Knaus tells Johnson to wreck car if he wins

[yatesracing]

Chad Knaus admits telling driver Jimmie Johnson to intentionally damage his car at Talladega.






Crew chief Chad Knaus admits that he told five-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson to intentionally damage his car if he won the race at Talladega Sunday in case the car was out of tolerance because of the rigors of restrictor-plate racing, according to a report on SBNation.com.

Audio from NASCAR.com’s RaceBuddy picked up a conversation between Knaus and Johnson prior to the race from the microphone on an in-car camera inside Johnson’s car.

According to the audio, obtained by SBNation (for story, click here), Knaus told Johnson, "If we win this race, you have to crack the back of the car. Got it?"

Johnson, sounding surprised, replied, “Really?”

Knaus then said, "Yes. Got it? You don't have to have to hit it hard, you don't have to destroy it. But you've gotta do a donut and you've gotta hit the back end, or somebody's gotta hit you in the ass-end or something. OK?"

Johnson didn’t reply, prompting Knaus to add, "You'll be alright. Can't take any chances.”

Knaus told SBNation that he wasn’t trying to cover up any sort of violation or do something fishy.

"To be honest with you, here's the deal – racing at Talladega is tough, and I think everybody understands that," Knaus told the website. "You run 500 miles at 200 miles per hour, and you're bump-drafting and you're beating on one another, and it's real easy for these cars to get outside of tolerance.

"It's a tight tolerance that we're held in. It doesn't take much to be a few thousands [of an inch] off and have NASCAR raise an eyebrow. Just being proactive, I just told Jimmie, 'Look, man – we've just got to make sure there's a tire mark or some type of visible damage.' Just because cars do move when you race them like that.”

The Hendrick car passed inspection three times during the race weekend – opening-day inspection, pre-qualifying inspection as well as a post-qualifying inspection. Johnson won at Talladega in April with the same car. He finished 26th on Sunday.

Knaus has been penalized and suspended in the past for technical violations. He told SBNation that his comments to Johnson at Talladega were out of concern that a legal car would be bump-drafted beyond the tolerances.

"It's a tight championship Chase," Knaus said. "Everybody's trying to get into it, everybody's trying to do the best they can for their team and their organization. And to try to cover a base, I just threw that out there. We didn't need it anyway, so it doesn't really much matter."

Knaus was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.

[yatesracing]

Andrew or Speed are you able to make a correction in the Subject Title?

should read---Chad Knaus Tell Johnson to Damage Car

[TeamBlueOval]

Title has been changed.


Here's their excuse: We didn't mean anything by it, really. It is just that all this bump drafting messes with the bumpers, and NASCAR's tolerances are so tight, we just want to be sure that we don't get ourselves into trouble because some pushed on our bumper too hard and threw us out of tolerance.

But, to that, I say...
Well, why wasn't anyone else worried about that? Something fishy was going on with that 48 car. Hope NASCAR is extra careful in their inspection process of the 48 in the next several weeks.

[yatesracing]

That's what I was thinking.
Don't expect all the Media and Chevy fans to make a big hullabaloo any where near as much as The Roush Trevor deal

[yatesracing]

I like your Subject heading a WHOLE LOT BETTER THANKS

[yatesracing]

They are desperate. I realize you can not count Johnson out but he is looking at a tough road ahead.
I shouldn't be concern about that bunch not when we have Martinsville coming up and I'm worried.

[TeamBlueOval]

I think his title hopes are over after Talladega. It would take a monumental comeback to make up 50 points in 4 weeks. As in, he would have to win EVERY race and Carl would have to finish outside of the top-10 every week.

