Nate Ryan

USA TODAY Sports

Chad Knaus will chase a record seventh title as Jimmie Johnson%27s crew chief

There is a focus and work ethic within Knaus that some might say borders on the maniacal

%22Chad has done an amazing job of eliminating his weaknesses%2C%22 said Darrell Waltrip

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- In Chad Knaus' meticulously neat office at Hendrick Motorsports, the presence of one memento and the conspicuous absence of so many others reveals much about NASCAR's greatest active crew chief.

Of all his Sprint Cup success with Jimmie Johnson, Knaus keeps only one trophy – marking the No. 48 Chevrolet's first victory at Auto Club Speedway in April 2002.

There are no photos of family – and not because Knaus doesn't desire them.

In the immediate afterglow of Johnson's fourth championship, Knaus spoke longingly of having a wife and kids. After their Daytona 500 victory a year ago, he fawned over his new fiancée and wedding plans.

But entering a season in which he and Johnson will chase a record-tying seventh title in NASCAR's premier series starting in Sunday's Daytona 500, Knaus is single (again), childless and resigned to those being necessary sacrifices.

"Man, I have failed at that one miserably," he tells USA TODAY Sports with a chuckle. "This is my family. It really is. I love my job. I can't put the amount of effort into a relationship that you need. I identify with that now. I thought I could balance both. But ultimately, the personal relationship suffers.

"I have to make sure what we're trying to achieve here is finished."

There is a single-minded focus and insatiable work ethic within Knaus that some might say borders on the maniacal. His fastidious and forthright style has been hailed as NASCAR's answer to Nick Saban among crew chiefs. He doesn't allow his crewmembers to use phones at the track, and he has explored the concept of building cars in 24-hour shifts.

Ray Evernham, who was voted the greatest crew chief in history by a 2006 media panel, hired Knaus at Hendrick more than 20 years ago and recalls the Rockford, Ill., native telling him, "I want to be you within five years." He estimates Knaus has toiled 90-100 hours a week since to achieve it, starting with voluntary double shifts between the team's body shop and a suspension area so he could learn all facets of a stock car.

"This is all that this guy has ever wanted to do and be," Evernham said. "He's made an unbelievable commitment to become the best crew chief of his time, and he's well on the way to being the best crew chief ever. This guy has put everything else second in his life.

"I'm amazed that he's able to keep up with that level of intensity for as many years as he has."

But a softer side has emerged over the past few years as Knaus, who turns 43 in August, has become a surrogate uncle to Johnson and wife Chandra's young daughters, Genevieve and Lydia. Knaus has showered them with gifts -- including a xylophone and a hopscotch mat because "whatever I can do to annoy Jimmie a little, I take pleasure in it" -- and often played at-track babysitter last season.

"Genevieve is loving you one minute, and the next she's screaming, crying and mad, and it's really weird," Knaus said, pausing to chuckle. "But it could be just me and women. I have that effect on women."

It's left Johnson feeling sometimes conflicted about whether his professional triumphs come at the price of Knaus' personal fulfillment.

"I feel for him because I see the joy that being around my children brings, and the respect he has for the relationship Chani and I have," Johnson said. "He seems OK with it, but I know deep down inside, it's something that's been pulling on him for a while."

Fox analyst Darrell Waltrip said it's a trade-off that's common in NASCAR, noting longtime bachelors Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"For a lot of these guys, racing is their mistress, and they can't make room for anything else," Waltrip said. "They just have the capacity for this."

Said ESPN analyst Andy Petree, who won two titles as a crew chief for Dale Earnhardt: "Chad's already married to that 48 car. If he ever got married, it might change his outlook on how long he could do this."

No bedside manner

Over 14 years as a crew chief, much already has changed for Knaus, who has morphed from intransigent crew chief with fingerprints all over the car to being comfortable with delegating authority.

