NASCAR
Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus enter NASCAR Hall the way they should—together
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Call them inseparable.
Despite a few rough patches in their 17-year working relationship, driver Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus achieved a level of success at NASCAR’s highest level unparalleled in the current century.
Together, on Friday night in the Crown Ballroom at the Charlotte Convention Center, Johnson and Knaus reaped the rewards of their remarkable accomplishments—induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2024 in their first year of eligibility.
Johnson and Knaus entered the Hall along with Donnie Allison, elected to NASCAR’s highest honor from the Pioneer Ballot. An original member of the famed Alabama Gang, Allison helped elevate stock car racing’s visibility with both his driving skills and his fists.
Johnson earned high praise from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon, who lobbied on Johnson’s behalf when team owner Rick Hendrick considered adding a fourth team in 2002.
“He’s the best driver I ever raced against,” Gordon said in a video introducing his teammate.
In his acceptance speech, Johnson demurred with typical modesty, opening his remarks with a story about the motorcycle he found under the Christmas tree in 1979.
“I realize how many people played a role in this Hall of Fame induction,” Johnson said later in the speech. “Thank you to my family, friends, fans—everyone at Jimmie Johnson Racing, former team members and teammates, everyone who has been part of this journey.
“This success story of seven championships and 83 wins, and now this, is all about relationships. I’m truly grateful for the journey and the amazing relationships forged and the incredible companies I’ve represented like Lowe’s and Ally.
“Whether on two wheels or four, in SoCal or Charlotte, in the driver’s seat or up on top of the pit box, moonlighting as race car mechanic or driving a school bus (as his parents did), whether you’re looking up to your heroes, driving for them or competing against them… if you’re with us now or up in heaven, thank you for being a crucial part of this incredible run.
“This is beyond my wildest dreams—and I thought Christmas morning in 1979 was special.”
Johson reserved special praise for his teammate and team owner.
“I’m forever grateful to Jeff Gordon and Rick Hendrick,” Johnson said after receiving the Hall of Fame ring from his wife Chani. “You guys selected me for the No. 48 car, and I’m still not sure why.”
“Congrats, brother,” Johnson said to Knaus. “I’m so glad that we’re able to go in on the same ballot.”
After Tony Stewart won the 2005 series title, Johnson embarked on a remarkable run, claiming a record five straight championships from 2006 through 2010—a streak broken only by Stewart’s unexpected third title in 2011.
The pairing of Johnson and Knaus almost ended before the streak began. At the end of the 2005 season, they were barely speaking, and team owner Rick Hendrick considered splitting them up.
Before making a decision, Hendrick invited Johnson and Knaus to a meeting and served them milk and cookies on Mickey Mouse plates.
“If you’re going to act like children, I’m going to treat you like children,” was Hendrick’s blunt message to his driver and crew chief.
Hendrick made his point, and with the ice broken, the pair became NASCAR’s version of the “Untouchables” for the next five years.
“That shift allowed us to become champions,” Knaus said.
The five straight Cup championships eclipsed NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough’s previous mark of three straight (1976-1978) and is one entry in the NASCAR record book that likely will remain unassailable. With two non-consecutive titles each, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano are the only active full-time Cup drivers with more than one.
Johnson added championships in 2013 and 2016, tying the record of seven held jointly by Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr., both members of the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2010. He won his last Cup race—a track-record 11th victory at Dover Motor Speedway—on June 4, 2017, marking the 16th consecutive year he and Knaus had teamed to win at least two events.
That victory was Johnson’s 83rd, tying him with Yarborough for sixth on the career list. The book on Johnson’s career, however, is not quite closed. As co-owner of NASCAR Cup Series entry Legacy Motor Club, he will compete in select races this season, starting with the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 18.
Knaus’s wife Brooke presented the 2024 inductee ring to her husband.
“As I was growing up in the Midwest, my father taught me what it meant to have the best race cars,” Knaus said during his induction speech, “to have the proper maintenance schedule, to never settle for second and to continuously learn—and to always push the rules.”
