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Knaus relaxed more than ever on cusp of firsttitleBy David Newton, NASCAR.COMNovember 17, 200605:28 PM EST (22:28 GMT)

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Chad Knaus appeared to be rubbing sleep out of his eyes as he stepped out of the No. 48 hauler on Friday morning at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"I'm not tired,'' said the crew chief for points leader Jimmie Johnson, who has a 63-point lead heading into Sunday's season finale. "I was just watching football [highlights] and relaxing a little bit.''

Meet the new Knaus.

He's laid back and relaxed, not a hundred miles per hour like the old Knaus.

He hasn't gone completely mellow, but he did take a half day off on Monday and Wednesday to play Tiger Woods' golf video game. The old Knaus wouldn't have taken a half-hour off, particularly with the title at stake.

"No way,'' said Robbie Loomis, whose Hendrick Motorsports office was next to Knaus' before he left for Petty Enterprises at the end of last season. "He would have to take off at least all of next year to make up for all he's worked.''

Knaus didn't cut his work load voluntarily. It took much prodding from HMS owner Rick Hendrick and four years of disappointment from coming up short in the championship to make him realize a new approach was needed.

He began by giving car chief Ron Malec and engineer Greg Ives more responsibility. That has filtered into better chemistry throughout the team because more people feel involved.

"I tried to bear all of the responsibility, and that's not something you can do,'' Knaus said. "You have to rely upon your team in any industry to be successful, whether that's racing or if you're a store manager at Lowe's.

"That's one thing that we did this year was to spread the load a little more across the guys and make them a little bit more responsible for what they've got to do and it's definitely paid dividends.''

Loomis said the old Knaus thought he had to control everything.

"He always trusted people around him,'' he said. "He just wanted [the championship] so bad it became like a butterfly. The more you chase it the harder it is to catch, but once you sit down it lands on your shoulders.''

Now Knaus, already considered one of the top crew chiefs in the garage, is on the verge of having a championship fall on his shoulders. If Johnson finishes at least 12th the title he's come so close to winning will be his.

"At the end of last year, I was pretty much spent,'' said Knaus, whose team fell from second to fifth in last season's finale. "I was spent before we got to the final 10 races and I knew that had a lot to do with what we did in the last 10 races and why we didn't perform up to our potential.

"I made it a goal of myself to take a little bit more time off and relax this year. I didn't take a hell of a lot of time off, but I took a couple of half days here and there and that's more than I've done in the past.''

Knaus got a mandatory vacation to start the season when NASCAR suspended him for the first four races for using an illegal device that pushed the rear window out more than three-quarters of an inch to create an aerodynamic advantage for qualifying at Daytona.

But Johnson said his new mind set was in place long before the suspension.

That Johnson won the Daytona 500 without him, however, reconfirmed that the team was strong without him hovering over every move.

"We sat down well before the season ever began and laid out a plan of how things were going to happen and that just kick-started it,'' Johnson said. "It's made us a lot stronger as a team for sure. It's bonded us as well.

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"Making those guys buy into the deal a little bit more with their own stock has created a little bit more self-assurance and made them more positive of what it is they've got to do.''

Knaus seemed remarkably loose for somebody whose every call could decide the championship. He was so relaxed that he had an almost nonchalant attitude.

"If something happens and we don't win, it's not because we crumbled or that anything like that happened,'' he said. "It'll be because of a parts failure or an accident or something like that.''

It won't be because the team choked or succumbed to the pressure.

"The pressure that gets put on people is usually from the outside,'' Knaus said. "If you let the outside people pressure you, then you're going to start to feel it. Right now, I hate to say it, but we're not letting you guys pressure us.''

Knaus is trying to enjoy this run, spending more time with his crew than ever. He made breakfast burritos for them last weekend at Phoenix.

"Maybe I'll make them a fruit cup or something [this weekend],'' Knaus said with a laugh.

Loomis began seeing a different side of Knaus late last season after he stepped down as crew chief for Jeff Gordon for the final 10 races to work with Johnson's team.

"He gets life now,'' he said. "For a long time he was missing out on it. He understands what's important.

"Jimmie Johnson will be the one getting his picture taken with the trophy on Sunday if he wins the title, but Chad Knaus will be a big reason why he's there.''

Find this article at: http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/headlines/cup/11/17/jjohnson.cknaus.homestead/index.html

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