CONCORD, N.C. — Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway will present a number of unique challenges — not only to the drivers in the cars — but to the crew chiefs who oversee each team.
In the case of Chad Knaus, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief who now works alongside young gun William Byron at Hendrick Motorsports, the challenge starts with the fact he hasn’t seen the car Byron will drive on Sunday.
“I haven’t seen the race car. The car chief hasn’t seen the race cars. My guys that are going to be at the race track are basically going to show up and say, ‘OK, hey, what have we got here and let’s get after it,’” Knaus said. “It’s all unique but it’s actually been educational for the folks that are working at the shop to make sure the cars show up at the race track with the best amount of detail that’s capable of being put in our cars. It’s been good. It’s unique for sure, for everybody, but it’s what’s necessary at this time.”
The reason for that is NASCAR has recommended that race teams separate the crew that work on the cars at the shop from the crew that will accompany the car to the race track.
The goal is to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus that has brought most of the world to a crawl and forced NASCAR into a hiatus since mid-March.
“That’s the recommendation by NASCAR for the traveling teams to stay as isolated as they can and try to keep everybody at the race track as healthy as we can and that’s the protocol we put into place and that’s what we’ve been abiding by,” Knaus explained.
Without the ability to physically touch the race cars, Knaus says he is relying on his notes from previous events at the historic 1.366-mile oval as well as notes from some of the events that have already been completed this year.
NASCAR last raced at Darlington last September with Joe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones winning the Southern 500.
“It’s not easy, man. We obviously used last year as a baseline; 2019 was a solid race for us at Darlington. We qualified on the pole. We raced really well,” Knaus said. “We lost some track position early and we kind of ran around seventh most of the day until the end when we were caught up in an accident. So we used that as a baseline.
“Obviously the Camaro was a new beast for us. We had a really good race in Las Vegas. Our teammates had a really good run in Fontana. So we took the data from there and applied those offsets to the best of our ability and where we feel like the characteristics are going to be when we go to Darlington and kind of came up with what it was; the derivative of 2019 with a little bit of what we’ve learned so far in the mix.”
With NASCAR opting to run most of the upcoming races without qualifying or practice, Knaus believes teams that come to the track with ideal setups on their race cars will start off with an advantage.
With that in mind, he also added that the best teams will still find a way to race at the front like they do on normal weekends.
“I think the potential for somebody to really hit on it and have an advantage is definitely there,” Knaus added. “I think the best teams will still manage to work their way toward the front, either by the end of the race or by the end of this little jaunt that we’ve got going on. The best teams out there are going to learn from their experiences in the first couple of races and be able to build upon that; and the best teams have a very deep notebook.
“I think if you go to any venue, and you don’t think that a Kyle Busch or a Chase Elliott are not going to rumble, I think you’re just kind of fooling yourself, right? They’ve got depth. They’ve got time and tenure with their crew chief. So, they’ve got a lot to fall back on. So, I think the best teams will still be the best teams when it’s all said and done.”