Thanking his driver of 17 years, Knaus said, “Jimmie let me find out who I was by believing in me.”
A brilliant innovator dedicated to making Johnson’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets go faster, Knaus manned the pit box for 81 of Johnson’s 83 Cup wins, having been sidelined under suspension for the first two victories of 2006 for pushing the rules too far in trying to gain an aerodynamic advantage at Daytona.
After the Johnson/Knaus pairing ended following the 2018 season, Knaus served as crew chief for William Byron’s first career victory in the summer 2020 race at Daytona. In 2021, Knaus took on a management role as vice president of competition at Hendrick Motorsports.
From a career standpoint, Knaus’s seven championships as a crew chief are second only to NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Inman’s eight. His 82 victories are third all-time.
Allison and brother Bobby Allison accumulated the second-most Cup victories by two brothers (94), a number exceeded only by Kyle and Kurt Busch, who have accounted for 97 wins (with Kyle still active at 63).
Donnie Allison earned his greatest notoriety, however, after he had won the last of his 10 races (1978 at Atlanta). He and Yarborough were battling for the lead on the final lap of the 1979 Daytona 500, the first race featuring live flag-to-flag coverage on national network television, and after repeated contact between their cars, they both wrecked at the end of the backstretch.
The drivers climbed from their cars with anger in their eyes and started the fight that would captivate the television audience with its intensity. After Richard Petty inherited the victory, Bobby Allison parked his car near in Turn 3 and joined the fray, as the Alabama drivers ganged up on the South Carolinian.
The race and the fisticuffs that followed sparked interest in the sport of stock car racing and launched the sport’s steady growth over the next two decades.
Allison is the fourth member of the Alabama Gang to enter the NASCAR Hall of Fame, joining brother Bobby, nephew Davey Allison and Hueytown patriarch Red Farmer.
Asked what the induction meant to him, Donnie replied, “The closest thing was the feeling I got when I married my lovely wife Pat.”
Allison was the 1967 Cup rookie of the year. He also turned heads with a fourth-place finish in the 1970 Indianapolis 500, earning rookie-of-the-year honors for the race.
“All I can say is wow!” Allison said during his induction speech, during which, with tongue in cheek, he disputed the characterization of his altercation with Yarborough in 1979. “Fought? I never fought… I never touched that man. He never touched me…”
During the ceremony, pioneering driver Janet Guthrie was honored as the recipient of the Landmark Award for outstanding contributions to NASCAR. An accomplished sports car racer, Guthrie finished 15th in her NASCAR Cup debut in the 1976 Coca-Cola 600 and went on to compete in 33 Cup races, with a best finish of sixth at Bristol.
NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace received the Buddy Shuman Award for his charitable endeavors. Also recognized at the ceremony were two titans of the sport who passed away in 2023—broadcaster Ken Squier, co-founder of the Motor Racing Network, and Yarborough.
It was Squier, providing play-by-play for the 1979 Daytona 500 for CBS, who called the fight against Yarborough that Allison insists never really happened.
Squier’s legacy also extends to the Squier-Hall Award of Media Excellence, conferred on the late Shav Glick of the Los Angeles Times this year.
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
AVONDALE, AZ — After a phenomenal start to the 2026 season, followed by an agonizing dry spell, Tyler Reddick returned to Victory Lane on Sunday—and simultaneously did NASCAR Cup Series leader Kyle Larson a significant favor.
Snookering the top contenders in the Chase presented by Mobil 1 after a restart on Lap 294, Reddick surged past Chase Briscoe into the lead a lap later and pulled away to beat runner-up Ryan Blaney by 0.801 seconds in the Freeway Insurance 500, as Briscoe faded to eighth on older tires.
Reddick’s sixth win of the season and first at Phoenix Raceway, combined with Larson’s catastrophic 34th-place result, brought seven drivers into the mix for the series championship with three races left.
The driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota won five of the first nine races this season, including the first three, but since then had endured a winless streak of 23 races.
