Dale Earnhardt Jr. credits interim crew chief Lance McGrew for performance
Hendrick Motorsports' Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 13th in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. // Jeff Robinson, NASCAR Scene
LOUDON, N.H. – Hendrick Motorsports’ Dale Earnhardt Jr. showed flashes of the form he’s lacked for much of the season in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Earnhardt Jr., who surged as high as third and engaged in a fierce battle with Penske Racing's Kurt Busch for second in the race’s middle stages, ultimately slipped to 13th in the rain-shortened event as his car’s handling grew tight.
“Being around fifth and looking at the top five, that was great,” said Earnhardt Jr., who hasn’t been to victory lane since last June at Michigan. “Seeing the leaders most of the day in your windshield is better than where we have been. The restarts were kind of tough. I like the double-file restarts, but man, if you are on the inside, you are going to lose a couple of spots every time.
“We were on the inside the last three [restarts] and we lost the opportunity to run in the top five, got shuffled back to just inside the top 10. We had a good car, good run.”
Earnhardt Jr., who has just one top-five and three top-10s this season, gave interim crew chief Lance McGrew a lot of credit for the solid outing. McGrew, who replaced Tony Eury Jr. earlier this month, felt Earnhardt Jr.’s gratitude first-hand after the race.
“When Junior got out of the car, he came to the top of the pit box [and] he was pretty excited about how the car was all day, and that’s good,” McGrew said. “We’re making big strides right now.”
Since taking on the role, McGrew has guided NASCAR’s most popular driver to finishes of 12th, 27th, 14th, 26th and 13th, respectively.
“It’s huge,” McGrew said of Sunday’s outcome. “It really is. And he told me flat out. He said, ‘I thought today was going to be a stumbling block for us,’ and he said, ‘You guys put it together and it was good.’ He said, ‘It was good all day long.’
“So that’s a good thing. It’ll get a little swagger back in him.”
Earnhardt Jr., who moved up a spot to 19th in the standings Sunday, sounds optimistic looking ahead.
“I hope we can keep this up,” he said. “We are inching so slowly up back in to where we need to run. It is taking a while, but hopefully we keep moving forward.”
