MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- NASCAR officials met with crew chief Chad Knaus on Friday to discuss his asking Jimmie Johnson prior to the Oct. 23 Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway to damage the car if it wins.

Knaus was caught on NASCAR.com's RaceBuddy feed telling the five-time defending Sprint Cup champion that "if we win this race, you have to crack the back of the race car. Got it?"

Knaus admitted he made the comments. He added it wasn't an attempt to cover up anything illegal, that he was being cautious in case bump drafting knocked the tolerances of the car beyond what NASCAR allows.

Knaus said Friday's meeting at Martinsville Speedway -- with NASCAR president Mike Helton, director of competition Robin Pemberton and Sprint Cup series director John Darbyto say, 'No comment.'" "I'll be with you in a jiffy, pet." "He's sorry." "He said he was careful cos he knew it was risky." "Oh, so that's all right, then." "~ Has he fessed up?" "~ No, he's just given it 'no comment'." "Is he protecting someone?" "Well, ask him about him and Sally." "Maybe it runs deeper than a one-off." "Ma'am, there's a partial match for Sally on the key, but also for other people who had access plus persons unknown, so..." "So you're telling me nothing?" "Brilliant." "Ma'am, DS Healy on line one." "Who?" "Oh, what does he want?" "Yes." "She's done a regular cash payment to both an S MacCarrol and an R Synnott." "Kenny, you were right." "Fire, always money." "Plus, she wrote