Dale Earnhardt, apart from his triumphs and success at Richard Childress Racing, wanted an outfit that represented his racing identity. Therefore, with a vision to have his own NASCAR team, the Intimidator founded Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 1998. Dale Earnhardt could’ve easily switched teams and guided his creation to glory, but he continued with his mentor, Richard Childress, having won six championship trophies.

However, the Intimidator was looking for a specialist mechanic, to lead the charge for one of his teams. During that time, Chad Knaus donned multiple hats, serving as a general fabricator and managing chassis and body programs. Knaus was also a part of the championship-winning team No. 24, at Hendrick Motorsports, led by Jeff Gordon in 1995 and 1997.

So, when Dale Earnhardt learned about his ability to lead the charge for the team, he was set on a mission to poach him for HMS. Even Knaus couldn’t turn down the offer after watching the Intimidator perform miracles in trying to persuade him to accept the role of crew chief.

Dale Earnhardt had a trick or two up his sleeves

Talented racers and crew mechanics were hard to come by, even during NASCAR’s golden days. Therefore, Earnhardt himself took on the responsibility of persuading Knaus to take the reins of his team at DEI. Although there are plenty of stories about Intimidator out there, former HMS crew chief during a podcast spilled the beans on how he was sold on the idea of joining DEI.

“So Dale persuade me pretty hard. We go out past this little pond, and he’s like, come here I wanna show you something. He’s got his cowboy boots on and he jumps up and down on this dock, and I’m telling you, the water around the dock just started to ripple. And then he takes this food scoper and sprays all this food out there, and there was like Pirana. All these fish coming up to get this fish food. I’m like, this guy truly is a god.” Knaus revealed this while speaking on the MRN Crew Call podcast via Spotify.

However, the Hall of Famer crew chief had practical reasons for jumping ship and ditching a good stint at HMS. Although Ray Evernham was the man at the helm of the 24 team, the likes of Phil Hammer, Patrick Donahue, and Guzzo were in the ranks to be promoted to that lead role. “I’m like man in order for me to be able to be a crew chief in the timeline that I want. I had a goal of being a crew chief by the time I was 30. I was like, I don’t know if I’m gonna get it because I’m not gonna get raised up, right?” Knaus added.

It wasn’t an easy task to just call it quits after being a part of a successful project. Therefore, Knaus had to convince Mr. H about his future moves. Although Rick Hendrick gave his grace for him to embark on a new adventure, it came with a condition. Which was accepted gladly by the future crew chief of the No. 84 car.

Rick Hendrick wanted Chad Knaus back at HMS

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Mr. H had an eye for talent, and he, therefore, wanted to retain his future crew chief. So he asked Knaus to return to HMS when the time was right. “Mr. Hendrick looked me in the eye, and he said, look I would grant you this and give you my graces to do it but when the time comes and if it’s right, we want you to come back to Hendrick Motorsports, be crew chief here, and I shook his hand and gave him my word,” Knaus shed light on this story.

However, after just one year at DEI, he joined his former partner, Ray Evernham, at Melling Racing. Soon he was promoted to the role of crew chief for driver Stacy Compton for a Doge developmental program. But, keeping his word, Knaus returned to Hendrick Motorsports to form arguably the best driver-chief pairing with Jimmie Johnson.

Mr. H had to straighten the two up with the infamous Milk & Cookie peace treaty, but having come to terms with each other, they delivered seven championship wins to the team. So, in the end, Knaus trying different avenues and ultimately landing on his feet at HMS certainly worked in favor of both him and Hendrick Motorsports.