NASCAR completes Day 1 of Next Gen organizational test on Charlotte’s oval

Posted on November 17, 2021November 24, 2021 by Terrin Waack

CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR held the first portion of its two-day Next Gen organizational test Wednesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

There were 18 Cup Series organizations on site with 30 drivers. One- and two-car teams were allowed to field one entry, while three- and four-car teams were limited to two. That did require some drivers to take turns behind the wheel.

For example: Trackhouse Racing is a two-car team, so Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain split time in the No. 1 Chevrolet. Stewart-Haas Racing is a four-car team, so Kevin Harvick and Chase Briscoe shared the No. 4 Ford, while Aric Almirola and Cole Custer took turns in the No. 10.

Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

“You saw a lot of the smaller teams actually up the leaderboard a good bit there,” said John Probst, NASCAR’s senior vice president of racing innovation. “I know not everybody’s coming here to put a lap time up. But you see the teams from front to back are a lot more prepared and they’re on the track right away. So, I feel like they’re learning very quickly and their level of preparation has gone way up, especially now that we’re done racing. They’re completely focused on the car at this point.

“The competition from front to back should be continuing to get better and better.”

The test session lasted from 9 a.m. ET to 8 p.m. ET with a one-hour break. Thursday will be a bit shorter, going from 8 a.m. ET to 5 p.m. ET. It will also stream live on NASCAR.com’s YouTube starting at 9 a.m. ET.

This two-day test marks the 16th overall since its first on Oct. 8-9, 2019 — production was delayed a season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s the second organizational test; the first was earlier this year on Oct. 11-12 on Charlotte’s 2.32-mile road course rather than the 1.5-mile oval.

“I feel like there’s been good, steady progress with some of the gremlins in the steering, some of the gremlins in the transaxle and then just standard suspension settings,” said Kurt Busch, who has driven the Next Gen car before, but Wednesday marked his first on-track time with 23XI Racing. “Those are all getting a bit more scienced out. It was like we were on the moon before and now we’ve landed on planet Earth. And now it’s up to each team to individually tailor the cars to make themselves better.

“Then we have to see how the cars will do in traffic still, I still think that’s going to be an interesting game.”

PHOTOS: Experience the sights and scenes from Charlotte

There was no pack racing Wednesday, though the idea was tossed around for Thursday. The last hour of Thursday will be dedicated to pit practice, a Next Gen first. NASCAR will also make a spoiler change for Thursday’s stretch, cutting the spoiler from eight to seven inches; that is expected to add 30 horsepower and increase the speed of the cars.

Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Medi

The Next Gen cars will make their competitive debut Feb. 6 in the 2022 Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

“This entire car from top to bottom — for everybody that’s working on it, for all the drivers, for everybody that’s building the parts and pieces — it’s a new challenge,” Alex Bowman said. “There are so many things on it different than what we had. It’s very challenging.

“The old car was really fun because how aggressively hard you could drive it. This car, you can’t drive it as hard I don’t feel like, or at least I’m not comfortable with it yet. But learning where those limits are — how hard you can or can’t drive it — is going to be a challenge. I’m enjoying trying to figure it out.”

VIDEO: Denny Hamlin spins on track | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. evaluates progress

Posted on November 16, 2021November 16, 2021 by Terrin Waack

CONCORD, N.C. — Brad Keselowski was referred to as “the spark” numerous times Tuesday during Roush Fenway Racing’s rebrand unveil at Charlotte Motor Speedway. If that’s the case, team owner Jack Roush kept the embers hot and burning over the years.

Together, they hope to recreate a full-fledged fire with what is now known as RFK Racing come the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season.

“I think on the surface, when you look at them, you may not think that they are aligned and similar,” president Steve Newmark said. “But I think Chris Buescher characterized it best, I’ll share with you, when he said Brad Keselowski is more like Jack Roush than any other driver in the garage.”

