Knaus told Johnson to wreck car if he won at Talladega: UPDATES: Chad Knaus told driver Jimmie Johnson to intentionally damage the back end of his race car if the #48 team won Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway, the crew chief acknowledged Wednesday. Knaus admitted giving the five-time NASCAR champion the pre-race instructions in order to "cover our bases" in case 500 miles of bump-drafting knocked the car beyond NASCAR's strict tolerances. Officials likely would have accepted the damage as an excuse if the # 48 car had not fit NASCAR's templates in post-race inspection. The conversation between Knaus and Johnson occurred when the crew chief leaned inside the #48 car before the race to give Johnson some final words of encouragement. Because Johnson's in-car camera was live on NASCAR.com's RaceBuddy application, the chat was broadcast to anyone watching the feed at the time.
"If we win this race, you have to crack the back of the car," Knaus could be heard telling Johnson on the recording. "Got it?"
"Really?" Johnson replied, sounding surprised.
"Yes," Knaus said. "Got it? You don't have to have to hit it hard, you don't have to destroy it. But you've gotta do a donut and you've gotta hit the back end, or somebody's gotta hit you in the ***-end or something. OK?"
After Johnson responds with apparent silence (he can't be heard saying anything else), Knaus added, "You'll be alright. Can't take any chances."
When asked Wednesday whether the conversation indicated Knaus was trying something fishy on the back of the car, the crew chief replied, "I don't think that's a fair assessment. To be honest with you, here's the deal - racing at Talladega is tough, and I think everybody understands that," Knaus said in a phone interview. "You run 500 miles at 200 miles per hour, and you're bump-drafting and you're beating on one another, and it's real easy for these cars to get outside of tolerance. It's a tight tolerance that we're held in. It doesn't take much to be a few thousands (of an inch) off and have NASCAR raise an eyebrow. Just being proactive, I just told Jimmie, 'Look, man - we've just got to make sure there's a tire mark or some type of visible damage.' Just because cars do move when you race them like that."(SB Nation)(10-26-2001)
UPDATE: NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp has issued a statement in response to the story: "We became aware of this piece of audio this morning and certainly want to get all the facts before making an opinion and reaching any conclusions. We'll visit with the parties and pull all the facts together best we can. While Talladega is done and the #48 was not the winning or random car, we certainly have an interest in getting the facts straight on behalf of the balance of the competitors." Though officials might be steamed at Knaus, it might be difficult for NASCAR to issue a penalty in this situation. While Knaus may have intended for Johnson to wreck the back of the car had the 48 team won the race, nothing ever actually happened. NASCAR will likely tell Knaus it's not happy with his intentions, however.(SB Nation)(10-27-2011)
UPDATE 2: NASCAR met with Chad Knaus Friday morning and Martinsville and then released the following statement: "We had the opportunity to visit with Chad and Jimmie this morning in Martinsville. As the sport's governing body we were doing our due diligence to look into this and gain some insight into the comments Chad made before the race at Talladega. We have a responsibility to the rest of the garage area to ensure that everyone is competing on a level playing field with the inspection processes we have in place. The 48 organization knows that from this occurrence that their car is likely to be a regular customer at the R&D Center for post race inspection the balance of this season."(10-28-2011)
AND: Knaus said Friday's meeting at Martinsville Speedway with NASCAR president Mike Helton, director of competition Robin Pemberton and Spring Cup series director John Darby was held simply to clear the air. "I have a very clear understanding of what they expect and the way they expect us to conduct ourselves," Knaus told ESPN.com immediately after the meeting. "I meant no disrespect to NASCAR or any of the competitors by no means." NASCAR officials said no punishment would result from Knaus' comments and that the purpose of their discussion with him was to gather information.(ESPN)(10-28-2011)

So is the Chase down to a two-man race? While conventional logic may dictate that it's too early to say and none of the other 10 Chasers have even so much as been mathematically eliminated as yet, a strong argument could be made for it.

