True, forcing Johnson’s team to be without its Knaus for the Daytona 500 was a penalty and a significant one. It’s like forcing an NFL team to play the Super Bowl without its head coach. 

But I still feel NASCAR officials are going to have a very hard time this weekend convincing drivers, owners, crew chiefs that no point deduction for Johnson was justified. 

There will be many, many conversations on this subject between NASCAR officials and team members in the Nextel Cup Series garage at Fontana Motor Speedway, and I don’t see many of them ending with acceptance or satisfaction on the part of the team members. 

No. 48 team moves forward
That Johnson’s team won at Daytona last Sunday minus Knaus, who was banned from participating at the track, is an amazing accomplishment. 

In many ways, the crew chief is the leader of the race team and more of a focal point than the driver.  It is the crew chief who orchestrates everything else that has to do with executing a race except the driving! Removing that person would be a big blow to any race team.

Knaus says his team getting through California and the other upcoming races will be a bit more difficult than Daytona. In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Knaus said, “Yes, absolutely, but it is more difficult for everyone there, more difficult for me when I’m there.” 

Why? There are more variables involved.

At Daytona, NASCAR actually provides the rear shocks and springs and limits what things can be done to the car on those areas. Add in the recent bump-drafting regulations and you will understand why many teams say you’re either “good off the truck” at Daytona, or you’re not. 

Racing is more controlled at restrictor-plate tracks such as Daytona. That’s not the case in California, Las Vegas or Atlanta -- the three upcoming races that Knaus will miss.

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In describing why it will be tougher on his team over the next three weeks than it was at Daytona, Knaus continued, “You have to have horsepower, you have to have aerodynamics, you have to have all those things.  You have to have good pit stops, good pit strategy, good tire pressure, good everything.  You have to have all that stuff lined up and ready to go.”

Understanding the added difficulty and the added scrutiny his team will be under, Knaus has set out some very basic goals for his team over the upcoming three races:  “The goal for the next three weeks I am gone is to go out there and run competitively, run in the top 10 and make sure we are established (in the Chase for the Championship standings). … I feel like those guys can carry out those goals and move on”.

One reason Knaus is optimistic is a “circle-the-wagons” attitude his team gets in circumstances like these.  He said, “This is something I think this team thrives upon.  I don’t know, maybe we’re all a little sick.  I don’t understand it, but whenever this 48 team has a little bit of adversity or challenge put in front of them they seem to step up”. 

They certainly proved that last weekend, winning NASCAR’s biggest race.  Now they’ve got three more weeks to keep the wagons circled.  I have no doubt that Johnson and his team will be fine. I feel they will emerge in fine shape to contend for the title. 

Frankly, it is a shame that all of this talk is overshadowing the No. 48 team’s remarkable job.

But Knaus was in the wrong and Johnson deserved to lose points as a result.

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