Buescher is now Keselowski’s sole teammate. Keselowski and Roush announced their partnership back in July, and since the 2021 season concluded two weeks ago, they’re officially a duo. Keselowski is now the driver of the No. 6 Ford and a part owner of RFK Racing. Buescher will pilot the No. 17 car.

While Keselowski came into the organization prepped with ideas for change – for example, the recent facility updates – he has also perfectly fit into the mold Roush has built. Again, similar characteristics at play.

“They’re extremely cerebral,” Newmark said. “They are very detail-oriented and thoughtful. They are going to immerse themselves in everything. They don’t believe that hey, this stuff is below me. …

“(Brad) also recognizes that every person in the company matters. And that was always very important to Jack. He said, ‘Everybody contributes and we should treat everybody with respect regardless of where they are in the hierarchy.’ And I’ve seen that right away from Brad.”

Roush is 79 years old and held ownership in the Cup Series since 1988. Keselowski, now 37, had his first taste of Cup competition in 2008 and started full-time racing in 2010.

The head boss jokes he hasn’t made up his mind about the youngster yet.

“We are still circling one another,” Roush said. “Haven’t gotten the full measure of the size of the other dog.”

Meanwhile, Keselowski is well aware of who he has joined — a NASCAR Hall of Famer.

“I’ve got a lot of wins to catch up on,” Keselowski said. “He’s got, I think we said the other day, 300-plus NASCAR wins. I haven’t gotten to 100, I would like to get to 100 as a driver. But even if I do, I’ll still be 200 behind him. So, a lot of work to do.”

WATCH: Brad Keselowski talks about crew chief Matt McCall

Roush has tallied 325 NASCAR national series wins as an owner. That breaks down into 137 at the Cup Series level, 138 in the Xfinity Series and 50 in the Camping World Truck Series.

Keselowski holds 75 victories as a driver. He has won 35 races in the Cup Series, including one this past season, 39 in the Xfinity Series and one in the Camping World Truck Series. He does have prior Trucks ownership experience, where he added 11 wins.

“I’ll be able to back away some and to not go to all the races and not be the first one on top of the pit box and the last one in my car to go home as I’ve been in the past for most of my time,” Roush said. “I enjoy passing the baton to Brad. Steve questioned me if I was really willing to do that and I said, ‘Well, as long as I can keep one hand on it for a while, it will work for me.’ ”

Posted on November 16, 2021November 16, 2021 by Zack Albert

CONCORD, N.C. — Roush Fenway Racing made its new era of ownership official with a nod to its history Tuesday with the presentation of a new name for 2022 and beyond — Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing or RFK Racing for short.

The new branding formally adds part-owner Brad Keselowski to the team’s name, joining team founder and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jack Roush, plus Fenway Sports Group. The team name was announced Tuesday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and it’s a nifty balance of new mixed with overtures to the team’s heritage.

“What do they say at weddings — something old, something new, something borrowed?” Keselowski said at the unveiling of the new-look car. The new came in the form of the name, logo and leadership structure; the old was part of the updated but retro-styled version of the team’s flagship No. 6.

The borrowed was Keselowski’s name above the door, presented in a typeface used by his previous team owner, Roger Penske. “I like the way it looks. I always did,” Keselowski said. “I thought it was really professional and clean.”

The addition of Keselowski to the organization’s ownership group was announced July 20. The former Cup Series champion will drive the team’s No. 6 Ford in the NASCAR Cup Series starting next year and will assume a leadership role in RFK Racing’s competition department.

Keselowski has already hit the ground running in just the second week since he closed the books on his successful 12-year run with Team Penske, a tenure that included his lone Cup Series title in 2012. Though Tuesday signaled a shift to a new era in the team’s history, RFK Racing president Steve Newmark said Keselowski emphasized preserving the organization’s legacy when making the move.

