It started as a bit of a mystery: how did the cooling shirt end up in NASCAR?
Some drivers didn’t know. Others assumed it had to be Hendrick Motorsports — or, more specifically, Jimmie Johnson, who always seemed to be on the cutting edge of fitness and nutrition.
“I was the first driver to wear one,” Johnson said, “but the guy who started it was Chad Knaus.”
According to Johnson, his crew chief always had an eye on new technology as well as a holistic approach to performance, and that included Johnson. The seven-time Cup Series champion also dealt with cramping and was susceptible to heat issues, so Knaus got his hands on a cooling shirt and decided to test its effectiveness.
“When we used to paint the cars, one of the bays would be to roll the car in and they would make it 100 degrees in there to hurry up and cure the paint,” Johnson said. “[Knaus] literally had one of our guys go in there with this damn shirt on, plug it in the wall and sit in there and test it by pretending he was in a race car. I’ll never forget Chad calling me, ‘You won’t believe it, this cool shirt thing works! I’ve got so-and-so in the spray bake booth, and I’m cooking him in there, and he’s got the shirt on, and it feels great!'”
Johnson began wearing the shirt around 2018 or 2019. At first, only his teammates knew. He didn’t want his competitors to know because it was an advantage behind the wheel. Over time, it became public knowledge and a monkey-see-monkey-do of drivers following Johnson’s lead.
Joey Logano breaks into his signature smile and big laugh.
“It’s like jumping in a pool on a hot summer day,” the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion said. “It feels great. It’s awesome.”