“That’s way too long,” a relieved Reddick said after performing a massive celebratory burnout in front of the main grandstand. “Man, the way we worked there, I mean, thinking of Phoenix, we wanted to be a lot better when we came back here (after the March race). I think we checked that box.
“For us, this group never lost motivation, never lost the drive to keep searching and keep trying to find ways to make ourselves better, just be an all-around better team… Just something about today, I had a really good feeling. Practice was amazing. Yeah, we’re back to Victory Lane.”
Before Sunday’s race at the one-mile speedway, Larson led second-place Denny Hamlin by 49 points with four races left in the postseason. After Reddick won for the 14th time in his career, there are now six drivers within 56 points of the Chase leader.
Fourth-place finisher Christopher Bell climbed one spot in the standings and trails Larson by five points, having trimmed 46 points from his previous deficit to the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
“We’re right there in it,” said Bell, who led a race-high 85 laps and finished third in each of the first two stages. “Really proud of our team. They’ve been doing a really good job of bringing fast race cars, executing races. We’ve been able to qualify well and run up front in stages.
“I felt like our performance probably tapered off a little bit as the day went on. We had the strategy to put tires there at the end, had good restarts to get some track position. We’re in the hunt.”
Briscoe is 24 points back in third place, followed by Hamlin, who fell from second to fourth but gained 18 points to 31 back, despite a blown tire that relegated him to 28th at the finish.
“The beginning was not great, and once we got back in traffic, I thought the second half of the race we were really strong,” said Hamlin, who was trapped a lap down after pitting with a shredded tire on Lap 221 and incurring a speeding penalty.
“Could contend for the win. Just right there with the 19 (Briscoe) when the tire blew (while battling) for third.”
Blaney, the pole winner, is 40 points in arrears, followed by Team Penske teammate Joey Logano, who swept the first two stages of Sunday’s race and is 44 points behind Larson after a sixth-place run.
“It was good and bad, I guess,” said Logano, who led 84 laps but lost track position on pit road. “The good part is that we were fast and led a bunch of laps and won two stages.
“The bad part is we gave away a win. That part hurts a little bit, but I guess we made up close to 50 points to the leader, so you can’t be too mad about it. I wish we had it back.”
After qualifying 22nd Larson struggled from the outset in a car that lacked speed. Despite a two-tire call that vaulted him temporarily to fifth, Larson remained 22nd at the end of Stage 1. From that point, his race went from bad to worse.
On Lap 283 Larson blew a tire in Turn 1, slammed the outside wall and retired from the event, scoring just three points for his efforts, compared with Reddick, who notched 61.
“We never found the improvements we needed, so that was a bummer,” Larson said. “I didn’t expect to be good, but I didn’t expect to be that bad either. It wasn’t a lot of fun today, but we were just trying to salvage what we could of the day.
“We’ll go to Talladega and try to forget about today and get back after it. We’ve done well at the superspeedways, so hopefully we can execute, get some points and keep ourselves in the hunt.”
The only saving grace for Larson was that Reddick’s win kept him in the series lead. Either Bell, Briscoe or Hamlin could have taken the top spot in the Chase with a victory.
Larson’s teammate, Chase Elliott finished third but remains 149 points out of the Chase lead. Reddick’s teammate, Bubba Wallace, led 52 laps and had control of the race in the final stage before a pit road speeding penalty under caution for Larson’s accident knocked him back to 17th at the finish.
Corey Heim came home fifth, followed by Logano, Daniel Suarez, Briscoe, Ross Chastain and Ty Gibbs.
All told, there were six cautions for 43 laps and 21 lead changes among 10 drivers. Reddick led the only the final 18 laps after a lane opened up for him soon after the final restart.
“Yeah, just got really fortunate,” Reddick said. “I didn’t have a good launch. There was a hole. I was able to get through it. I thought the 19 (Briscoe) was going to be able to cover the move into (Turn) 3.
“I got him loose. We checked out.”