[blueblood]

I hope they go over the car with a fine tooth comb he could have said that to throw them off next week they'll be worried about the rear of the car the front end will probley be what wrong with it hahaha

[DeeDee]

[ARTICLE=UPDATE:]NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp has issued a statement in response to the story: "We became aware of this piece of audio this morning and certainly want to get all the facts before making an opinion and reaching any conclusions. We'll visit with the parties and pull all the facts together best we can. While Talladega is done and the #48 was not the winning or random car, we certainly have an interest in getting the facts straight on behalf of the balance of the competitors." Though officials might be steamed at Knaus, it might be difficult for NASCAR to issue a penalty in this situation. While Knaus may have intended for Johnson to wreck the back of the car had the 48 team won the race, nothing ever actually happened. NASCAR will likely tell Knaus it's not happy with his intentions, however.(SB Nation)(10-27-2011)[/ARTICLE]

[speedfan]

I can't believe he admitted to it. and why he said anything over the radio, rather than passing Jimmie a note in the car or letting him know before the race.

[TeamBlueOval]

It wasn't over the radio, he leaned in the car before the race but the Race Buddy in car camera heard every word he said and played it on NASCAR.com for everyone to hear.

[yatesracing]

THIS SHOULD BE GOOD----Nascar and Chevy having a beer LOL

[yatesracing]

Get a load of this ..............................
NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp has issued a statement in response to the story: "We became aware of this piece of audio this morning and certainly want to get all the facts before making an opinion and reaching any conclusions. We'll visit with the parties and pull all the facts together best we can. While Talladega is done and the #48 was not the winning or random car, we certainly have an interest in getting the facts straight on behalf of the balance of the competitors." Though officials might be steamed at Knaus, it might be difficult for NASCAR to issue a penalty in this situation. While Knaus may have intended for Johnson to wreck the back of the car had the 48 team won the race, nothing ever actually happened. NASCAR will likely tell Knaus it's not happy with his intentions, however.(SB Nation)(10-27-2011)

My answer........................ Most all of Nascar fan read about this conversation between Knaus & Johnson, yet Nascar is trying to convince Nascar Fans they knew nothing about it till the next morning, GREAT TIMING BY NASCAR.....now nascar couldn't inspect the car to see just why Knaus gave these instruction to JJ. Of course the car has now been corrected and Nascar wouldn't find anything illegal with car. BS NASCAR

[yatesracing]

Johnson says flap stemmed from 'foolish' remark
After radio comment, NASCAR may inspect 48 after every race for rest of seaso

[mattemmy99]

I suppose Nascar will now NOT want Race Buddy???? So tired of the 48 getting away with this crap...Chad has been penalized how many times from Nascar for "cheating"????? ONE reason why I am NOT a HMS FAN....WIll be interesting to see if Nascar does check the 48 more close now...

[TeamBlueOval]

NASCAR doesn't care about Race buddy. The 48 may not want it in their car.

But, the car was legal. It passed all inspections. They didn't get away with anything. Plus, they finished like 25th so they had no advantage obviously.

And now the car will be closely inspected at the R&D center after every race for the rest of the year.

[Mr.Right]

Nooooooo!
Knaus and Hendrick would NEVER attempt to 'bend the rules' or get 'away with' something....classy guys that they are!

Hey 48 crew...why wait til' the end of the race to wreck the car? Do it early on....just don't take out any of the contenders!

[mattemmy99]

Nooooooo!
Knaus and Hendrick would NEVER attempt to 'bend the rules' or get 'away with' something....classy guys that they are!

Hey 48 crew...why wait til' the end of the race to wreck the car? Do it early on....just don't take out any of the contenders!

He could take out the 24,88,and 5....

[yatesracing]

Andrew you have a lot more confidence in Nascar than I do. If Nascar could have handled Knaus comments with Race Buddy quietly they would have done it. As it is, their claim that Nascar knew nothing about it till the next morning. Can't call for an inspection, now can you????

I don't know whether it's due to being a trouble shooter for the company I worked for but this would have been a RED FLAG-IMMEDIATELY

No other Chase Contender made or even insinuated this could be a problem. These same cars belonging to these same chasers did not have THE KNAUS so-called problem.