“Brad and I talked about it, he said we want this to be the perfect balance between paying homage to our history and our lineage and all the accomplishments that the team’s done, but also at the same time signifying that it is a new world order,” Newmark said. “That sounds very simple, when you just say it as a soundbite. It’s a lot harder to do when you start trying to incorporate that. So whether we got it exactly right, time will tell, but I think our intent is to really signify that this is kind of the next evolution the next step in our organization, but we’re not going to lose our roots.”

The 37-year-old driver has been involved in team ownership before, leading Brad Keselowski Racing in an effort that produced 11 Camping World Truck Series wins from 2008-2017. He’ll team alongside Chris Buescher on the two-driver roster and will be tasked with helping to rejuvenate an organization that last won on the Cup Series level in 2017.

Part of that charge, Newmark said, was to create almost a “Roush 3.0” — an allusion to the team’s evolution from Roush Racing for its 1988 NASCAR debut to Roush Fenway Racing ahead of the 2007 season to its third and current iteration with Tuesday’s re-brand.

Keselowski will make the next step with his first time behind the wheel Wednesday in the first of two days of testing for the Next Gen car at the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval. Tuesday’s show car is the actual car that Keselowski will drive in the test, and though it’s all new for its 2022 debut, Roush approved of the number’s new-old look, refreshed for the team’s next chapter.

“I thought the 6 was too vertical,” Roush said of the previous version before turning his attention to the new style. “It still has a block shape, but it’s more dynamic in its skew, and I think that’s the way we should have done it in the first place. They didn’t ask me what to do about this, and the president I had at the time didn’t ask me about that configuration of the original 6 in 1988. But I think they got it right this time.”

Posted on November 16, 2021 by Staff Report

NASCAR Cup Series driver Corey LaJoie and wife Kelly took to Twitter to announce that they are expecting another child next summer.

LaJoie party of 4! Coming May 2022 #s7ackingdiapers pic.twitter.com/9OqOQcvUmk

— Corey LaJoie (@CoreyLaJoie) November 16, 2021

The Stacking Pennies star will now have a ‘party of 4’ after welcoming their first child, Levi Ronnie, in March 2020. LaJoie hosts the successful weekly podcast with special guests from motorsports and other industries, diving into all things NASCAR. New episodes of the show are released every Wednesday during the season, with select shows airing during the offseason.

LAJOIE’S LATEST: Three NASCAR champions join the show

On the track, LaJoie, a third-generation racer, drives the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro for Spire Motorsports. He finished ninth in the 2021 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

Posted on November 16, 2021 by NASCAR Official Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The NASCAR Foundation announced Louisville, Kentucky, native Jeff Harmon as the winner of the 11th annual presentation of the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award during a live-streamed announcement on NASCAR’s YouTube channel Tuesday. As the award winner, Harmon secured $100,000 from The NASCAR Foundation to Down Syndrome of Louisville.

“I’m so excited and humbled to win this award”, said Jeff Harmon when he first received the news. “The other three finalists were all deserving as well, I’m blessed, what an honor. The $100,000 will go a long way in helping Down Syndrome of Louisville grow and expand to help even more kids. Thank you to The NASCAR Foundation and all who voted!”

Harmon, who has served, supported, and uplifted Down Syndrome of Louisville and the surrounding communities for 18 years, earned the most online votes from a pool of volunteers, including: Erin Collins of the Dallas Hearing Foundation, Jaeleen Davis of Maggie’s Wigs 4 Kids of Michigan, and Beverly Hodson of Richie McFarland Children’s Center, all of whom have impacted a combined number of 6,330 kids through their continual service. Each of these organizations has each earned a $25,000 donation from The NASCAR Foundation in recognition of their nominated volunteers’ achievements.

“We’re very proud to present this award to Jeff Harmon, he has been doing extraordinary work for Down Syndrome of Louisville and exemplifies the values of Betty Jane France,” said Mike Helton, The NASCAR Foundation Chairman. “Our fans had a tough decision because all four are passionate people who devote hours of their time to help their respective organizations. We’re delighted to present this recognition to Jeff to honor the work he’s doing in the Louisville community.”