The NASCAR Cup Chase continues next Sunday with the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
AVONDALE, AZ (October 18, 2026) — Last November at Phoenix Raceway, Jesse Love won the NASCAR O’Reilly Series championship.
On Saturday at the same one-mile track, he may have done it again with a victory in the Timberland PRO 200.
Unlike last year, however, there are three races left in the O’Reilly Series Chase, run under a new nine-race format this season. But with his second win at Phoenix, his second this season and the fifth of his career, Love established himself as the convincing frontrunner for the series title.
In a race that spelled disaster for former Chase leader Sheldon Creed, Love opened a 36-point lead over second-place Justin Allgaier, who finished third. Fourth-place finisher Corey Day is 39 points behind in third, with Creed falling to fourth in the standings, 59 points back, after finishing 32nd, two laps down.
“I would say it’s a day we prepared for, not just dreamed of,” Love said after climbing from his car. “I’ve got a great group around me, just preparing me to be in these situations, to be calm, cool and collected.
“I’ve learned from a lot of mistakes that allow me to execute at a high-level at a track like this. I’ve been here, it feels like, a million times… Grateful to the fans for coming out. It’s my favorite race track. I love coming to Arizona—I’m a West Coast kid.”
The 21-year-old from Clovis, California, swept the first and second stages and led 156 of 200 laps, scoring 75 points for his efforts—one short of the maximum. The statistics, however, don’t tell the story. Over the final 35-lap green-flag run, race runner-up Sam Mayer hounded the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet all the way to the finish line.
Gaining ground over the final two laps, Mayer got to Love’s bumper off the final corner but finished 0.128 seconds behind the race winner. Mayer’s effort was all the more spectacular, given that his No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet started the race from the rear of the field after an engine change.
“Hats off to them, man,” Love said. “The 41 team did a great job coming from the back and making their car better. Honestly, it felt like they were a little better than we were at the end. I was having to just drive a lot over the tire to make any sort of lap time.
“I’m just grateful to be in a situation to win races. I’ve got a great pit crew who just maul everybody on pit road every week. It makes my job a lot easier. I’m really proud of the whole group.”
Mayer, who remained sixth in the Chase standings, 86 points behind Love, knew he had narrowly missed an important opportunity.
“Good job to him (Love)—he drove a great race,” Mayer said. “We definitely pressured him the whole time. It came down to making a mistake or not, and he executed really well. Really close…
“The Hendrick Engine shop brought a really good engine for us—two of them, technically I guess, ‘cause we blew one up. I haven’t had fun this year like that. That was just a lot of fun. It was just great racing, and hopefully we put on a show for everyone at home.
“That’s some pretty big championship implications if we could have won that one. I’m looking at the numbers right here, and they look pretty ugly for the old 41 and, honestly, the 00 (Creed), too.”
Creed, who entered the race with a two-point Chase lead, finished second to Love in the first stage with no idea what was about to happen to his car. During the caution for the stage break, a “kill switch” malfunction shut off the engine of his Chevrolet, and Creed lost three laps on pit road as his crew tried to get the car to refire.
It was only through attrition that Creed climbed from 37th to 32nd at the finish.
Sammy Smith finished fifth, followed by Brandon Jones, who lost a lap early after a move to wet tires during a brief shower in the first stage. Dean Thompson, William Sawalich, Rajah Caruth and Carson Kvapil finished seventh through 10th, respectively.
Next up for the O’Reilly Series drivers is The Progress Group 250 on Oct. 24 at Talladega Superspeedway (3:30 p.m. ET on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
AVONDALE, AZ (October 16, 2026) — At the track where Corey Heim secured the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series title in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota last year, Kaden Honeycutt took a giant step toward this season’s championship in the same ride.
Taking control of the race in the third stage at Phoenix Raceway, thanks in no small part to a flawless effort from his pit crew, Honeycutt cruised to victory in Friday’s Zero Carbon Bioethanol 150 Powered by POET and expanded his Chase lead to 39 points over second-place Layne Riggs, who finished third.
