Last Sunday in Texas, even more than on the track, the show was in the stands. Jeff Gordon forced to retire after clashing with Jeff Burton, his mechanics were then requisitioned by Chad Knaus, Jimmie Johnson's crew chief. Annoyed by the poor supplies made by his men, Knaus made the decision to replace them. Many then thought that the four-time defending champion would reunite with his men next weekend in Phoenix, for the penultimate round of the season. But that will not be the case. With Gordon no longer able to claim the crown, Jimmie Johnson will keep the seven men assigned to refuel his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.
“It?s a professional sport, you can see it all the time, explains Knaus. Unfortunately our guys were not 100% operational, and the crash of No. 24 (Gordon's, Editor's note) allowed us to borrow the mechanics from him. They did a great job. I don?t like doing this kind of thing, but it?s also a bit of our duty.?
Johnson, who is, with two races to go, second in the provisional general classification, 33 points behind leader Denny Hamlin, is not the first of the 2010 title contenders to make a change of mechanics. Within Childress Racing, the decision was made two weeks ago to transfer the mechanics from Clint Bowyer's car to that of Kevin Harvick, the latter of whom could still hope to be crowned.
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