By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
While Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway saw a first (in Joey Logano scoring his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship), it also saw a last, with Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus running their final race together in the No. 48 Chevrolet.
Finishing 14th in the Ford EcoBoost 400 from Homestead, Johnson and Knaus officially ended their partnership as driver/crew chief. Running more than 600 Cup races, the pair achieved seven Cup titles and 81 victories.
For Johnson, the day was a special one.
“Getting bolted in the car, our routine, the reality of today was sinking in,” Johnson said. “I made sure we had a quick beer with the guys and Chad to have a toast with everyone.”
Having a few alcoholic beverages postrace on pit road, the end of 2018 — and the decision to split ways with Knaus — officially hit the 43-year-old.
“It’s time for us to move on and to have new people to work with,” he said. “He’s my brother, there is no way around that. It’s not an easy situation, this year has not been easy, especially the last half of the season.
“We’ll work very close together, probably on a deeper level. We will all be in there working together no doubt.”
For Knaus, the emotions of the night were dominated by the lackluster performance to end an “awful” season for the duo, who scored no wins and only two top fives on the year.
“It was a [expletive] awful year. It was the worst year ever,” Knaus said. “I’ve never raced a year in my life without winning something. This is the first year that’s happened. This is a big-boy sport, you have to perform. And if you don’t perform, you don’t win.”
With brutal disappointment, Knaus still managed a smile in remembering his time with Johnson.
“The way this sport goes, you never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “It was tough at the start of the race, then the end was more disappointment than anything from the performance.
“We’re still buddies, it’s good. We had a great time, had a lot of success. It’s just time to move on.”