Richard Petty-Dale Inman, Jeff Gordon-Ray Evernham, Dale Earnhardt-Kirk Shelmerdine. Parallel to the legacies of these legendary driver-crew chief combinations is the one of Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus. First introduced to NASCAR 22 years ago on this day, during Johnson’s rookie year, the duo went on to wreak havoc over the next two decades. Under their belt, they have seven Cup Series championships that were fuelled by 81 victories together in the top tier.

Though they parted ways in 2019 and have pursued other avenues since, the change that their dominance forced in NASCAR stays alive in the current playoff format.

The transition that Jimmie Johnson’s playoff dominance caused in NASCAR

Of the 81 times that Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus led the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports car to the victory lane, they did so 30 times in the playoffs. Johnson emerged the victor in at least one playoff race from 2004 to 2017.

When the new playoff format was implemented in 2014 with the new “Chase” system, it came on the back of Jimmie Johnson’s sixth Cup Series championship. A prime topic of discussion at the time was whether the promotion had gotten too nervous about the Hendrick Motorsport team’s dominance of the sport and was forced to implement a method that would make things more challenging. But Johnson himself did not believe it was so. He said, “I don’t think NASCAR is picking on me or trying to keep me from winning the championship.”

The promotion too made its stance long that the then chairman France wanted to infuse “Game 7 moments” in NASCAR and wanted to compete with stick-and-ball sports like football. Despite that, the theory of how Johnson and Knaus almost wrote down a formula to win the Cup Championships was why NASCAR made the change, is still prevalent.

As a result of their new methods NASCAR probably aimed to refrain from dominations such as the one Johnson and Knaus put together. But what they ended up creating was further chaos. A reflection of their creation became immediately evident when Kyle Busch won the 2015 championship despite missing 11 races. To this day, NASCAR’s change hasn’t sat entirely right with insiders and fans.

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The Hall of Fame legacy that Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson created over 17 years

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In just a few weeks now, Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson will be inducted NASCAR Hall of Fame in the induction ceremony at the Charlotte Convention Center. It is only fitting that this duo get into the coveted hall together considering that their victories wouldn’t have been possible without the other. Johnson said of the beauty of the scenario, “To go in together is so fitting. Very special and unique. When I knew my name was going on the ballot, I found out Chad’s was as well and something in the back of my mind was hoping that this opportunity would come about.”

Knaus too radiated the same feelings, mentioning to HendrickMotorsports.com, “There was a flush of emotions as I was watching the video play once Jimmie was nominated and saw the way that we grew up together. As I sat back and was watching him, I was thinking my gosh, how much have I learned throughout my career just because of Jimmie? I was really proud of that.”

Years have passed since NASCAR implemented the playoff format with the chase system, the 16-driver and 10-race method. Johnson and Knaus proved their mettle in this too when they won the 2016 championship. Every season, discussions are afoot about how the current system can be made better. But there is little doubt that as long as a driver and his crew chief don’t dominate the playoffs like Johnson and Knaus did, NASCAR will not feel the urgency to mend things.

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