The Gambler: Knaus makes difficult decisions look easy

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Chad Knaus must have been a riverboat gambler in a previous life. He certainly has the classic poker face.

Opting for a two-tire stop with a handful of laps remaining in Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in order to gain track position, the crew chief for the No. 48 Chevrolet team pulled off the equivalent of drawing to an inside straight.

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Jimmie Johnson, who hadn't led a lap all day, suddenly found himself at the head of the field when Denny Hamlin's car sputtered on a late-race restart, then just as suddenly found himself in Victory Lane when Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s ride threw a shoe following the green-white-checkered shootout.

And once again, Knaus comes away with all the chips.

How does he do it, week after week? Certainly experience and recognition of the situation plays the biggest factor, but how can Knaus roll the dice time after time and not roll snake eyes? It's obviously not just about luck -- but good fortune seems to smile Knaus' way about as often as he doesn't.

He sure makes it look easy. Zig when everyone else zags. Take the contrarian position. If the leaders are taking four tires, take two. If you can't pass people on the track, do it on pit road.

"If it stayed green, we were going to go for it at that point," Knaus said. "I figured that the guys who were leading were probably going to take four. I knew the guys were just a little further back were going to take two. I just said, 'Let's try it and see what happens.'"

And how did Knaus know that vital piece of information? It all centered around Johnson's qualifying effort on Friday. Because the No. 48 qualified sixth, Knaus was sitting near the end of pit road, where he could watch and see several cars make quick stops -- providing him with the feedback he needed to make a split-second decision, which turned out to be the correct call.

"It all started on Friday with a good qualifying effort," Knaus said. "That allowed us to get a good pit, kind of where we wanted it. Obviously, you can't foresee what's going to happen throughout the event. It's not like football or basketball where you know where the quarters are going to end.

"So when that caution came out, we knew we didn't have a car capable of winning the race at that point. But usually late in the race like that, cautions breed cautions. So track position was important. We were fortunate to see some guys taking two tires, I kind of called an audible right there, took two tires and went with it."

But the most important attribute that Knaus and -- to a large part -- his counterpart at the No. 24, Steve Letarte, have in common is their ability to persevere.

"That's been instilled in us from Day 1," Knaus said. "In the past, we worked with Ray Evernham and paid attention to the way Rick [Hendrick] runs his life. He never gives up. He's been a mentor of mine for sure. If you ever get to the point where you feel you're in a submissive position, then you're going to be beaten."

That means keeping a determined outlook, even when things look hopeless.

"We never stop working on a racecar throughout an event," Knaus said. "We've been in races to where we've crashed in practice and gone to the back of the pack. We always try to look at the upside potential -- and that's what we go by. The day that we stop doing that will be the days like today stop happening for us."

Even when Chad Knaus doesn't have the best hand, he rarely folds. And that's why the majority of his gambles aren't really gambles at all.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.