(SNH) — One of the most successful driver-crew chief duos in auto racing history will be enshrined together when NASCAR inducts its 2024 Hall of Fame class Friday in Charlotte. 

Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus, who were paired together in 2001 by Rick Hendrick, headline the Hall of Fame honorees in Charlotte Friday night. Davey Allison will also be inducted, and Janet Guthrie will be presented with the Landmark Award. 

It is fitting that Johnson and Knaus are being inducted together as their careers were so intwined with each other. 

Knaus came to work at Hendrick Motorsports as an assistant in the body shop under Hall of Fame crew chief Ray Evernham. When Johnson was a rookie on a fourth Hendrick Motorsports team in the No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick tabbed Knaus as the crew chief. 

The result was a record-tying seven NASCAR Cup Championships.  

“Each is a champion and generational talent in their own right,” Hendrick said. “But together, they were pure magic. All of us at Hendrick Motorsports were fortunate to see greatness up close as they rewrote the record book.” 

Johnson’s 83 Cup wins rank sixth-most in NASCAR history and they came at 20 different tracks. He was named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers in 2023.  

The California native had a knack for coming up big at NASCAR’s biggest races, winning all the sport’s crown jewel events at least twice. He won the Daytona 500 in 2006 and 2013, four Brickyard 400s (2006, ’08-09, ’12), four Coca-Cola 600s (2003-05, ’14), two Southern 500s (2004, ’12) and four All-Star Races (2003, ’06, ’12-13). 

Johnson’s seven Cup Series titles tie him with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most by a driver in NASCAR history, and his run of five consecutive championships from 2006 through 2010 remains a series record. He also won titles in 2013 and 2016. 

Johnson said his relationship with Knaus wasn’t always perfect given their competitive nature, but they made it work. 

“There were times we definitely butted heads, as I’m sure everybody heard on the radio,” Johnson said. “But ultimately, we had the same goal and that was to be the best that we could. I never had anyone in my life push me as hard and as well as Chad Knaus.” 

Knaus, 51, said he wouldn’t be on the hall of fame list without Johnson. 

“It’s an honor to be here with Jimmie,” Knaus said. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Jimmie Johnson. 

“He’s the nicest guy and the best to ever sit in a NASCAR race car. He contributes to our sport and to society in so many different ways through the Jimmie Johnson Foundation. He is the ideal picture of a Hall of Fame inductee.” 

Guthrie, 85, was a pioneer in NASCAR, becoming the first woman to compete in a NASCAR Cup Series superspeedway race when she finished 15th in the 1976 World 600 in Charlotte. In a memoir, Guthrie wrote about a chilly reception she had from other drivers in the sport. 

Guthrie had great success in her NASCAR career and other racing circles, including three starts and a top 10 finish in the 1978 Indy 500. She ended her NASCAR career that ran from 1976 to 1980 with five top-10 finishes. Her sixth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in 1977 remains the top finish by a woman in NASCAR’s top series in the modern era. Danica Patrick matched that in 2014. 

is shared with Danica Patrick for the top finish by a woman in NASCAR’s top series in the modern era. 

Allison, 83, won 10 Cup races in his career and has been an ambassador for the sport for generations. From the famous “Alabama gang” in NASCAR, Allison is perhaps best known for his role in one of NASCAR’s most famous incidents. In the 1979 Daytona 500, the sports first nationally televised race, Allison and Cale Yarborough were locked in an intense battle for several laps. In a late-race battle for the win, both drivers wrecked and got out of their cars and fought hand-to-hand in the infield. 

The highlights from the altercation helped ignite the growth of NASCAR and continues to be a defining moment in the sport’s history. 

Doug Donnelly is a writer for Sports News Highlights.

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