Johnson and crew chief thrive on "goofy language"

By Larry Fine

NEW YORK (Reuters) - NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson says being on the same wave length as his crew chief with "goofy language" is the key to his success.

"He's got great feel for the race car," crew chief Chad Knaus told Reuters on Thursday about Johnson's qualities. "The biggest thing is his communication.

"He can really describe what's going on with the race car and relay that to me and when you can tell me what the car is doing, it's a lot easier for us to adjust the car."

Johnson won seven Sprint Cup series races this year in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to join Cale Yarborough (1976-1978) as the only drivers to win the NASCAR crown three years in a row.

Johnson said Knaus somehow understands him.

"Since I was young I could always feel what was going on with my car," Johnson said. "I didn't necessarily know how to fix it, but I could tell somebody what it was doing.

"The crazy thing is, I've been with different crew chiefs over the years and on different teams and no one got it. So whatever goes on between us, works.

"Whatever goofy language I talk and the way I describe it, he gets it," the 33-year-old Californian said. "I don't know where it comes from."

Knaus, named Crew Chief of the Year, said Johnson focuses on problems with the car.

"There's a lot of guys out there, they just might scream, 'I'm loose!' or 'I'm tight!' or whatever," Knaus said, adding that Johnson gave specific feedback.

Carl Edwards, second in the Cup series in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford, claimed a circuit-leading nine race wins but said his team needed to function more like Johnson's to win the title.

"What we have to do to beat Jimmie Johnson is continue to grow as a team in our ability to solve problems," Edwards said.

"Nobody in the sport does it better than them. They just fight until the end and always turn things around."

(Editing by Ed Osmond)