Beyond the fame, fortune, and ardent following, what do NASCAR and the NFL have in common? Well, both sports have larger-than-life athletes who have transcended the sport with the likes of Tom Brady and Jimmie Johnson. And with them, their respective sports have expanded beyond North America, bringing in a global spotlight.

However, speaking of the NASCAR side of things, whenever we talk about Johnson, there’s one other name that always tags along. And that is his legendary HMS crew chief, Chad Knaus. Speaking about Knaus, Denny Hamlin on ‘Actions Detrimental’ shared his thoughts, drawing a close parallel from the NFL universe, giving Knaus the ultimate compliment of comparing him with legendary New England Patriots football coach Bill Belichick.

Denny Hamlin hands over the legendary status to Chad Knaus

For the unversed or the newbie fan out there, Chad Knaus must be a new name, one that they might have heard a couple of months back when he was inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame. Well, Knaus was one of the most successful crew chiefs the sport has ever seen. In fact, it was under his reign in HMS that the great Jimmie Johnson won his seven championship titles.

In short, the legendary driver-crew chief combo was simply on top of their game, blowing the rest of the competition out of the water, changing the course of the sport forever. Reflecting on the crew chief’s iconic journey, Hamlin gave him the ultimate praise, naming him as the Bill Belichick of NASCAR. He said, “So that’s, that’s your Bill Belichick is Chad Knaus and again, it, it’s I admire, you know, someone that said, you know, puts competition first over anything else. And, you won’t meet anyone that was relentless as much as Chad in-house was.”

He also added, “I mean, listen, was he the most popular guy amongst maybe his teammates or drivers or team? Probably not. Or even another crew chief. But that dude was relentless and I loved his act, his passion for winning and he would do whatever it took, to make it happen.

However, this conversation that Hamlin started came back on him, as he was asked about his own crew chief.

Hamlin’s current crew chief comes off as like a Sean McVay to him

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Jared Allen, Hamlin’s co-host and friend was all fascinated by head coaches from other sports and their possible counterparts in the NASCAR world. It all started when the co-host asked the JGR veteran, “You said your crew chief is the head coach of the race team. If you had to compare him to a head coach in another sport, who would that be?” 

Hamlin however did not hesitate to answer it, admitting his crew chief is the head coach of the race team, he compared Los Angeles head coach Sean Mcvay to Chris Gabehart. He said, “I would, it’s tough because I don’t know the coaches that well, but to me, he comes off as like a Sean McVay in the sense of like, he’s very calculated and good with people. I just, I remember when Sean McVay came on the scene, I’m like, man, that’s that, that seems like a guy I’d wanna, he holds everyone accountable, but he has fun doing it. And so I think it would be him if I had to just pinpoint one.” 

What are some other duos you can think of, through a parallel comparison with other sports? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below!

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