CONCORD, N.C. – From 81 race wins to seven NASCAR Cup Series championships, Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus have celebrated a lot of special memories together throughout their storied 17-year run.
Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, the duo will celebrate yet another special milestone.
The tandem – one that has been compared to the likes of the NFL’s New England Patriots’ coach-quarterback combination of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady and the NBA's Chicago Bulls’ coach-player team of Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan – is set to make its 600th Cup Series start together.
To put that figure into perspective, it’s more starts than the second and third-longest active driver-crew chief pairings have. Combined.
Only 29 other drivers in NASCAR Cup Series history have more than 600 starts.
With so much success throughout their career, including the record-tying seven Cup Series championships, it’s only fitting that start No. 600 together comes at one of the tracks where Johnson and Knaus shared many of their successes.
At the Lone Star State track, Johnson’s seven wins are the most all-time, and his total is more than double any other active driver.
The driver’s seven wins also nearly equals the rest of the field’s win total at the track of nine – and over 30 Texas starts, Johnson’s five runner-up results, 15 top-fives, 21 top-10s, and 1,041 laps led are also all-time records.
As the driver and crew chief embark on their 600th start this weekend, a win at Texas could add even more to the duo’s already accomplished resume.
Johnson and Knaus have 81 wins together, but Johnson earned two additional wins with interim crew chief Darian Grubb. The driver’s next trip to Victory Lane will be his 84th career Cup Series win, which would move him past NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarbrough and tie him with Hall of Famers Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison for the fourth-most all-time.
A win in the Lone Star State would also be Hendrick Motorsports’ 10th at Texas, which would make it the 14th track where the organization has posted double-digit wins.
Sunday’s race is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.