Honeycutt led a race-high 53 laps—all during the final green-flag run—and beat a frustrated Christian Eckes to the finish line by 1.556 seconds to record his first win at Phoenix and the fourth of his career, all accomplished this season.
Second out of the pits on the final stop at the second stage break—and first among the Chase contenders—Honeycutt quickly dispatched Stewart Friesen, who had taken two tires on the stop and jumped 12 positions into a short-lived lead.
After seizing the top spot on the Lap 99 restart, the 23-year-old from Willow Park, Texas, remained out front the rest of the way. His victory also was the 39th in the series for crew chief Scott Zipadelli, who is now five wins shy of Eric Phillips’ all-time lead.
“My pit crew—they did a great job,” Honeycutt asserted. “I give them so much credit because they’re so damn good. I’m so fortunate to be able to drive these things. They spend all their hours in the day just for me to drive ‘em, and I can’t be more grateful for them.
“In Stage 1, I just struggled. I just didn’t have good rear grip at the start of that first stage. Scott went to work for me. He was never concerned. He kept me locked in the whole time.”
Riggs led the first 43 laps from the pole before Ty Majeski passed him with two circuits left in the first stage. Majeski scored his second stage win of the season and went on to sweep the stages at Phoenix and lead 49 laps before finishing fourth.
Riggs passed Majeski for the third position on Lap 104 of 150 but that was as far as he could advance.
“I’ve got to congratulate the 11 guys—they had a really good truck tonight,” Riggs said. “Obviously, they won the championship here with Corey last year, and they’ve got a really good package for Phoenix.
“It just wasn’t our night… We’ve got Talladega next week. You don’t know what’s going to happen there. Obviously, we’re running up front every single race, kind of a back-and-forth battle right now. Tonight, just wasn’t our night. I’m not going to hang my head on it, and I’m really proud of the effort by the team.”
Seeking his first victory of the season, Eckes couldn’t get close enough to Honeycutt to make a move during the final run.
“It still feels great to contend, but, man, it sucks, for sure,” said Eckes, who has finished second in the No. 91 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet for three straight races. “I came back here (to the Truck Series) to win, and we haven’t done that yet.
“We’re bringing race trucks that are just close enough to contend, but just kind of missing one or two things (compared with) the 11 (Honeycutt) and 34 (Riggs) right now.”
Eckes climbed to third in the standings with the runner-up finish, but he’s 112 points behind Honeycutt with three races left.
Jake Garcia finished fifth, followed by William Sawalich, Daniel Hemric, Gio Ruggiero, Grant Enfinger and Brent Crews.
Chandler Smith, Riggs’ Front Row Motorsports teammate, drew a pit road penalty for too many men over the wall and finished 15th. He fell one spot to fourth in the Chase standings, 117 points out of the lead.
The race featured two cautions for 16 laps, with the second yellow for debris in Turn 1 coinciding with the Stage 2 break. There were six lead changes among five drivers.
The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Chase continues next Friday with the Love’s RV Stop 225 at Talladega Superspeedway (4 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Tyler Reddick returns to Victory Lane in Chase-changing race at Phoenix
Stampede Wins To Spithaler, Norris, Krummert, Schneider, Wonderling, Blackshear, Gallagher, Rhoades, Frantz, Bailey, Wolfe, and Stock
Jesse Love takes charge in NASCAR O’Reilly Chase with win at Phoenix
Kaden Honeycutt expands Chase lead with NASCAR Truck Series win at Phoenix
Dietrich Wins Final 50, Banks $20,000
Stampede Wins To Spithaler, Norris, Krummert, Schneider, Wonderling, Blackshear, Gallagher, Rhoades, Frantz, Bailey, Wolfe, and Stock
Tyler Reddick returns to Victory Lane in Chase-changing race at Phoenix
Jesse Love takes charge in NASCAR O’Reilly Chase with win at Phoenix
Kaden Honeycutt expands Chase lead with NASCAR Truck Series win at Phoenix