Throughout the 11 years of its existence, the Betty Jane France Award has highlighted 44 different individuals who have served and uplifted children in their local communities. The NASCAR Foundation, through this program, has acknowledged 622 years of combined service from these community heroes who have touched at least 374,763 children’s lives overall.

Harmon began his tenure volunteering for the Down Syndrome of Louisville (DSL) 18 years ago, when his son, Justin, was born with Down Syndrome. Serving in the capacity of coach and fundraiser, he logs around 20 hours per month with the organization. The organization serves as a support system for local families and individuals that have dealt with Down Syndrome.

Harmon and the DSL plan to use the $100,000 cash prize to help implement modern playground equipment and sensory room renovations, as well as launching satellite campuses to further support the Down Syndrome community.

Aside from his service, Harmon has been a committed lifelong fan of NASCAR, with his all-time favorite driver being Darrell Waltrip. The racing fan grew up racing modified stock cars with his family and friends, and now gets to share his love of the sport with his own family and children.

To learn more about The NASCAR Foundation’s programs, including the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award and Speediatrics Children’s Fund, please visit NASCARfoundation.org.

Posted on November 16, 2021November 16, 2021 by Zack Albert

23XI Racing announced a host of competition changes Tuesday, including the news Billy Scott will join its No. 45 team as crew chief for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, rekindling a pairing with driver Kurt Busch.

The move puts Scott back atop the pit box full-time for the first time since the 2019 season. The 44-year-old Florida native spent two seasons with the former Michael Waltrip Racing team before a four-year stint (2016-19) with Stewart-Haas Racing. He was most recently head of race engineering for Richard Childress Racing.

23XI also announced Robert “Bootie” Barker would return as crew chief for Bubba Wallace on the No. 23 Toyota team. Barker moved into the role last September and helped guide Wallace to his first Cup Series victory last season at Talladega Superspeedway.

“Bootie and I clicked from the start,” Wallace said in a 23XI news release. “He’s been a great addition to the No. 23 team and in just the short time he’s been the crew chief, he’s helped me on and off the track to be better every time I get in the car. To get the win together at Talladega, the first win for both of us, was really special. I’m excited to continue to build this team with Bootie and to see what we can accomplish together next season. I’m pumped to get the year started at the LA Coliseum and then head to Daytona for the Daytona 500.”

Barker and Scott will hold other roles in 23XI’s competition department, with Barker as senior setup engineer and Scott as senior race engineer. The team announced several other competition hires, including the addition of Dave Rogers, who helped Daniel Hemric claim his first Xfinity Series championship in 2021 as a crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing. Rogers will serve as 23XI’s performance director.

Scott’s most successful campaign at SHR came during his one-year partnership with Busch, who notched one win and a career-best 22 top-10 finishes in 2018. Busch left Stewart-Haas for Chip Ganassi Racing the next year.

Busch was mum about his team’s crew-chief prospects for next year during an interview session on the eve of the Cup Series season finale at Phoenix Raceway. “We’re looking all over the place,” Busch said Nov. 6, “but I believe the crew chief that we’ll end up with will be a guy that you’ve heard of before and that is a winner in the Cup Series.” Ten days later, Busch was bullish about his prospects with Scott.

“The chemistry Billy and I had together a few years back at SHR was strong,” Busch said in Tuesday’s news release. “We raced smart and built solid consistency with each other. That showed with the results and the fun the team had together. Winning races is what it’s all about and our past experiences will help build the future at 23XI.”

23XI will expand its operations for 2022, adding a second team for its second season of Cup Series competition. NBA legend Michael Jordan joined driver Denny Hamlin in forming the organization, which debuted with driver Wallace in a single-car effort in the No. 23 Toyota this season.

