CONCORD, N.C. -- Get ready for Chad Knaus like you've never seen him, folks.

We're talking 4 a.m. We're talking Chad in his pajamas.

We're talking the first episode of the all-access HBO series 24/7 Jimmie Johnson: Race to Daytona, which will air this Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on the premium cable network. The four-week series of 30-minute shows will conclude just two days after the running of the 2010 Daytona 500.

This is the first time the 24/7 franchise has ventured beyond the boxing world, where it has captured seven Emmy awards for shows detailing the lives of boxers and what they go through as they prepare for a big fight. The plan is to offer the same kind of insight into what a championship driver and team must do to ready themselves for the biggest race in NASCAR.

“

They do a real good job of showing what's going on and giving people a good feeling of what we're doing -- without showing exactly what gears we're putting in the car and what suspension settings we're using, things of that nature.

”

-- CHAD KNAUS

"They were at my house at 4 o'clock in the morning a couple weeks ago to watch me get up out of bed, so that was kind of unique," Knaus said of the HBO film crew. "But they're a good group and it's been a lot of fun. I think people are going to see some pretty neat insight."

Johnson, the four-time defending Sprint Cup champion, pled innocence on having anything to do with the bright camera lights shining on Knaus in his PJs.

"He agreed to it, for whatever reason," said Johnson, laughing. "So he can blame himself. He can't blame me.

"He needs to learn how to say no, I guess."

Actually, when the idea for the series was first broached with Knaus, the crew chief did say no. He wanted nothing to do with it, worrying mostly about the possibility of allowing competitors to gain a closer look at some of the secrets that have permitted driver Johnson and the No. 48 team to go on their unprecedented run of championships.

Johnson said it was left up to him, and others, to talk Knaus into it.

"I think it's very easy to have sort of a knee-jerk reaction to a reality-based or documentary show," Johnson said. "What it took for me was to show him episodes of 24/7 and have him realize that it's more of a documentary than a reality show -- that this was a special opportunity to show what goes on behind the scenes.

"Showing him how they co-existed in NFL locker rooms [for the filming of Hard Knocks, another HBO sports reality franchise detailing what National Football League teams go through during a training camp] and amongst these fighters' camps helped him understand that this is pretty cool. And, of course, he was worried about trade secrets and things like that. Once he got involved and got his arms around that, he became much more comfortable with it." (Continued)