Johnson discusses relationship with Knaus

“That day is out there,” Johnson said. “I think that a crew chief’s life span is much shorter than a driver’s. They live in dog years and drivers can carry on much longer. I’ve been accused of being loyal to a fault in the past, but that’s me.

“But I have no plans or desire to make a change. When Chad decides he’s had enough of being the guy on the box, it’ll be his decision to step down. As far as I’m concerned, we’ve made it 13 years with this thing, and I want to see it go as long as it can. … This is really more of a timeframe when Chad says someday, ‘I’ve put in my time here as crew chief, and I need to slow down a little bit.’ “

The two are perhaps the most well-known crew chief-driver duo in the garage, and they certainly are the most successful. Knaus was hired as Johnson’s crew chief in the driver’s first full-time season at Hendrick Motorsports (2002), and he’s been on top of the box ever since, save for four races in both 2006 and 2007.

Knaus’ 67 career wins are the most among active crew chiefs, those wild Victory Lane celebrations serving as a foil to the often brusque manner in which the 43-year-old conducts his business.

Another grandfather clock trophy — they already have eight of them — is at stake for the two this weekend, but a bigger trophy is already out of play. The No. 48 team finds itself this weekend in the foreign position of being at Johnson’s best statistical track while no longer in contention for this year’s championship.

Johnson was one of four drivers eliminated from the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup following the Contender Round, his push for a seventh title finished just past the halfway point of the postseason.

While Johnson has three wins this year, it came in a four-race stretch before the summer, and the postseason dominance we’ve seen from the No. 48 camp didn’t materialize this time. A 40th-place result at Kansas in the Contender Round opener resulted in a win-or-bust mentality for the group, yet it only yielded finishes of 17th at Charlotte and 24th last week at Talladega.

The Charlotte race was particularly frustrating, as evidenced by Johnson and Knaus bickering over the radio in a moment of chatter that was picked up and broadcast on ABC.

“We’re honest with each other and know each other well enough to work through the bad times when it’s tough,” Johnson said. “It might not be pretty, and you may have heard things on the radio that got your attention, but we’re like family. And we can fight like family. We can call each other out on that stuff.”

Being ousted from the postseason, the best Johnson can finish is fifth in the final standings. He’s only finished worse than fifth once in his career, a sixth-place effort in 2011 that ended his run of five consecutive series championships.

“I can say that leaving Kansas and Charlotte … that was when I came to grips with not being a championship contender,” Johnson said. “… It wasn’t fun leaving Kansas or Charlotte. It was relatively dark and not a lot of sunlight floating around. …

“I truly believe that those moments make you stronger and make you dig deeper. It’s great medicine for the 48. I don’t want to be in this position. But it’s great medicine to sit and watch this championship unfold. It’s going to motivate me, Chad and the team — all of us on the 48 team. We’ll come back next year and be ready to roll.”

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