They aren't always perfect but are as close as it gets (cont'd)

"It was really a good day, and obviously Jimmie did a fantastic job there at the end. Unfortunately we had a little hiccup on the last pit stop," Knaus said. "We felt like we were going to come down pit road leading and be able to leave third or fourth with four fresh tires and make quick work of the guys ahead of us.

"Unfortunately, we came out eighth and really had to lean on Jimmie a little bit to carry us out, and he did a great job."

He was, well, perfect when the rest of his team wasn't quite, eventually passing the final car left in front of him, Tony Stewart's No. 14 Chevrolet, with just three laps remaining. Even though the final pit stop ended up being slow for Knaus' high standards, the crew chief admitted it all happened so fast that he wasn't quite sure what had gone wrong.

"As far as the pit stop goes, we have to go back home and really take a look at it and break down film to see exactly what happened," Knaus told reporters after the race. "It's difficult to say.

"Everything goes on in a short 14-second sprint, so it's hard to pinpoint anything while you're at the race track. But when we get home we'll analyze it and see what it is and we'll make the proper adjustments to get that better."

Think about that. The driver earns a perfect rating and the team wins the race -- and their crew chief vows that they will be better next time. That's scary stuff for the rest of the guys trying to prevent Johnson from becoming the first driver in NASCAR history to win four consecutive championships in its top series.

Watch and learn

If that other Hendrick team that garnered even more than the usual lopsided Junior's share of the publicity in the Sprint Cup garage this past weekend truly wants to get better, here is a novel idea: watch the 48 team.

Watch it closely. Study it. Imitate it. When there is an unexpected setback late in a race, overcome it. Then learn from it.

That is how setbacks late in races remain unexpected. Otherwise, the setbacks become routine, expected -- and drivers who experience one setback after another late in races tend to lose confidence in themselves and those around them, no matter what they may say to others publicly or even to themselves privately.

Johnson and his No. 48 guys weren't immune to the circus surrounding that other Hendrick team last weekend. They were well aware of all that was going on.

New role for Eury

Tony Eury Jr. will go testing this week with Jimmie Johnson in Chad Knaus' absence.

• More

But then, isn't there something potentially distracting going on just about every weekend in NASCAR? The good teams block out most of the distractions; the great ones block out all of them.

"For us, teammates are family -- and we want our teammates to be successful and win races and championships and all those things," Johnson said. "So in one respect it is difficult. But at the same time, we have to worry about what the 48 team is doing and how our performance is.

"Once we get into the motions of the weekend, we're just really worried about our setup of the car and our strategy and our shocks, our tires -- and really, we're into our world. ... Once you get in the garage area and get to work, that's the easiest part of the job."

Well, Mr. Perfect sure makes it look easy sometimes, even when he's not quite sure what perfect is or his teammates uncharacteristically bobble a lug nut.

There is no doubt Knaus is in nearly perfect tune with Johnson as well, providing the best example everyone else at Hendrick Motorsports needs for a base line of how to earn repeated trips to Victory Lane that, in turn, translate into repeated championships. All one has to do is look at their track record.

It now encompasses 42 race wins before their eighth season together is even at the halfway point, along with the aforementioned back-to-back-to-back titles. That includes two victories this season -- the same number earned in total by the recently dismissed crew chief from the other team in his entire tenure with the somehow more famous Hendrick teammate.

"You know, we come to the race track every single event with the hope and the desire to try to win. That's been our mind-set since we started together in 2002," Knaus said.

It sounds like it should be a company-wide mandate.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.

Joe Menzer is the author of "The Great American Gamble: How the 1979 Daytona 500 Gave Birth to a NASCAR Nation." Click here to purchase.