Busch became a free agent once Chip Ganassi Racing announced its sale to Trackhouse Racing Team in June. The 2004 Cup Series champion just finished his 21st full-time season in NASCAR’s top division, and he comes to 23XI with a streak of scoring at least one win in his last eight seasons.

Scott was a longtime race engineer before transitioning to a crew-chief role in 2014. His only action atop the pit box last season came in two spot starts for Our Motorsports in the Xfinity Series, with Cup regular Austin Dillon behind the wheel.

Posted on November 16, 2021 by Pat DeCola

Not even two weeks ago, Chandler Smith picked up his second victory of the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, clinching Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in the process. After the race, he took a few pictures, talked to some media members and humbly left the track. After all, it wasn’t his night to celebrate — Ben Rhodes, the night’s third-place finisher, claimed the ’21 series title and, well, did enough celebrating for the both of them.

Even still, Smith wasn’t in the mood for relishing in his accomplishments. In his eyes, he fell short this season.

“I didn’t really celebrate, to be honest,” Smith said Monday during a call with reporters. “Happy I got the Rookie of the Year and happy about the win, but … how do I say this in the most polite way for myself? I expected myself to win these races. I was very disappointed that I didn’t get the wins throughout the season; circumstances weren’t really great throughout the season to be honest with you.

MORE: Smith wins Phoenix, clinches Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors

“When we finally were good, something happened. And any time we weren’t good, nothing happened. So, just being honest. Getting those two wins was definitely a confidence boost, because you have those doubters and they still tell you that.”

It’s easy to understand Smith’s high expectations entering the year. For starters, he’s driving the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota — that alone sets a driver up for success. Smith kind of burst onto the national series scene, though, in 16 starts scattered across 2019 and ’20, finishing in the top five in half of them. He looked like a prospect ready to break out in a big way.

With a full-time ride lined up for ’21 in one of the series’ best trucks, it seemed all the puzzle pieces were falling together for Smith to compete for the title while riding his way to several victories.

The first race of the season fell right in line with that as well, with Smith leading a race-high 22 laps at Daytona International Speedway … before a tire issue derailed his day for a ninth-place finish. An eight-race stint with an average finish of 21.875 followed, with Smith only landing in the top 10 once (Richmond Raceway) in that stretch all the way into May.

Things did turn around a bit from there, with Smith compiling seven top 10s and a pair of wins (Bristol Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway) in the remaining 13 races, staying alive in the playoffs until Martinsville Speedway’s Round of 8 elimination race before seeing his title hopes run dry. One race removed from a Championship 4 appearance after a tumultuous regular season isn’t bad, but Smith made no bones about the fact this year didn’t meet his — or his Cup champion boss’ — standards.

“B-minus is what I would grade (our season),” said Smith, who noted his plans for next year are being finalized and should be announced in the next week or so. “Just because, realistically, going into the season and halfway through the season I knew we were capable and had the resources and everything at our disposal to win a championship, but we just weren’t all clicking. We just weren’t consistent as far as showing up at the race track and being good, and when we did show up and were good there were too many mistakes being made. Granted, we had the rookie stripe. So I guess it was acceptable but in my eyes I still didn’t accept that. I’m glad we picked it up the last half of the season and the consistency started coming, the results started to show a little bit. I’m still not happy with the first half of my season to be completely honest with you.”

Smith mentioned the team started to hit its stride toward the later part of the season in a similar fashion to the year before as “me and Danny’s (Stockman, crew chief) relationship got better and he started to trust my input more and I started to trust his input more and the team started clicking.”

Now with his “first full-time year in anything in a very long time” under his belt, a Sunoco Rookie of the Year trophy soon to be added to his collection and a pair of race victories in the record books, Smith is focused on his super late model offseason schedule, which includes the prestigious Snowball Derby, which he placed fourth in last year.

