It takes a lot to be successful in NASCAR, but Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus made it look easy. Sometimes dubbed ‘The Dream Team’ by fans, the two won 7 Cup Series championships. The Johnson-Knaus pairing is the only driver-crew chief duo that has won 5 consecutive Cup Series titles. But did you know that they were inspired by a simple meeting where Rick Hendrick made them eat cookies and drink milk?

Jimmie Johnson has only driven for one team in the NASCAR Cup Series as a full-timer, Hendrick Motorsports. Throughout his career, he has only had Knaus as his crew chief. The pair may be considered as the greatest driver-crew chief pairing in the history of NASCAR. However, that does not mean that there weren’t problems. In their early years, there were a lot of issues that stemmed from frustration.

How milk and cookies made Jimmie Johnson the greatest driver

After their recent induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Jimmie Johnson revealed that he could have shattered every record in the sport and become a 9-time Cup Series champion. The 48-year-old believes that he threw away opportunities in 2004 and 2005. And at the time, the feeling was mutual in the #48 team. It did not make for a good environment and both Johnson and Knaus were left frustrated.

Rick Hendrick understood that the situation needed mediating and stepped in himself. He called the driver and the crew chief into his office and, in an unprecedented move, made them have milk and cookies together. It may not sound like much, but that one gesture made Hendrick Motorsports the greatest Cup Series team in the future. The meeting took place after the#48 team had lost the 2005 title to Tony Stewart at Homestead.

“This was the week after Homestead, and we were just angry and mad and both of us had spoken to Rick [Hendrick]. Evidently acting like a baby or a kid and it led Rick to that…to the idea for the meeting and he called us in,” the 7-time Cup Series champion revealed. “After Rick truly demanded us to eat cookies and drink the milk ’cause we…okay fine, we break the cookie, “no eat the cookie.” We take a bite and he’s like “take a bigger bite and drink the milk.” Rick keeps pushing us to get into the experience and then gives us both a chance to kind of air what’s on our minds. Then we honestly got into a real conversation in many ways and no joke, we left that meeting and changed our course in how we worked…we went in a different direction.” 

That meeting took place near the end of 2005 and in 2006, the #48 team won the first of the 5 consecutive Cup Series championships. While the meeting was an eye-opener for Jimmie Johnson, it was a lesson in humility for Chad Kanus. The legendary crew chief admitted to being embarrassed after the meeting and he only had one person to blame; himself.

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Chad Knaus reveals feeling embarrassed after meeting with Rick Hendrick

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Knaus said that the fact that two full-grown men with one of the greatest opportunities in motorsports anywhere in the world had to be brought in by the boss for what felt like a dressing down was embarrassing. That was the moment that transformed the NASCAR Hall of Famer from a good crew chief into a great one, and eventually the greatest of all time.

“It was a really tough time for me. We had such a steep trajectory and I really thought that we should have won the championship by then. We had a very good opportunity to win the championship in 2002, our very first year. When I sat in that meeting, I’ll be frank and I’ll tell you, I walked out of that meeting and I remember vividly, I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed of the fact that Mr. Hendrick had to sit us down, 2 grown men with the opportunity of a lifetime, and we were sitting there just letting it go away,” he said.

These stories show just how good Rick Hendrick is as a team owner. A simple gesture can have a powerful outcome and that is exactly what happened with Hendrick Motorsports. With an owner who has an intuition of this level and employees who were the best there was at the time, it’s no surprise that HMS is what it is today.

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