Chad Knaus canceled a fishing trip with boss Rick Hendrick during NASCAR's off week and then on Sunday, July 27 hooked one of the biggest fish in NASCAR's pond - the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Instead of fishing, crew chief Knaus and his crew stayed at the team's shops in Charlotte. N.C., and worked on driver Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet in hopes of ending a 12-race losing streak in the Sprint Cup Series. It paid off, big time, as Johnson dominated one of the sport's strangest races ever and earned a winner's check for $509,236.

It was Johnson's second Brickyard victory, and it came because he avoided massive failures of the right rear tire that affected other teams. The tire problem had forced NASCAR to throw a yellow every 10 laps or so every driver could bring in his car for fresh rubber.

The last one came on Lap 151, and the green was re-waved for 12^th time to start Lap 153. Johnson took only right-side tires in a brilliant pit stop performance by the crew and then held off Carl Edwards to the finish line by .332 of a second.

All of this became possible when the team yielded its holiday week to get the car in shape for the 400-mile Indy grind. And still it came down to the final pit stop.

"We really focused on this race," Knaus said. "We didn't take time off last week.

"I didn't have to give them a pep talk," he continued about the final stop. "We had a meeting before the race. I just said to them, 'Guys, just give me a good, 5 ½-second pit stop.

"They did it. They nailed it."

"They" were the right-side tire changers - Jeremy West (rear), Mike Lingenfelt (front) and jack man Kenneth Purcell.

"(The pressure) was quite a bit," West said. "We practice to not let the pressure get to us. It helped having the No. 1 stall. We just had to do a real smooth job."

Every other stop the crew gave Johnson four new tires while others were taking on only right-side tires. This usually sent Johnson and teammate and co-car owner Jeff Gordon back a few places in the field. But they were soon running one-two again after most stops.

"We'd take four, they'd take two, and in four to six laps we'd retake the lead," Knaus said.

During the final stop, Johnson spent his 5 ½ seconds looking in the rear-view mirror. He wanted to see if anyone was going to challenge him in the race to be first back on the track.

"I didn't see anybody near us," he said. "I just didn't want a caution. I just wanted to finish up."

Knaus, Johnson and the rest of the No. 48 crew recently tested at Pocono, Pa., for two reasons: One, it's next on the schedule and a test hadn't taken place there recently, and, two, some of the information gained there also could be helpful at Indy.