Chad Anthony Knaus (/kəˈnaʊs/; born August 5, 1971) is an American former NASCAR crew chief. He is currently employed at Hendrick Motorsports as the Vice President of Competition. Knaus has 81 victories as Jimmie Johnson's crew chief and is the only NASCAR crew chief to win five consecutive championships. He has worked in NASCAR since 1991. Over this time, he has worked for four teams: Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, Melling Racing, Tyler Jet Motorsports and Hendrick Motorsports. He has been a crew chief in NASCAR for 19 years and is considered to be one of the greatest NASCAR crew chiefs of all time. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on January 19, 2024.

Chad Anthony Knaus was born in Rockford, Illinois, on August 5, 1971. He has two half sisters and a half brother. He graduated from Jefferson High School in 1989. Knaus grew up around the racetracks of the Midwest helping his father, John, race against the likes of Mark Martin, Alan Kulwicki, Rusty Wallace, and Dick Trickle. By the time he was 14, Knaus served as crew chief during his father's Rockford Speedway championship season. The father-son combination also won the Great Northern Series championship and finished second in the NASCAR Winston Racing Series. A few years and seven track championships later, Knaus moved to North Carolina in 1991 to pursue a job in national stock car racing.

After working with Stanley Smith's stock car team, Knaus joined the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team led by crew chief Ray Evernham and raced by driver Jeff Gordon. From 1993 to 1997, Knaus advanced from being a general fabricator to managing the entire chassis and body construction program for the No. 24 team. Serving as a rear tire changer on the original Rainbow Warriors pit crew, Knaus was a part of the 1995 and 1997 championship teams.

Following the 1997 season, Knaus joined Dale Earnhardt, Inc. as car chief, where he worked with the No. 1 team driven by Steve Park and Darrell Waltrip in the 1998 season. After Park returned to the team from his injuries, Knaus and Waltrip moved to Tyler Jet Motorsports. In 1999, Knaus moved to Melling Racing after Evernham, who had just left Hendrick Motorsports, invited him to lead the Dodge development team. During two Dodge test sessions, Knaus worked with driver Stacy Compton. The two worked well together, resulting in Knaus' promotion to crew chief for Compton in October 2000.

In 2001, Compton and Knaus started in the front row for the Daytona 500, took the pole position at the Talladega 500, and qualified third at the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. Despite restrictor plate track qualifying prowess, the team scored just one top-ten (Daytona 500) and five top-15 finishes.

Knaus returned to Hendrick Motorsports for the 2002 season, becoming crew chief of the No. 48 car driven by rookie driver Jimmie Johnson. The team recorded three race wins, six top-five positions, 21 top-ten positions, and four pole positions, two of which were for the Daytona 500 and Aaron's 499. Knaus and Johnson finished the season fifth in the Driver's Championship. In 2003, the No. 48 team finished second in the Driver's Championship after earning two pole positions and winning three races, including the Coca-Cola 600. The team also recorded 14 top-five positions and 20 top-ten positions.

In 2004, the season began with some early disappointments in weeks two and three at Rockingham and Las Vegas. However, the team quickly rebounded with a week five win at the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Raceway. Subsequent victories at the Coca-Cola 600 and the Pocono 500 helped solidify their place in the NASCAR Chase for the Cup towards the end of the season. However, poor finishes at Talladega (37th) and Kansas (32nd) nearly ended their chances to win the Nextel Cup, but three consecutive wins, and four in the final six races, put the No. 48 team 18 points behind leader Kurt Busch going into the final race. The second victory at the Subway 500 in Martinsville on October 24, 2004, was marred by tragedy when Rick Hendrick's son, Ricky, nieces and brother were killed in an airplane crash en route to the race. All eight passengers and both pilots died in the incident. Johnson and Knaus put the organization on their backs as they won the following race at Atlanta which was their third in a row. The team eventually finished second in the Cup Series points, losing to Kurt Busch by eight points. Johnson and Knaus won 8 races that season.

Knaus and Johnson finished the 2005 season ranked fifth in the standings after a crash in the season ending race at Homestead.