Driver Coach Jordan Taylor Blames Chad Knaus’ Influence for the Nightmare Ahead of Le Mans

It’s been a week after NASCAR successfully made their entry in the prestigious race at 24 hours of Le Mans. The car was different from other entries in terms of sound, speed, size, manual jacks for pit stops, and so on. Despite all these differences, Garage 56’s number 24 Chevy crossed the checkered flag at 39th place among 62 cars.

The success was the result of the united efforts of many involved in the project. Some had to sacrifice their night’s sleep to make the dream of NASCAR true, and it truly paid off. One of them was The Driver Coach for this project, Jordan Taylor. He revealed in his interview the reason for his sleepless night was peer pressure from the Vice President of Competition at Hendrick Motorsports, Chad Knaus, and the team’s crew chief, Greg Ives.

Jordan Taylor Talks About Why He Used to Stay Up All Night

Chad Knaus was the crew chief of seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson and they together won these seven championships and 81 races in the top-level NASCAR Cup series. Greg Ives was a race engineer on Johnson’s car between 2006 and 2012. The gang united at Garage 56, along with IMSA Champion and project Coach Jordan Taylor.

The collective effort at Hendrick camp drove everyone to work tirelessly, motivating Taylor to stay awake throughout the night. During an interview with Road and Track, Taylor was asked why he didn’t sleep during the event.

In response, he admitted, “I got peer pressured into staying up all night”. Later, revealing the name of the two people, “Greg and Chad”

Taylor talked about the responsibility that kept him up at night. He said, “To begin, it was just kind of letting the guys know what to expect traffic-wise—where cars pass you, where to be careful in the changing conditions, what to look out for in the rain and the dry, the dangerous spots.”

“It’s Jimmie’s first time here, it’s Jenson’s first time here in a GT car, and we’re not the fastest class. So if we have a pack of prototypes coming up, [I] let them know.”

The car size was adding an extra layer of difficulty in the driver’s view at night, resulting in extra work for Taylor.

Read More: What Sets the NASCAR Le Mans Car Apart From its Next Gen Counterpart?

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The Garage 56 car stood out due to its larger size compared to other GT cars, posing challenges for drivers when other GT cars were alongside them. On this, Jimmie Johnson remarked, “But I can sense we’re bigger. When other cars are alongside, you actually have to look over the door top to see if they’re there. They’re just so much lower profile.”

The difficulty of the job was amplified in rainy conditions and during nighttime. “In NASCAR, you have spotters. Here, it’s 8 miles, so you can’t have 20 spotters. I’m mainly looking at timing and scoring. We call them the ‘marching ants’ as the cars go around the track. With our car, it’s so hard to see when they’re next to you. The marching ants help us let the drivers know what to look out for, then it’s up to them to get through it.”

Closing his interview, Taylor humorously stated, “Just that I’m really tired thanks to Chad and Greg.”

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