RacewayReport.com: Hendrick Motorsports announces multi-year extensions for Gustafson and Knaus

[Gilbert Sam, Jr.]

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May 1, 2010

Hendrick Motorsports announces multi-year extensions for Gustafson and
Knaus: Crew chiefs Alan Gustafson and Chad Knaus have signed multi-
year contract extensions with Hendrick Motorsports, the organization
confirmed Friday. Gustafson, 34, is in his sixth season as crew chief
of the No. 5 Chevy and has nine wins heading into Saturday night's
event at Richmond International Raceway. The Ormond Beach, Fla.,
native joined Hendrick Motorsports 11 years ago as a chassis shop
employee before being moved to the No. 5 team in 2000. He served as
the shock specialist for two years and was named the lead engineer of
the No. 5 car driven by Terry Labonte in 2002. In 2005, Gustafson took
over as crew chief. "I'm extremely happy," Gustafson said of the
extension. "I love this company. I love working for Hendrick
Motorsports. I love Rick Hendrick (team owner) -- everything he has
done for me in my career -- and to continue that on into the future is
everything I've wanted. I truly love what I do." Now in his ninth
season, Knaus is continuing his record-setting run as crew chief the
No. 48 Chevy. With four consecutive Sprint Cup championships under his
belt, the 38-year-old Rockford, Ill., native has etched his name in
NASCAR's history books. Like Gustafson, Knaus' NASCAR career began
with Hendrick Motorsports. Knaus took his first job with Hendrick in
1993 working with the No. 24 Chevy and crew chief Ray Evernham. Knaus
did everything from fabricating pieces to changing tires prior to
leaving the organization in 1997. He became crew chief for driver
Stacy Compton in 2001 before returning to Hendrick Motorsports the
following year to establish the No. 48 team with then-rookie Jimmie
Johnson. Since partnering in 2002, Knaus and Johnson have turned into
a dynamic duo, winning the most prestigious events on the NASCAR
circuit, including the 2006 Daytona 500 and three Brickyard 400s
(2006, 2008 and 2009) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "I'm pretty
pleased, obviously," Knaus said. "I've spent the majority of my life
at Hendrick Motorsports, since 1993, and I'd have a hard time thinking
I would ever go anywhere else. This (No.) 24 team and this (No.) 48
team are very important to me, and I'm glad to be a part of it. I hope
I'm here for a long time to come."(HMS Site)
http://www.racewayreport.com/news/hendrick.html
http://www.racewayreport.com/jimmiejohnson
http://www.racewayreport.com/markmartin

Jimmie Johnson wants to wear down lazy drivers: There is no question
that NASCAR is a sport, and a damn difficult one at that. What other
criteria does Johnson have to meet to be a great athlete? Does he seek
to outperform his opponents in a physical way? “I hope it’s nice and
hot,” Johnson said, referring to the weather for the upcoming race in
Dover, Del., on May 16. “I want to wear down some of the guys who
don’t take their fitness as seriously as I do.” (Trentonian)
http://www.racewayreport.com/jimmiejohnson

Report: Hendrick Motorsports renew Gustafson and Knaus contracts:
Hendrick Motorsports has extended the contracts of crew chiefs Alan
Gustafson and Chad Knaus. NASCAR's top team announced the multiyear
extensions on Friday. Gustafson is currently crew chief for the No. 5
Chevy driven by Mark Martin. The extension likely means Gustafson will
be paired with Kasey Kahne when he joins the team. Knaus has guided
Jimmie Johnson to the last four NASCAR championships as No. rew chief
of the No. 48.(Associated Press)
http://www.racewayreport.com/news/hendrick.html

McGrew: Dale Jr. ready for summer stretch of races: Crew chief Lance
McGrew believes his Dale Earnhardt Jr. team is prepared for the summer
stretch of races. “I don’t think I need to motivate my crew to do what
they are supposed to do,” McGrew said. “You surround yourself with
guys that want to be at the race track, and they want to better
themselves and the team. To me, I just try to worry about one race at
a time. As we plug through the summer, the points will be harder and
harder to get and the positions will be harder and harder to overtake,
so you have to just keep a concerted effort to just race one at a time
and get what you can get. Richmond kind of scares me because we didn’t
really run that great in the fall and I don’t know why. So that’s one
of the ones that I’ve been worried about. But the team is so much
better, and Dale has more confidence so hopefully that will carry us
through.”(USA Today)
http://www.racewayreport.com/dalejr

Latest on Jimmie and Jeff: Behind the scenes at Hendrick, the four-
time Cup champions [Johnson & Gordon] needed a second straight week of
talks after curt words followed incidents on the track. Johnson said
on Thursday team owner Rick Hendrick told him and Gordon not to let
their bubbling feud start "breaking apart the organization." Johnson,
Gordon and Hendrick spoke together on the phone this week to smooth
over a rough patch in the relationship between the drivers. The
championship teammates tangled on the track in successive weeks,
leading Gordon to lash out at Johnson after Sunday's race at Talladega
Superspeedway. Johnson said Hendrick understood they are competitive
drivers who just want to win. But Hendrick didn't want the rivalry to
split apart the race teams that work so closely together. Johnson said
Hendrick told him, "You guys need to voice your opinions, handle
things on the track as you see fit, but let's not let this carry on
too far and affect the race shop." Johnson made a mistake that
ultimately led to Gordon's wreck at Talladega. That came a week after
the two had a run-in at Texas Motor Speedway.(Full story and more
quotes at theAssociated Press)
http://www.racewayreport.com/news/hendrick.html

NASCAR Media Group honoed with Emmy Award: NASCAR Media Group, the
creative, media, and production services company of NASCAR, has
received an Emmy Award for "Inside the Headsets," a television program
which aired following the 25th annual NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star Race
last May. NASCAR Media Group and its broadcast partner SPEED were
presented the award in the "Live Event Turnaround" category at the
31st Annual Sport Emmy Awards on April 26, 2010 at Lincoln Center in
New York. This is the third time in the past four years NASCAR Media
Group has won the Emmy Award in the "Live Event Turnaround" category.
Other NASCAR-related programming was also recognized at television's
most prestigious awards ceremony. FOX Sports won for Live Event Audio/
Sound for its NASCAR broadcasts and HBO's "24/7 Jimmie Johnson Race To
Daytona" was recognized for Outstanding Sports Promotional
Announcement Episodic.(NASCAR)
http://www.racewayreport.com/tv/news.html

Bowyer cites better teamwork for turnaround: The biggest differences
for Richard Childress Racing this season? Clint Bowyer says it’s hard
work and teamwork. RCR was shut out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup
and victory lane in 2009. Of its four drivers — Bowyer, Jeff Burton,
Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears — Bowyer (15th) was the highest in
points. RCR has Bowyer, Burton and Harvick in its stable now. With
Harvick winning at Talladega last week, all three are in the top 12 in
points going into this weekend’s Heath Calhoun 400 at Richmond
International Raceway. Harvick is second, Bowyer 11th and Burton 12th.
“The biggest thing is teamwork in any organization, doesn’t matter
what you do,” Bowyer said. “I feel like moving down to three teams at
RCR really forced us to work together as a group. I feel like we’re as
strong as we’ve ever been. (Richmond Times Dispatch)
http://www.racewayreport.com/drivers/news/clint_bowyer.html

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