Dale Earnhardt Jr. frustrated with situation but supportive of crew-chief change
Hendrick Motorsports' Dale Earnhardt Jr. will have a new crew chief beginning with Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Dover International Speedway. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Rick Hendrick gave him and cousin Tony Eury Jr. more time than most owners would have to improve their performance before making a change Wednesday night to replace Eury Jr. as crew chief.
Brian Whitesell will serve as crew chief this week and then Lance McGrew will guide Earnhardt Jr., who made the Chase For The Sprint Cup last year but after 12 races in 2009 is 19th in the standings and 203 points out of 12th.
“I don’t have an explanation for our situation this year and why it’s been as miserable as it’s been,” Earnhardt Jr. told reporters during an appearance to promote next month’s race at Michigan International Speedway. “We changed nothing from last year. Of course we tailed off near the end of the year [finishing 12th].
“We really came into this year feeling we could rebound and have the type of success we were having in the first half of 2008 and we haven’t even gotten close to being mediocre. So there’s obviously something that’s not tangible that’s seriously wrong with the team and Rick and all the guys are going to figure out what that is.”
Earnhardt Jr. and Eury are childhood friends and have worked together for most of Earnhardt Jr.’s Sprint Cup career, which began full time in 2000. They both made the move from Dale Earnhardt Inc. to Hendrick Motorsports but have managed only one win since joining Hendrick for the 2008 season.
“To Rick Hendrick’s credit, they waited a lot longer to make this change than they probably would have considering the fact that me and Tony Jr. have a relationship like brothers,” Earnhardt Jr. said in the interview, provided to SceneDaily.com by Larry Henry of the Pit Pass USA radio show. “They gave us more time than anyone else probably would have gotten to try to make this work. To Tony Jr.’s credit, he tried everything he knew to try to give me what I needed at the race track and he worked and has always worked harder than anybody I know in the sport.
“The guy has devoted his entire existence toward working on race cars and he’s sacrificed extensive amounts to be where he is today. So it’s really, really disappointing that it didn’t work out because we gave everything we have to be there. And I think me and him both deserved for it to work out. So it’s really frustrating.”
While frustrated, Earnhardt Jr. said he supported the decision.
“I told Rick when me and Tony Jr. were quite aware how delicate our situation was over the last several weeks and we knew we needed to step up our performance somehow, some way to be able to keep our situation intact,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Me and Tony Jr. both told Rick throughout those six or eight to 10 weeks when they were starting to look at our situation really closely, me and Tony Jr. both told Rick to make the decisions they needed to make as a company and we would support them, whichever decisions they made, so that’s what’s happening.”
When Earnhardt Jr. started in Cup, Eury was his car chief and Tony Eury Sr. was his crew chief. In 2005, Eury Jr. was paired with Michael Waltrip at DEI but was reunited with Earnhardt Jr. – this time as crew chief – later in the season. They then went to Hendrick as a package.
“We are family and it was a pretty big risk, I guess, for me and him both to make the move and we really wanted it to work,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “And unfortunately we didn’t succeed. Being this is a business, Rick and the guys decided we needed to go in a new direction. I’m supportive and confident in the decisions that they make.
“They’ve got a lot of great success. There’s no arguing how to run a race team. I want to be in a good position, want to run as well as I can, have a lot of sponsors and a lot of responsibilities to put ourselves in that situation if we want to be able to race every weekend.”
Earnhardt Jr. tried to put it in perspective.
“I’ve been through a lot tougher things and situations like this,” said Earnhardt Jr., the son of the seven-time Cup champion who died in the 2001 Daytona 500. “They come and go and you move forward and you’ve got to go out and perform under the circumstance this weekend. We’ll band together the best we can and do the job the best we can. … So I’m pretty confident.
“I still have a good resolve and a good initiative and motivation to get up and get to the race track every weekend and see when we turn this around. Rick and the guys are positive about the decision that we’ve made to make the change in crew chief. They seem confident about the decision and that kind of makes me feel pretty good about it.”
