Post by HockeyEdge on Nov 20, 2006 19:05:48 GMT -5
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) -- Not long ago, Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus were considering a split.
The driver-crew chief combination worked well during the regular season -- better, in fact, than almost any other -- but when NASCAR's playoffs got going, something wasn't right. They couldn't carry their success through to the finish.
So car owner Rick Hendrick sat them down and made them decide if the relationship should continue.
They chose to stick it out. And this year, they worked it out.
No bad luck, no ill-timed wreck, no gremlin in the machinery was going to deny Johnson his long overdue Nextel Cup title Sunday.
``It was a decision we had to make -- they really had to make -- did they want to be together?'' said Hendrick. ``They made that decision, and when things got tough this year, they cinched it up between the two of them. They're as good of a combination as I've ever had in racing.''
They proved it with a banner season.
A Daytona 500 victory. A win at the prestigious Indianapolis Motor Speedway. All but four of the 22 regular-season weeks on top of the points standings.
But the No. 48 team was used to those kinds of accomplishments.
A first NASCAR championship? For the driver and team who had everything but, nothing could have come as a bigger relief.
``It's going to take a little bit of time for this to soak in, just to think what this team has accomplished and the year we've had,'' Johnson said. ``Being a champion, it's the only thing I ever wanted to be.''
The driver-crew chief combination worked well during the regular season -- better, in fact, than almost any other -- but when NASCAR's playoffs got going, something wasn't right. They couldn't carry their success through to the finish.
So car owner Rick Hendrick sat them down and made them decide if the relationship should continue.
They chose to stick it out. And this year, they worked it out.
No bad luck, no ill-timed wreck, no gremlin in the machinery was going to deny Johnson his long overdue Nextel Cup title Sunday.
``It was a decision we had to make -- they really had to make -- did they want to be together?'' said Hendrick. ``They made that decision, and when things got tough this year, they cinched it up between the two of them. They're as good of a combination as I've ever had in racing.''
They proved it with a banner season.
A Daytona 500 victory. A win at the prestigious Indianapolis Motor Speedway. All but four of the 22 regular-season weeks on top of the points standings.
But the No. 48 team was used to those kinds of accomplishments.
A first NASCAR championship? For the driver and team who had everything but, nothing could have come as a bigger relief.
``It's going to take a little bit of time for this to soak in, just to think what this team has accomplished and the year we've had,'' Johnson said. ``Being a champion, it's the only thing I ever wanted to be.''