"These hands haven't seen a wrench in years," said Knaus, who spends much of his time monitoring email chains. "There's too much other stuff to do from a personnel and administrative standpoint. But I can assure you I know exactly what's going on everywhere in the team.

"I focus more on communication now than anything else. We have 120 employees and touch all of them every single day. We focus really hard on making sure the messaging is consistent."

He also focuses on the details. During Knaus' walk-throughs of the shop, crewmembers are berated for leaving their shirts untucked, and other elements are scrutinized despite having seemingly little impact on competition.

Michael Landis, the team manager for Hendrick's 48/88 shop, cringed recently when he saw the chrome center hubcaps for the No. 48 hauler had been painted blue and immediately asked if it had been run by Knaus.

"You make any decisions, you have to include him," Landis said. "He might not even respond, but at least he knows. He's not trying to micromanage you. He just wants to know.

"Chad will walk by something that you spent two hours looking at, and he'll catch something you didn't. I think some look at it as, 'He's trying to find a chink in my armor or error in my work to pick on me.' But if he finds something that could have been done better according to directives, you have to wear it."

Ron Malec, who has been the No. 48 car chief since the inception of the Johnson-Knaus pairing in 2001, said Knaus has become a better leader who doesn't snap in public as much but still has a withering glare.

"You have to have thick skin," Malec said. "He's going to tell you when you've done something wrong. Chad always brings up the Yankees. That's how he wants us to be in racing – as an example team and a benchmark for everyone else, and we've accomplished it a lot of years."

As the crew chief for Earnhardt Jr., Steve Letarte is Knaus' partner in co-managing the shop that builds the Chevys for teammates Earnhardt and Johnson. They have a long history at Hendrick, having worked as crewmembers on Jeff Gordon's No. 24 that won the championship in 1995, when Letarte watched Knaus regularly butt heads with his mentor, Evernham.

"He doesn't have the best bedside manner but really gets results," Letarte said. "People think they've met focused or driven people, then they come work for Chad and don't make it. He has a very unique ability to not let anything clutter his drive. Some of it can be good stuff – relationships, personal goals -- but he doesn't let that get in the way, either. Every decision he makes is about winning.

"If you try to relate any communication with Chad to anyone else you've ever met, you're going to be mad and think he's being rude. And it's none of those. He's real direct with no 'please' or 'thank yous.' He doesn't care if you're happy. He doesn't care if you have to work. He doesn't care about a lot of things. You have to credit a guy who doesn't pretend. His directness is 100% authentic. That's why I enjoy working with him."

The stories of Knaus' gruff, dismissive and sometimes smug demeanor are legend and legion.

He once castigated a high-ranking executive from Lowe's, which has spent more than $100million sponsoring Johnson's cars since 2002, for lingering in his pits during a Chase for the Sprint Cup race.

Team owner Rick Hendrick said Knaus is "hard-wired" to thrive on pressure-packed situations with tunnel-vision intensity. On return flights after races, Hendrick has sat wide-eyed as Knaus has explained dozens of contingency plans accounting for miniscule tire pressure changes based on when a yellow flag flies in the final 20 laps.

"He'd have been a hell of a Navy SEAL," Hendrick said. "He's like a general. I've never seen anyone more driven. There are guys who are just as committed and just as smart. But when they get right to the deal, they can't execute like that."

As straightforward as they come

Knaus builds his team through a Management By Strengths program that uses a color-coded chart to rate personalities by directness, extroversion, pace and structure. (Knaus is a "high red" because of his brutally straightforward manner.) After 12 seasons, he feels the 2014 crew is his most self-motivated yet.

"The people who just wanted to talk about winning races, we've weeded them out," Knaus said. "Not a lot of pushing goes on anymore by me. There's a lot of people who want to race. We have a lot of people that race. They're completely different people."

When he meets with prospective employees, Knaus will ask for age and marital status and sometimes follows candidates out to the parking lot so he can observe the upkeep of their personal cars.

