RELATIONSHIP

But yet they always pulled through and both remained committed to tying Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt with seven Cup titles.

They hit the mark in 2016 and even though Johnson won three of the first 13 races the next season, he and Knaus were headed toward a final breaking point over Johnson’s desire to move his family to Colorado.

It’s ancient history now to Knaus.

“You know, the Aspen thing, man, look, it is what it is,” Knaus told AP.

“It’s hard from my perspective. I am older now and I am in a different place. But when I look back and look at where I was at that point, I was in it and living it every single day and in the grind. And you can begin to feel like a single parent — the one the kid comes around for the weekend play, and you know, everything’s great, but the kid doesn’t want to play with them every single day.

“That’s what that felt like going through that and it was challenging because (stuff) wasn’t going well and you feel like you’re in the storm by yourself.”

Knaus now supervises the four current Hendrick drivers, among them Chase Elliott, who has not moved from his Georgia hometown.

When asked what made Elliott’s permanent address acceptable when Johnson could not relocate out of North Carolina, Knaus said it was situational.

He pointed to a period of time when Jeff Gordon at his heyday lived in Florida without it harming his career or relationship with crew chief Ray Evernham, as well as Elliott’s continued progression from rookie to 2020 Cup champion.

“It’s all about the environment and when everything’s going well, there’s not many problems to be solved,” Knaus told AP.

“But if you’re not running well, everything is in question. And it’s a team sport and you get to a point where you feel abandoned. Nonetheless, I knew he was a fantastic racecar driver and he was going to give me everything he had every single weekend. Just like I did for him.”

Knaus later relocated to the Action Express pit stand to call qualifying for the No. 48 at Road Atlanta.

Kamui Kobayashi qualified the car, so Johnson sat behind Knaus wearing a headset to listen to the session.

Knaus signaled for Johnson’s attention.

“You good, bud?” Johnson responded.

“Well, I was until I found out you hated me,” Knaus deadpanned.

The two began to laugh, both content with the current state of their relationship.