The 19-year-old’s 2021 regular season is going to stick with him all through until ’22, it seems. And if it does, expect him to come out firing in his sophomore campaign and right the wrongs from a season of missed opportunities to be among the title favorites once again just a few short months from now.

Posted on November 15, 2021November 16, 2021 by Staff Report

On Tuesday at 11 a.m. ET, The NASCAR Foundation will reveal the winner of the 11th annual Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award live on NASCAR’s YouTube Channel.

TUNE IN: Nov. 16 at 11 a.m. ET

The Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award, named in honor of the foundation’s late founder and chairwoman, Betty Jane France, recognizes NASCAR fans who volunteer for children’s causes in their racing communities. Each finalist receives a minimum $25,000 donation for their organization with the overall winner receiving a $100,000 donation from The NASCAR Foundation to further their efforts.

The 11th annual Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award finalists include:

— Erin Collins of Dallas, Texas, a volunteer with the Dallas Hearing Foundation, a non-profit organization that offers medical and surgical treatment, hearing technologies, speech and hearing rehabilitation and education support to those in financial need. For the past 12 years, Collins has dedicated her time to serving kids living with hearing loss, initially volunteering in a fundraising capacity for the organization and eventually creating a youth program to provide a safe space where the kids can be surrounded by peers also living with hearing loss.

— Jaeleen Davis of Midland, Michigan, a volunteer with Maggie’s Wigs 4 Kids of Michigan, a non-profit organization that provides wigs and support services to children ages 3 to 18 throughout the state of Michigan. Davis has volunteered for 13 years with the organization, raising awareness and funds through her Miss America platform, which has also allowed her to introduce bills in Michigan and Ohio to get insurance companies to cover the cost of children’s wigs.

— Jeff Harmon of Louisville, Kentucky, a volunteer with Down Syndrome of Louisville, an organization that supports, educates and advocates for individuals with down syndrome, enabling them to reach their full potential. Having served in both coaching and fundraising roles over the last 18 years, Harmon’s passion and dedication for volunteering has touched hundreds of kids and families and the communities where they live.

— Beverly Hodsdon of Exeter, New Hampshire, a volunteer with Richie McFarland Children’s Center, an early childhood program that helps young children reach their full developmental potential while supporting their families throughout the process. Hodsdon has been a pillar of the organization for 17 years, devoting her time to help in different capacities as a board member, creating fundraising events, bringing the largest donor of the organization and providing graphic design and marketing services.

Posted on November 15, 2021November 18, 2021 by Staff Report

As NASCAR inches closer to the 2022 Busch Light Clash in February at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Next Gen testing will continue on Wednesday and Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Live streaming will be available on NASCAR’s YouTube and Facebook channels (11 a.m.-7 p.m. on Wednesday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Thursday).

These testing sessions follow the series’ short-track test in October at Bowman Gray Stadium that consisted of a Goodyear tire test and generational star power turning laps at the historic venue. Wednesday will mark the fourth time the Next Gen car has appeared on the oval layout at the Concord, North Carolina, track. Cup Series champions Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. took part in the track’s test last year, Busch returned earlier this year, and wheel-force testing was conducted there in June.

This week’s session will feature a bigger roster of drivers and teams, as organizations are beginning to prepare for the 2022 season. The two-day organizational test allows teams to field their own cars, limiting entrants to one car for one- or two-car teams and two cars for three- or four-car teams. Recent changes to the Next Gen car’s structure include a position change for the exhaust and new slots on the rear windshield to reduce the temperature in the cockpit.

On-track activity is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET Wednesday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Thursday. Each session is open to the media, and NASCAR.com will have a full report.

