Chad Knaus, a native of Rockville, Ill., is another graduate of the Hendrick Motorsports unofficial "crew chief college," where he studied under his mentor, Ray Evernham. Knaus had hoped to be one of Evernham's crew chiefs with the new Dodge program, but when that didn't work out, he moved to Melling Racing and sophomore Winston Cup driver Stacy Compton, where they have immediately clicked on the chemistry front, which could be critical in terms of getting their new Dodges up to speed in a hurry.