CONCORD, N.C. – Chad Knaus is returning to his roots.
A Rockford, Illinois, native, Knaus grew up just about 100 miles northwest of Chicagoland Speedway.
He began his crew chief career in his youth, calling the shots for his father and winning several races in that role at Rockford Speedway.
Now, he’s chasing another accolade to add to his already impressive resume: a trip to Victory Lane in his home state.
And there’s a seven-time Cup champion who is ready to make that happen.
“After my first Cup Series win in 2003 at my home track in California, I made a promise to Chad (Knaus) that we would win at his home track in Chicago,” Jimmie Johnson said. “We have had a few opportunities and just haven’t been able to close the deal.”
The driver-crew chief duo has led 695 laps at the Illinois racetrack, an all-time record at the 1.5-mile tri-oval. In addition, they have earned two poles, three runner-up results, seven top-fives, 11 top-10s and an average finish of 9.4 over 16 races.
“At Chicagoland, specifically, we’ve had a lot of good races,” Knaus said. “Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to pull off a victory there, but we’ve got solid top-five finishes. Great, great runs. I know off the top of my head we’ve got at least five races there that we could have or should have been able to pull of victories.”
As Knaus goes for another win at his home track this weekend, he says the No. 48 team has momentum to work with after Sunday’s race at Sonoma. In the road course event, Johnson earned an 11th-place effort and a pair of third-place stage finishes.
His teammates, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman, both captured top-10 finishes, with Elliott also earning fourth and second-place stage finishes, respectively.
Week after week, Knaus continues to see improvement from all four Hendrick Motorsports teams.
“Everybody company wide has dug in pretty deep,” Knaus said. “A lot of long hours and a lot of effort. I think we’re starting to see some fruits of that labor.”