Although crew chief Chad Knaus’ decision helped Jimmie Johnson win Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Johnson didn’t follow Knaus’ orders afterward.
Knaus told Johnson not to do a burnout.
Johnson did one anyway.
Why the order?
“Man, did you see what happened to (Kyle Busch) on Friday?’’ Knaus said in reference to Busch’s car failing post-qualifying inspection. “I’m not taking any chances right now. I don’t want anything bent or broken or anything to warrant any type of problem right there.
“So until we understand exactly what’s going on with all the post‑race measuring, which it’s a pretty big deal … we don’t know what these cars do during a race, especially at a racetrack like this where there’s a bunch of bouncing and moving and so on and so forth. I just didn’t want to take a chance on him tearing something up doing a burnout and not passing post‑race (inspection).’’
Johnson’s car passed inspection after the race at the track.