NASCAR adds three new members to the Hall of Fame Friday night in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus will enter the Hall of Fame as the Modern Era representatives, doing so in their first year of eligibility. Donnie Allison will enter the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility on the Pioneer ballot.
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Janet Guthrie, the first woman to drive in a Cup superspeedway race and first woman to compete in both the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500, will receive the Landmark Award for outstanding contributions to NASCAR.
Peacock will provide coverage of the Hall of Fame ceremony at 8 p.m. ET.
Johnson and Knaus were first paired together in 2002, Johnson’s first full season in Cup. They delivered immediate success for Hendrick Motorsports by winning three races and finishing fifth in the championship standings.
Johnson and Knaus celebrated wins in 16 of their 17 seasons together and finished sixth or better in points in 12 consecutive seasons. They captured seven Cup championships and set a NASCAR record by winning five consecutive titles from 2006-10.
Knaus was the crew chief for 81 of Johnson’s 83 career Cup wins.
Johnson and Knaus parted ways after the 2018 season and brought an end to the one of the most successful runs in NASCAR history. They both remained active in Cup through the 2020 season.
Johnson closed out his full-time career with Kevin Meendering and Cliff Daniels as his crew chiefs. Knaus spent two seasons with William Byron and guided Byron to his first career Cup win in 2020 before becoming vice president of competition at Hendrick Motorsports.
Johnson is one of three drivers to win seven Cup championships in a career. Johnson is scheduled to run nine Cup races this year for Legacy Motor Club, the team he co-owns. Knaus has a reputation as one of NASCAR’s greatest crew chiefs in history.
Allison, an original member of the famed Alabama Gang, never ran a full season at NASCAR’s top level. He still won Rookie of the Year in 1967 after posting seven top-10 finishes, four top fives and an average finish of 14.6 in 20 starts.
Allison scored 10 wins and tamed iconic NASCAR tracks such as Charlotte, Talladega, Daytona and Rockingham. He did so while facing off against a stacked field of Hall of Fame drivers. The lineup included such competitors as Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough and David Pearson.
The 1970 season was Donnie Allison’s best. He started 19 races and set career-best marks with 12 top-10 finishes, 10 top fives and three wins. Allison’s three wins tied him for the third-most in the series that season.
One of Allison’s most memorable moments in NASCAR took place after a fourth-place finish in the 1979 Daytona 500. He and Yarborough crashed while battling for the lead on the final lap. Petty won the crown jewel race while Allison and Yarborough fought in the grass next to the track.
Guthrie only made 33 starts in the NASCAR Cup Series after working as an aerospace engineer in the 1960s. She used these limited starts to break ground in racing.
Guthrie scored five top-10 finishes during her time in the Cup. She finished ninth in the 1978 Indy 500.
Guthrie’s best NASCAR finish was sixth at Bristol in August 1977. Yarborough won the race while Guthrie finished ahead of such drivers as Richard Childress (eighth), Buddy Baker (15th), Ricky Rudd (16th), Petty (22nd) and Bobby Allison in 28th.