CONCORD, N.C. -- Fifteen seasons, 80 wins and now seven NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships represent the career Jimmie Johnson has built at Hendrick Motorsports, and crew chief Chad Knaus has been there every step of the way.
With the addition of a record-tying seventh championship, Knaus is now just one title behind the all-time record-holding crew chief, Dale Inman, who earned eight Cup championships.
"The first was awesome," Knaus said of his 2006 title with Johnson. "But this is really, really special. To go through a bit of a lull, not make the Chase, not be able to come down here and compete for two years straight, that is so difficult. I don't think you guys can even understand because it's not like we just only decided to work hard once in a while. We as a group work so hard for 38 events to lead up to this race."
And Sunday's race wasn't an easy one for the No. 48 Lowe's teammates. At times, it looked as though their championship hopes were out of reach.
"We ran well, but we just couldn't broach into that top five the way we needed to throughout the course of the day," Knaus said. "I think the strength of this team is being able to look adversity in the eye and just deal with it. If you look at us throughout the course of our career, we've had crashes, we've had engine failures. We've had poor qualifying efforts. We've had things happen throughout the course of the race that we've been able to come back and win through."
The ability to push through the hard times is what Knaus said makes the No. 48 team so special.
"This team is solid from the standpoint that we might get wavered, we might get shaken, we might get knocked back on our heels, but then we bounce back and we start jabbing right back, and that's the way that we've rolled and we're going to continue to work that way until we're done," the crew chief said.
However, Knaus has no plans of being "done" anytime soon. And while the idea of an eighth championship is now a goal, Knaus said his focus remains the same.
"I really just think about the next event," he said. "The next event could be qualifying, the next event could be practice, the next event could be the race. It could be whatever it may be and I feel like for me, that's the safest environment for me to operate, knowing that there's always that next goal that needs to be achieved, that next goal that needs to be accomplished, and keeping our guys in that mindset."
For now, Knaus and the team will bask in the excitement of #se7en, a goal they've been reaching toward since 2013.
"The guys worked hard and it was awesome," Knaus said. "This one is pretty sweet, to be able to put Jimmie's name in that same header as Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Petty. It's an honor to be a part of it. I'm just glad to be his buddy and be by his side."