Knaus, Johnson not fazed by prospect of fatherhood

Hmm, my title kind of came out wrong, didn't it? Just for clarification, Chad is not going to be a father, and no, Jimmie is not the mother! Yeah, that's not any better... Okay, I can do this: Jimmie is going to be a father, and Chad, who is not facing parenthood in any shape or form, is not fazed by this. There. Okay, now let's pick ourselves up out of the gutter and get on with it.

Anyway, there's a new article up at NASCAR.com entitled "It'll take more than a baby to knock Johnson off his stride." Here are a few bits and pieces concerning Chad, but the whole article's worth a read (there are quotes from Jimmie and Mark Martin, too). Click here to read the full article.

Finally, the great equalizer has arrived. Competitors and spectators who have withered under the dominance of Jimmie Johnson at last have that one thing they can cling to, an unpredictable element they hope will cloud his mind, distract his focus, and bring the four-time consecutive champion of NASCAR's premier division back to the pack.

They're betting on the baby.

At that prospect, Chad Knaus throws his head back and laughs. "I think they're screwed," the crew chief said.

Muahaha, that's our Chad! Mess with their heads, man! I love it when he comes out with the big smack talk, hehe. Next up is a big chunk; I was just going to put the quotes from Chad up, but I thought the part that said they were taking big swings at the car for Daytona was interesting:

The results speak for themselves. The No. 48 team carries with it a confidence level that's unmatched in the garage area, and shows on the race track.

"I think it helps us tremendously," Knaus said. "If we have a bad week, we know it's not going to reflect solely on us. We have the opportunity to bounce back. I think we've done a good job of, when we do have things go awry, we show the competition and [Rick] Hendrick and our sponsors that we can come back and be competitive next week. Look at, for instance, Texas [last fall], where two laps in we crashed and everybody wrote us off. Then we went to Phoenix and won the race. I think we do a really good job of bouncing back from adversity."

"I think it helps us tremendously," Knaus said. "If we have a bad week, we know it's not going to reflect solely on us. We have the opportunity to bounce back. I think we've done a good job of, when we do have things go awry, we show the competition and [Rick] Hendrick and our sponsors that we can come back and be competitive next week. Look at, for instance, Texas [last fall], where two laps in we crashed and everybody wrote us off. Then we went to Phoenix and won the race. I think we do a really good job of bouncing back from adversity."

Winning certainly helps. There are really two kinds of people working in the Cup garage -- those trying to win championships, and those trying to keep their jobs. There's a truism in racing that wrecks put a team behind, because they force organizations to spend more time fixing crashed cars, and less time making intact cars better. There are a lot of teams out there chasing the No. 48 team, doing the big-picture equivalent of fixing wrecked cars. Meanwhile, Knaus has his in one piece, and humming. He's already excited about the big setup swings he's taking at the Daytona 500, a luxury afforded by success.

"We're established to a degree," he said. "You're not in constant fear of losing your job, you don't have that hanging over your head. I can tell you, if you're not winning races and you're not winning championships, you're afraid for your job. That's the way this sport is. This is a very, very mean sport, let's just say it like that. Look at Steve Addington last year. Here the guy is, they won four races [with Kyle Busch] and he lost his job. Seriously, it's ridiculous. This is a very difficult sport. I think right now that we're in a very good position where we don't have to worry about that -- at least for a year."

As for my personal opinion, I'm with Chad: anybody else might let the sleepless nights get to them, but not Jimmie. Jimmie has focus like nobody else, and will rally - especially for the Chase - despite everything else that's going on in his life. And frankly, I don't think anybody but the media, who likes to stir things up, is really on the doubting side. His fellow competitors know what Jimmie can do and won't let their guard down for a second.