Chad Knaus will be crew chief for William Byron, not Jimmie Johnson for the 2019 NASCAR season

Hendrick Motorsports looks to the future by assigning its championship-winning crew chief to its youngest driver.

NASCAR fans have already had time to try to get used to the idea that it will be the beginning of a strange new era for Jimmie Johnson next season without the Lowe’s name and colors on his No. 48 Chevrolet. Now comes word that it will be even stranger than that to see the seven-time Cup Series champion drive in 2019, since he’ll do so with longtime crew chief Chad Knaus calling the shots for one of his teammates instead.

Hendrick Motorsports announced Tuesday that Knaus would serve as crew chief for William Byron and the No. 24 Chevrolet next year. The switch ends the longest current driver-crew chief pairing among all NASCAR Cup Series teams, one that produced all seven of Johnson’s titles.

Hendrick’s announcement highlighted the fact that Knaus has worked with the 24 car before, back when Jeff Gordon and his Rainbow Warriors were one of the top groups in stock car racing.

“You can’t quantify how much Chad’s leadership and championship experience will benefit William, who is a special talent,” Tean owner Rick Hendrick said to NASCAR.com. “The two of them are a great match, and I’m excited to see what they can do together. Chad has the Rainbow Warriors pedigree and truly appreciates the history of the No. 24. I’ve asked him to build another winner and given him the green light to put his stamp on the team and do it his way.”

Certainly, having Knaus in charge can only benefit Byron after and up and down rookie season left him the only Hendrick driver not to make the NASCAR Playoffs. However, it’s natural to wonder what working with a brand new crew chief so late in his career will do for Johnson, as he’ll join forces with Kevin Meendering — who arrives from a crew chief spot in the XFINITY Series with JR Motorsports — to try to solve the puzzle that is his current winless drought.

Johnson is a master of saying the right thing and remaining positive with the media, so you can expect him to spin this as a boon for Byron and a chance to possibly revitalize the 48 team with some new thinking and enthusiasm. Inside, though, it’s hard to imagine he isn’t seeing the writing on the wall as Hendrick Motorsports takes its most blatant action to date to prepare for a future without him, one that seems to be approaching faster by the day.