Both Stewart and Edwards have strong records at the tracks they will visit the rest of the way, making it highly unlikely that either will slip much. The likelihood that both will stumble somewhere over these final three, thus possibly enabling someone else to inch markedly closer, is even more of a long shot.
Certainly two candidates who remain in the running at this juncture are Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski, who are 21 and 27 points, respectively, off the pace set by Edwards.
But in 19 career starts at Texas Motor Speedway, Stewart has one win and a 13.2 average finish; in 13 career starts there, Edwards has three wins and a 16.5 average finish. At Phoenix, Stewart weighs in with one win and an 11.5 average finish in 19 starts vs. one win and a 13.0 average finish for Edwards in 14 starts.
Homestead could be the great equalizer -- should Stewart continue to make small gains at the other two venues. Edwards absolutely loves the 1.5-mile layout, owning two wins, four top-five and six top-10 finishes in seven career starts. His average finish there is a remarkable 5.2. Stewart is no slouch at the place, either, with two wins and a 12.4 average finish in 12 career starts.
Another factor is that the Phoenix track has been repaved and reconfigured, and lurks as a true wild card over these final weeks.

Chase leader Carl Edwards claims Tony Stewart is not his main threat for the championship as the battle for the NASCAR Sprint Cup title enters its defining stages. After seven out of 10 play-off events, the Roush Fenway driver leads the standing by nine points over Stewart, who has won three out of the seven Chase races, and recently took victory at Martinsville.
Stewart warned Edwards following last week's win, saying his rival had "better be real worried," and adding "he's not going to sleep for the next three weeks". Edwards tried to shrug off Stewart's comments, saying his true rivals currently rank behind Stewart in the Chase standings.
"This week I've thought a little bit about who my real competition is and, no offence to Tony or anything, but I think the guys that are behind him are truly the guys who have the biggest chance of doing well over the next three weeks," said Edwards.
"They've shown they can run up front in the points all year and although Tony could go on a roll, what I've been sticking to this week is that it would be foolish of me to just focus on him and not pay attention to these other guys who have been very, very fast.
"All the talk in the world doesn't mean anything. You have to go out here and perform and race well and that's what we're here to do."
Stewart, who could become the first owner to win a title driving for his own outfit since Alan Kulwicki did it in 1992, said his warning to Edwards remains in place and that it was not an emotional claim following his third win of the season. He says his rival is making a mistake if he is really counting him out as a true championship threat.
"The feeling hasn't changed," said Stewart. "It wasn't the adrenaline that was saying that. I've been racing 31 years and we've been a part of a lot of championship battles and I know what that feeling is when you feel that stuff is going right and that you've got that shot again.
"Like I said, he's making a mistake if he's counting us out and if he thinks it's just a mind game deal, I really don't care what he does. I'm going to control my destiny and my car, I don't care what he does with his car. I'm going to take care of business with ours."
Edwards has been twice a close contender for the Cup title, first in 2005 when he lost to Stewart and then in '08 when he finished third to Jimmie Johnson. He believes going through losing those championships has given him the experience to be more confident this time around, although he says he is not putting any added pressure on himself.
"I feel that we can do it," said Edwards. "I feel we've escaped some of our bad tracks and bad days and still been able to fight and claw and come up with something good. Now, we're going to some tracks that we can run well [at], but I also understand how much can go wrong. I know things that can happen and it's not over until it's over."
He added: "I really and truly learned some valuable lessons in 2005 and 2008. In 2005, we were leading the race at Homestead. I think I almost put Tony a lap down to win that championship and it didn't work out. He ended up winning and we ended up tied for second. That was my first shot at a championship.
"Right then, I thought, 'Aw, that's no big deal. We'll win it next year.' That was obviously pretty naive. Then in 2008 we were very, very fast and really good at every racetrack. I learned a lot of lessons through losing that one, making a mistake and having a part failure.
"Win, lose or draw I'll be back here next year, the year after that and the year after that. We're going to be tough for a long time, so what I'm doing is trying not to let myself think about this particular championship. I'm not putting a bunch of importance on it or trying to change things. I don't go to bed thinking about this thing - winning it or anything. I'm trying to go do my job."
Edwards enters this weekend's Chase round at Texas as the driver with the most Cup victories at the track, winning six years ago for the first time before sweeping the races at the 1.5-mile venue in 2008.