MORE: New rules package, technical updates | Next Gen development timeline | Photos from the test

Team	Driver(s)
No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet	Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain
No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet	Austin Dillon
No. 4 Stewart Haas Racing Ford	Kevin Harvick and Chase Briscoe
No. 6 RFK Racing Ford	Brad Keselowski
No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet	Corey LaJoie
No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet	Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman
No. 10 Stewart Haas Racing Ford	Aric Almirola and Cole Custer
No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota	Denny Hamlin
No. 12 Team Penske Ford	Ryan Blaney
No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet	AJ Allmendinger and Justin Haley
No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota	Christopher Bell
No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford	Austin Cindric and Harrison Burton
No. 22 Team Penske Ford	Joey Logano
No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet	William Byron and Kyle Larson
No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford	Michael McDowell
No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet	Erik Jones
No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota	Kurt Busch
No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
No. 51 Petty Ware Racing Chevrolet	Cody Ware and JJ Yeley
No. 66 Motorsports Business Management Ford	Timmy Hill
No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Ford	BJ McLeod
No. 94 GMS Racing Chevrolet	Ty Dillon

Posted on November 15, 2021November 15, 2021 by Holly Cain

BRASELTON, Ga. — Even as he walked around the IMSA paddock filled with sportscar enthusiasts at the Motul Petit Le Mans event over the weekend at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Chad Knaus was smiling and accepting congratulations for a job well done in his full-time gig — vice president of competition for the NASCAR Cup Series champion Hendrick Motorsports team.

A week ago, Knaus was celebrating with champagne and confetti after Hendrick driver Kyle Larson wrapped up a 10-win season with a championship bow. This weekend, Knaus led his previous Hendrick champion driver Jimmie Johnson as the pair wrapped up an IMSA Michelin Endurance Challenge season — competing in the four endurance races and finishing fourth on Saturday.

Johnson, whose former No. 48 NASCAR team took over Larson’s 2021 No. 5 effort, was genuinely happy for his friends and their success. Fresh off his inaugural IndyCar season, the seven-time NASCAR champ was an integral part in that group’s inaugural season together under Cliff Daniels in 2020 — Johnson’s final year of NASCAR competition.

In particular, Johnson said he was proud of second-year NASCAR Cup Series crew chief Daniels’ accomplishment leading the Larson team. Johnson has known Daniels for years through their time at Hendrick — when Daniels was working on SIM data and various engineering positions — long before Daniels began leading Cup teams.

“I’m so thankful for the time I had at HMS,” Johnson said. “I’m so thankful for everything they provided and gave to me and I know along the way I was able to help in many ways, too.

“I think bringing Cliff Daniels into the crew chief position was a good move. We had a lot of great guys on that team already that knew Cliff, but they jelled and we had a great year in 2020 to kind of grow the team. And Cliff kept adjusting.

“Larson comes in and is on top of his game and they have just an epic year with 10 wins and the championship. Truly happy for any and all those folks and probably carrying a bit more pride for Cliff just because of the history I have with him and understand the journey he’s been on to be an elite-level crew chief and he’s able to do that in his second year.”

Knaus, who left the pit box this season to lead Hendrick’s overall technical efforts, was equally as proud for the work put in and the trophy it produced. But for him, it was also about raising the overall game of Hendrick, which put two drivers — Larson and 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott — in the Championship 4 and had all four drivers — including William Byron and Alex Bowman — qualify for the playoffs via wins.

“Obviously, with the 5 (Larson), I was extremely happy that they won and I was super proud of them,” Knaus said. “What an amazing year they had of working together and competing at a super high level and frankly, probably deserved the championship more than most.

“The 9-car (Elliott) was extremely fast all year long. They had some hiccups along the way, but they made the final four and they were running very competitively. And then you have the 24 (Byron) that was running well and had some issues but really a strong series during the playoffs and then unfortunately the 48 car (Bowman) that won Martinsville a week ago and then went to Phoenix and ran like 15th all day.

“You really only feel as good as your worst car. But I’m very proud of everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and their contribution throughout the year. It was really, really high and we really wanted this one badly, obviously.

“To be able to close out the Gen-6 era with a lot of wins and a championship and welcome Kyle to the organization and be able to do it in this fashion was a really special year for us all.”