HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Rick Hendrick set history in motion over milk and cookies served on a plate donned with Mickey Mouse ears.
In a snack setting designed for children, the car owner called Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus together to discuss the strain in their relationship following their failed 2005 championship run. If the two couldn’t stop bickering like little kids — and Hendrick wasn’t convinced they could — he was fully prepared to split them.
“It was getting to the point where Chad and Jimmie were having more bad days than good days,” Hendrick said. “I called them into my office … and said ‘If we’re going to act like kids, we’re going to have cookies and milk and we’ll have some down time where we can talk about what you don’t like about each.”
They cleared the air that afternoon, and Hendrick scrapped any plans to overhaul the race team.
Man, did he make the right call.
Johnson and Knaus haven’t looked back since, putting together three dominating seasons not seen in 30 years of NASCAR racing. Barring anything short of disaster on Sunday, Johnson will become the first driver to win three consecutive Cup titles since Cale Yarborough from 1976-78.
The two-time defending champion leads Carl Edwards by a cushy 141 points, and although he starts 30th after an unusually poor qualifying effort, the title is practically in the bag. He needs to finish 36th out of 43 cars to win the title, and odds are it won’t be an issue: Johnson has only finished lower than 36th once all season.
This charge into the record books has been mesmerizing, as Johnson and Knaus have steamrolled their way to the top. They methodically knocked off Matt Kenseth in 2006 for the first title, then won a take-no-prisoners showdown with teammate Jeff Gordon. This time, they’ve rallied from a poor start to the season to furiously reclaim their spot atop the sport.
And to think, it almost didn’t happen.
“The meeting was supposed to be how we split the guys up,” Hendrick said. “But in this meeting, these guys really put their heart on the table and they talked specifically about what they didn’t like. Instead of holding it in, they were able to become closer friends and still respect each other’s professional position in the team.
“I’m real proud of them because I would have bet money that we couldn’t fix it. I think both of those guys would be successful in their own right, but I think they’re stronger together.”
Untouchable, actually.
Only this was the year they actually appeared vulnerable, struggling out of the gates with the full-time use of NASCAR’s new car model. The severity of the situation was revealed in March at Las Vegas, where no other driver had come close to Johnson in over three years.
But instead of notching a fourth-straight win in the desert, Johnson struggled all afternoon and finished 29th. He was alarmingly off the pace set by race-winner Edwards, who was jockeying with Kyle Busch to be the driver to knock Johnson off the throne.
Johnson and Knaus refused to go quietly. They feverishly went to work, embarking on an aggressive testing schedule that helped them quickly catch up to the competition.
Their first win came five weeks later at Phoenix, but they didn’t really hit their stride until late summer. Johnson won at Indianapolis in July to start a stretch of four wins in 10 races and re-establish himself as the man to beat.
And if there were any doubts, he erased them with another near flawless Chase. He won at Kansas and Martinsville, then passed nine cars in the final eight laps at Atlanta to finish a stunning second to Edwards.
“Man, Jimmie is magic,” a deflated Edwards offered after learning of Johnson’s finishing position.
Johnson was disappointed with a ninth-place finish in Charlotte, and angry when a 15th-place at Texas allowed Edwards to take a bite out of his points lead two weeks ago. But if Johnson was on the ropes, he never flinched.
Instead, he schooled the field last week at Phoenix, turning the season finale into a mere formality. With one last Sunday drive, Johnson will place his name among the NASCAR greats.
But don’t ask the laid-back Californian where he ranks. Just 33 years old and in his seventh full season, he wouldn’t dare compare himself to the heroes before him. Not even to Yarborough, who has stood alone in the record books for 30 years.
“I don’t think I have, or any driver, has the right to proclaim their spot in history,” Johnson said. “That’s not for that person to decide. That’s for the fan base, the guys that have done it and are in that club and were accepted into that club.”
Knaus doesn’t play the history game, either, even though he’ll become the first crew chief to win three straight titles. Yarborough used Herb Nab in 1976 and ‘77, while Tim Brewer and Travis Carter led the effort in 1978.
Knaus is not interested in anything but winning. The race on Sunday. The championship this year. A record fourth title next year.
“We’re here to win championships,” he said. “Maybe when I retire I’ll reflect on it, but right now it’s about the challenge in front of us. That’s winning a championship this year, then going back to work to win one next year. That’s what we do.”
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