NASCAR, like every sport, has plenty of arguable topics, but every diehard NASCAR fan would tell you that Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus was the most dominant driver-crew chief tandem of NASCAR's modern era. Their championship five-peat from 2006-2010 and seven total titles puts them in a rare spot in NASCAR history. Eventually, they ended their 17-year partnership at Hendrick Motorsports after the 2018 Cup Series season due to competitive differences. But, if Greg Biffle had his way, the pairing would've broken up a couple years earlier.
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During an episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast, Biffle talked about his time at Roush Fenway Racing, where he drove the No. 16 Ford from 2003-2016. He told Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his co-host Mike Davis that during an attempted restructuring period during his final years with the team, he tried (and failed) to get Chad Knaus on board to shake things up. Oh, what could have been.
"We were trying to reinvent ourselves with the same people, not even moving them around," Biffle said. "We need to try something different to get out and get going. You know I almost had Chad Knaus hired. I was trying to get him to come and save Roush Fenway in late 2014, and 2015 right in there. I was trying to get him, I said 'Chad you can be the guy. You can be the Ray Evernham or the whoever, set your own destiny but you're the guy.'"
"Can you imagine if he came over there and Roush Fenway is rivaling Penske and Hendrick and Stewart Haas, right now? Under his leadership and it would have happened. We were close, but it was probably because some of us didn't want to hand over the baton yet."
Now, by 2014, Jimmie and Chad had already done significant damage in the Cup Series, having won six of their seven championships. But, if Biffle had been able to snatch Knaus away from Hendrick Motorsports, who knows? Maybe Jimmie wouldn't have won that seventh title in 2016, which put him in the NASCAR GOAT conversation alongside Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr.
Speaking of championships, Greg Biffle won a couple of those in his day. Just not in the Cup Series. The 2002 NASCAR Busch Series champion and 2000 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, Biffle won his last Truck race in 2019 at Texas, driving the No. 51 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports. After a six-year hiatus in the Cup Series, the 52-year-old Biffle made his return in 2022, running several races in the No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevy.
