Turn 1. The thing that's unique about Fontana is that it is a very wide racetrack, it is a multi-groove racetrack, but it usually takes a little bit before it gets there.

It usually takes about halfway in the race before you see somebody stretch out and get up high and start moving around a little bit. But the hardest part is definitely Turn 3.

What do you do to try to overcome the car getting tight?

Knaus: Sometimes the driver's just got to suck it up and go for it. That's something that separates a lot of the drivers in the garage area.

The ones that know and feel and trust that the car's going to be there for them once it gets down in the corner are able to drive through that.

The ones that don't have the car for them when they get down in the center of the corner, it's hard for them to drive that. It's hard to hold your breath for a whole lap. For just a turn, you could probably do it.

There are a lot of things we can do. Aerodynamically, we can assist the car. We can definitely tighten the car up. You can tighten it up, but it will hurt you somewhere else. You've got to really focus on that area. It's difficult.

Have you guys been able to get the downforce back that you lost from the spoiler getting cut?

Knaus: We got back to what we lost, or pretty close back. What we lost from the rules changes and the templates, we were not able to get back.

That's where some of the Ford and Dodge teams have a small advantage on us. I don't think they lost as much with the template change as much as the Chevrolets did. That's why we're hurting right now, to some degree.

That's the stuff in the rear?

	Knaus' first victory at a crew chief came at Fontana in 2002. Credit: Autostock

Knaus: Right. The deck lid, the C-post area, the bumper cover area, the sides of the car were made narrower. A lot of those things hurt the Chevrolets a lot more than they hurt some of those other guys.

Once you get to the track, is there much you can do to add downforce to a car?

Knaus: No. Once you get to the track, NASCAR doesn't let you work on the body of the car, for some reason. We change all the springs, all the shocks, the engine, everything you want to. Everything but the body. I still haven't figured that out, but once you get to the racetrack, you really can't do a heck of a lot to the body, and you're kind of stuck with what you've got.

I'm guessing the two-tire, no-tire strategy that helped you win California is probably out the window with the softer tire?

Knaus: Especially after Martinsville, yeah. Yeah, I think so. You never know. That's why it's difficult to be a crew chief nowadays because situations arise that you wouldn't possibly think. If there's a caution with 15-20 laps to go, and you think everybody's going to stay out, and you're the leader, and everybody behind you pits, you're a sitting duck.

Now, if there's a caution with 30 laps to go, and you pit, and everybody else stays out, then you're an idiot. You don't know what's going to happen. You have to just kind of wait and see what the circumstances are.

The tire that we're going to use at Fontana doesn't really give up that much, but it's going to give up more than what it did in the past. You're just going to have to wait and see.

Has your job as a crew chief been made easier this year because of the softer tires? If only a little bit? Now, it seems like when the caution comes out, you hit pit road and change four tires.

Knaus: No, because that's not the case. Look at Kurt Busch at Bristol. Cautions came out and fell, and everybody pitted behind him, and he went on to win the race. That's not the case, and it doesn't make it easier. It makes it more difficult because everything that you've worked on for the last two or three years with the tire compound and construction that we've been racing with is gone.

You have to start completely over. That means you're spending more money on testing, you're spending more money on research & development, you're spending more money at the shaker rig trying to find the grip that the tire doesn't have, you're spending more money in the wind tunnel trying to find your downforce you lost. No. If anything, it's harder.

Tech Q&A appears every Tuesday at 11 a.m. ET on NASCAR.COM.