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1. Jimmie Johnson 5718
2. Carl Edwards 5646
3. Greg Biffle 5641
4. Jeff Burton 5619
5. Clint Bowyer 5566
6. Kevin Harvick 5547
Rank Name Points
7. Tony Stewart 5515
8. Jeff Gordon 5486
9. Matt Kenseth 5473
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 5469
11. Kyle Busch 5387
12. Denny Hamlin 5383
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Bob Pockrass: Eury is the man … for Earnhardt Jr.

By Bob Pockrass

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Article Rating: 3.7
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. won last Sunday, and many people could see the relief he felt by snapping a 76-race winless streak. But the person who really should give a big sigh of relief is Tony Eury Jr.
 
Eury is the crew chief for Earnhardt Jr. and his cousin, and it’s hard o determine which is more important to the driver. For Earnhardt Jr., racing has always been about family success, even when he left Dale Earnhardt Inc. for Hendrick Motorsports this season. On his road to success, he’s going to take as much of his family with him as he can. If the road turns to mediocrity, well, the family will be there for support as well as possibly helping him navigate his way back to victory lane.
 
One of the conditions of Earnhardt Jr.’s move to Hendrick was that Eury come with him, a requirement that seemed like a no-brainer to Earnhardt Jr. but still had many people scratching their heads. Wouldn’t Earnhardt Jr. have a better chance to win with Alan Gustafson atop his pit box? Gustafson was used to the Hendrick way and had proven himself in leading Kyle Busch to a fantastic 2007 season. And wouldn’t Eury struggle in the engineering and starched t-shirt world of Hendrick Motorsports?
 
For those who questioned whether Earnhardt Jr. would be successful at Hendrick, the fact that Eury was going to be his crew chief validated those questions. Family is family, but business is business, right? Eury was part of the winless streak. Many other drivers, if they had a losing streak like that, likely would have had a new crew chief before 76 races elapsed.
 
Eury has proved everybody wrong, hasn’t he? He won a race that required him to make a strategic call on fuel mileage (although, really, he had no reason to play it safe – his team has put Earnhardt Jr. solidly in the Chase For The NASCAR Spring Cup). Eury’s team has finished consistently better than any other team in the Hendrick stable. Earnhardt Jr.-Eury have been better than Jeff Gordon-Steve Letarte. Better than Jimmie Johnson-Chad Knaus. Those two typically strong combinations have struggled this year with NASCAR’s new generation race car.
 
Maybe Earnhardt Jr.-Eury don’t have a handle on the car as well. But they’re just so used to working together in tough situations, fighting a car week after week. They trust each other so much, that they can say anything to each other without anyone misconstruing it as internal team trouble. While the pit calls aren’t easy, they have an understanding that there will be support when the race is rehashed the following week.
 
Maybe while Letarte and Knaus can’t figure out how to get the car perfect for their drivers, Eury and Earnhardt Jr. are just taking what they have, racing with it and finishing better. Maybe they aren’t making the radical changes – they just are just making the most out of a mediocre situation.
 
That wouldn’t happen if Earnhardt Jr. was with anyone else. He would be questioning every move of the crew chief and not be able to be as frank with anyone else as Eury – it’s well known that Earnhardt Jr. isn’t a big fan of conflict.
 
An unhappy Earnhardt Jr. wouldn’t be a good situation. He wouldn’t be able to keep his frustrations inside and likely would air his complaints publicly. He would be asking Hendrick to make some changes.
 
So maybe Earnhardt Jr. outsmarted us all. He really does have the best crew chief he can have to make a run at a title with Hendrick Motorsports. Eury might not have the most wins of anyone in the garage area, but he’s the man that Earnhardt Jr. believes in. That’s all he needs to do his job well.

Average Rating: 3.7

Comments

5 responses to "Bob Pockrass: Eury is the man … for Earnhardt Jr."
  1. 1
    Thomas Mikulski said:
    Jun 18, 2008 at 3:34 PM

    FAMILY IS EVERYTHING! Dale Jr, Tony Jr. Trust the people you love. This works in all parts of life and winning that race proves it. More wins to follow thanks to HMS & Tony Jr. GREAT WIN and GREAT article!

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  2. 2
    Jacki Stevens said:
    Jun 21, 2008 at 8:02 AM

    I am seein a transformation occuring in Tony Jr. Look at last year, and years previous. As they struggled thru last year, even if the car was runnin well, he would never had made the call to leave Jr out on the track, never made a "strategy" call. Now look at him! He has learned well from the other HMS crew chiefs. And both he and Dale JR are profiting from it. The trust is there, for sure. Dale Jr gives total credit to Tony for his success on the track. And Tony knows Jr is doin the best he can out on that track.

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  3. 3
    Kris Leonia said:
    Jun 23, 2008 at 7:19 AM

    One thing I love is how open they are with each other. I'm heading to Daytona in 2 weeks and can't wait. Their in car audio at the track is always priceless. Jr may give Eury hell 90% of the time. But Jr also knows that he's got one of the best on his pitbox and will back his decisions to the very end. Some people questioned pairing them together and I think Rick Hendrick said it best, "I wouldn't have done it unless I didn't think it would work for them. They have a chemistry that you can't duplicate given their family ties".

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  4. 4
    Marti Heath said:
    Jun 24, 2008 at 10:02 PM

    If Dale had lived and Jr. had stayed at DEI, I don't think Dale would have kept Tony Jr. on as Jrs. crew chief. Jr. always seems to want to second guess Tony and most of the time Tony lets him. He's Jrs. security blanket. With Teresa gone, who else could Jr. blame. He needed to make a clean break with all family and prove that he could step up and win with new equipment AND crew chief. One win does not a season OR a career make. Give it a few more weeks of not winning and the Jr. Nation will be after Tony Jrs. scalp again.

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  5. 5
    bob parent said:
    Jun 25, 2008 at 1:34 PM

    Tony Jr. is the only thing that is keeping Junebug in the top 12 it sure as heck ain't his driveing

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