"Chad is a major HR violation when it comes to interviewing," Landis said. "But he's not doing it to discriminate but to understand who you are. He evaluates if you have a wife and kids, you have some sense of responsibility."

Landis said Knaus is different than the guy he met 20 years ago because "he realizes better that not everyone is wired like him."

Waltrip, who worked with Knaus while driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 1998, also has witnessed the transformation.

"Chad has done an amazing job of eliminating his weaknesses," Waltrip said. "Because the rap on Chad was he couldn't work with anybody. I've seen him throw hammers and wrenches. But from the time I met him, he had only one thing in mind: He wanted to be the best crew chief in racing."

Chit-chat not his style

Knaus wakes at 5:25 a.m. ("Because I can hit snooze once, and it's still in the 5:30 range") and is at the Hendrick shop an hour later for a 7 a.m. meeting that sets the tone. During the season, he typically doesn't leave before 7 p.m., and the work usually doesn't end there.

"He goes home, spreads out all his notes with a glass of wine and tries to learn more," Evernham said. "It's no different than a musician or somebody that just practices all the time."

On weekends, it's the same routine inside the motor home, which leaves little room for a significant other.

"I can't have someone who travels with me every single week, because I can be a real jerk at the racetrack," Knaus said. "If things aren't going well, I'm not really concerned about someone who's been stuck all day long wanting to go get dinner. I'd rather open up my computer and go to work."

It has limited his interaction in a sport where the downtime often is built around small talk with competitors.

"He's very cordial, but I don't know him that well like other crew chiefs," Petree said. "I don't know anybody who is a close friend of his in the garage."

"Here's the deal: I don't have time for a lot of chit-chat," Knaus said. "I don't go to the racetrack to have a good time. I go to work, race and win. That's it.

"A lot of crew chiefs want to share setup info. Some will tell you exactly what they've got in the race car. Well, I think that's asinine. I don't want other crew chiefs to know what I'm doing. It's proprietary. The only people I share that information with are our teammates."

Malec said Knaus intentionally doesn't fraternize with No. 48 crew members as much because it got awkward when employees were fired.

"Racing is his entire life," Malec said. "Anyone says anything different, they're lying. It's all he's got."

Knaus' closest friend probably is Johnson, who struggles with how to describe him.

"As intense and crazy as he is, he's kind of a teddy bear at times," Johnson said, before a long pause and a laugh. "You know what Chad is? He's complicated."

In the austere environs of his office (which also contains a horseshoe from a fan, a cloverleaf and a "Believe" decal from the Baltimore City Police Department), Knaus has no windows and faces a whiteboard with a multicolored line graph charting the points position, start and finish of the No. 48 in every race.

"This place can turn into a dungeon, even as beautiful as it is, if you just stay in here 24 hours a day," he said. "I've got a bad habit where I don't go out to lunch, and I've looked at that same wall for 13 years. But I don't really have any hobbies because it's just too time-consuming. This is my hobby."

Active in running, cycling and paddleboarding, Knaus has tried to broaden his world beyond NASCAR in other ways. He signed last year with Octagon, the sports management agency representing Johnson, and has started speaking engagements (addressing a group of radiologists is scheduled for May). Last month he met with Charlotte Panthers coach Ron Rivera and team officials for four hours discussing management and personnel philosophies.

He will turn 43 in August and said he will be done as a crew chief by 50. He won't rule out becoming a team owner – or perhaps leaving racing for an executive position in the corporate world.

"You see a lot of board members that are former athletes, coaches and military that are very successful working for big companies," he said. "You could go out and really clean up a lot of places."

And there finally might be time for that long-awaited family.

"It sucks, but I know a lot of guys that are in their early 50s on their second marriage and still having kids and are really, really happy," he said. "So I'm thinking I'm skipping that first marriage and just kind of rolling into that second phase of life. So when I retire, I'll get a red Ferrari and 20-year-old blonde and see how it all works out.

"At some point, I want it. I really, really do."