Knaus leaving Hendrick? denied UPDATE 2 more: hearing [or have leaned] that #48 Hendrick Motorsports crew chief, Chad Knaus will leave the team and driver Jimmie Johnson and go back to Evernham Motorsports [was one of Evernham's first hires, until moving to #92 Melling team in 2001], then Hendrick Motorsports in 2002 to crew chief Johnson.
UPDATE: Hendrick Motorsports says Knaus has no plans to leave Hendrick Motorsports and has multiple years remaining on his contract.(12-2-2005)
UPDATE 2: hearing some crew members from the #48 Lowe's Hendrick Motorsports team have left andf gone to Evernham Motorsports recently and that one of the Evernham's engineers could be headed over to be the crew chief on the #48.(12-19-2005)


Interesting......

wow, can't wait to see how this shapes up. If it's true, I hope Ray puts Chad on the #9 team.

Wow, I can't wait to see how all this shakes out! :sillyseason continues!!

Interesting... It's going to be interesting to see who ends up where next season

:sillyseason thats all I have to say :)

dude, that'd be great if chad comes over. But that'll make my dad hate Kasey even more. And I cant hate his driver cuz he likes carl! Gr..lol

yeah it'd be perty cool if Chad came over..wouldn't mind at all...

interesting...

Noooo!! I hope Chad doesn't leave! :(

Last I heard, and this came from Chad in an interview. Chad wasn't leaving Hendrick Motorsports anytime soon. In my opinion CHad needs to stay as JJ's crew chief.

Wow. Silly season doesn't end even when the season's over.

If Chad is leaving, he'll be a great asset to EMS.

That's what I heard too...but who knows. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Someone wake me up when its Feb!

Ok, this rumor either needs to be confirmed, or die.

I don't want Chad to leave...but if that's what it takes, he would be a great asset to EMS.

I hope not. There is something about that man that gives me the creeps.

Don't really know if this means anything or not.......

but at the signing the other day Kasey did say that Kenny Francis would be his Cup crew chief and Tripp is still his Busch crew chief.

so I imagine that maybe its only some crew guys possibly coming over......which I could handle, I like some of the 48 crew guys.

One thing I've learned from this whole silly season business is...It ain't over till the fat lady sings...or the Daytona 500 begins...

are we sure its over then??????

when they make pit stops someone new will be on the box and in the pits each time....and possibly a few dirver changes lol

"umm i need 4 tires, fuel, and a new front tire carrier"

LOL..

I think Chad and JJ are sooooo great together, BUT Chad is a damn good crew chief. Chad and Kasey could make a lethal combo!

:lmao That's great!!

Amen to what Leanne said!!

:lmao :lmao


eh, I'd have mixed feelings about Chad and Kasey working together......just don't know, as long as Chad wasn't to turn Kasey into a whinning pain in the butt that Jimmie at times.......then I'd be okay.

I think that Kasey would shoot himself if that happened LOL

Well, I am not a fan of Chad. But whatever. :)

I so don't like this :sillyseason rumor! I so don't want Chad to leave! Jimmie and Chad are an awesome team and, well, they just totally kick major butt! I would hate to see him go! Here's to hoping that this is just a crazy rumor....

Jimmie doesn't whine any more than any of the other drivers...

Ummm, I hate to say it, but Kasey is a huge whiner over the scanner already.

Uhm...

Kasey whines more than my nephew does at times. Not to mention, EVERY driver needs some cheese to go with their Sunday whines...

well i really dont see chad leaving jimmie after the sucess they have had
but hey who knows!! i think he would be great at EMS!!

Well, every driver is known to whine on the radio--it's a part of the territory. I remember Kasey was rather ticked on a few occasions when the brakes weren't exactly firm. I certainly understand his frustrations. It's when the driver starts complaining about problems that he knows can't be controlled or expecting the crew to move the world that things get ugly.

amen :nod

Eh, with the whinning I'm talking about..........

its one thing to whine on the scanner to your crew, but Jimmie's constant whinning to the media and it never being his fault......thats what annoys me and I think Chad just added to it, hell Chad even whinned some too......

KK whines like crazy on the scanner, but he doesn't let it carry over into saying stupid stuff to the media very often.....unlike JJ in my opinion.

We can agree to disagree on that one. :)

Someone on my Jeff board pointed out...there isn't much news right now, so why not pull out some rumors, just to get everyone talking. That could be all this is. We shall see.

yea, give it until about Jan 5th or 6th and then the news starts hitting gears again cause of upcoming testing

:hehe I like you.

ok I'm gonna post Marty Smith's Last Lap Column from today here to kinda update on this topic (which is in bold). I'm sorry if that has already been posted or if it really belongs in here.

http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/features/l...year/index.html

Last Lap: New Year brings a new mailbag
Chad Knaus to remain but others leaving Hendrick
By Marty Smith, NASCAR.COM
January 3, 2006
04:41 PM EST (21:41 GMT)

Note to the 7,000 Jimmie Johnson fans that kept my BlackBerry buzzing throughout the Christmas holiday: Let it go. Chad Knaus is not leaving Hendrick Motorsports.

It seemed inevitable at the end of the 2005 season, and the rumor is still hot, but Knaus told me late last week he is working with HMS officials on a new long-term contract that will keep him atop the No. 48 pit box for the foreseeable future, and he was in the wind tunnel with the No. 48 team last week.

Many key HMS crewmembers, however, have departed the 24/48 shop during the offseason. No less than four crewmembers are gone from the No. 48 team, one to Robert Yates Racing, another to Richard Childress Racing, another to Evernham Motorsports and another to Bill Davis Racing.

Sources close to HMS said the No. 24 team lost roughly the same number of crewmen, and to the same teams.

It's the nature of the business today. Continuity over time is difficult to achieve, and it's a major reason Tony Stewart won the 2005 championship. The No. 20 team has remained virtually unchanged since its formation in 1999.

Thanks for the info. I will be interesting to see which crew members left.

Now I wanna know who........and hell I was only off on the news situation by a couple days......damn, I'm getting good

I hope we got a couple of the good guys on the 48 or 24

and I hope Ray has them coming to the 9, not the 10 or 19

:wacko:
No! No! No! I want Chad to stay at the 48 team! This is all crazy and its giving me a headache