As #48-Jimmie Johnson struggled through the longest winless drought of his Sprint Cup career, team owner Rick Hendrick wondered whether it was time to split up the band. Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have won six Sprint Cup titles together, and Knaus has overseen the cars for Johnson’s 79 victories (actually 77, Darian Grubb was the crew chief for 2 wins while Knaus was suspended). But after 15 seasons together, Hendrick at least wondered a little bit whether they needed a change as Johnson went on a 24-race winless streak with 11 finishes outside the top 15. He didn’t act on those thoughts, and Johnson is one of the four drivers vying for the Cup title Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. ‘When you have two guys that have been so good and you try to decide is it time, and this year we started off really well, and then we hit a lull in the summer, and it was ‘ we asked ourselves then, ‘Is this time, do we need to make a change?” Hendrick said Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. ‘But when you see things that are so close [to turning around], I think that’s when they work harder. We really just sit down and work hard together and try to identify weaknesses, and I think they have both made a commitment ‘ they want to retire together. They want to finish their careers together.’ If Johnson wins a seventh title ‘ tying Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. for the most championships in a career ‘ it will be the first time a driver has won seven titles with the same crew chief.(ESPN)
