With 83 Wins, 7 Titles, Do Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus Belong in NASCAR Hall of Fame?

• Between 2001-2020, Johnson and Knaus (from left to right above) won 83 races and a record-tying seven Cup Series championships for Hendrick Motorsports.

• In 2021, the Hall of Fame switched from five inductees regardless of their time within NASCAR to only three—two from the Modern-Era Ballot and one from the Pioneer Ballot.

• The 61-person Voting Panel will also select the winner of the Hall of Fame’s annual Landmark Award.

It’s almost a foregone conclusion that Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson and his long-time crew chief, Chad Knaus, will be named Wednesday to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina. The only suspense is whether one or the other will make history by being the hall’s first unanimous selection since it opened in 2010.

Together, between 2001-2020, they won 83 races and a record-tying seven Cup Series championships for Hendrick Motorsports. Their streak of five consecutive titles between 2006-2010 is considered one of stock car racing’s most untouchable records. (They also won the championship in 2013 and 2016).

Johnson and Knaus will be named from the 10-person “Modern-Era Ballot,” which is for racers who began their careers after 1964. Less certain is the single nominee from the “Pioneer Ballot,” for men or women who began racing before 1964.