Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants Steve Letarte to keep strict demands in place for 2012
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (above) doesn't want crew chief Steve Letarte to change his style in 2012. // Sam Cranston, NASCAR Illustrated
CONCORD, N.C. – When talking about how to make his 2012 season better, Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t talk about what should change but instead what shouldn’t.
It might sound strange, but one of Earnhardt Jr.’s concerns going into the new season is that Steve Letarte will relax a tough love approach on the sport’s most popular driver.
That tough love has helped turn around Earnhardt Jr.’s performance on the track. Team owner Rick Hendrick paired Letarte and Earnhardt Jr. beginning with 2011 after Earnhardt Jr. spent two seasons outside the top 20 in the standings.
Last year, Earnhardt Jr. made the Chase For The Sprint Cup and finished seventh overall.
He didn’t win a race – he hasn’t since 2008 – but Earnhardt Jr. couldn’t complain about the improvement that came when Letarte took over.
“Steve was really vocal in telling me things he expected out of me that I wasn’t doing as a driver,” Earnhardt Jr. said Wednesday at Hendrick Motorsports. “He saw things that I could change. He was really strict. I really liked that.
“I told him, ‘I need to hear these things. I need you to hold me to a certain standard.’ … This offseason, I said, ‘We’ve been together a year and hopefully you’re not relaxed too much to where you’re less dependent on me to do those things.’ I want the same style. I want him to be a field general when it comes to managing the team.”
Earnhardt Jr. would be glad to know that Letarte doesn’t plan on going soft.
“If he feels he needs more structure, that’s fine,” Letarte said. “I can assure him that this is kind of who I am. The day I’m not this demanding is the day I won’t be a very good crew chief.
“You have to be demanding. That’s my job.”
A demanding style is the only way Letarte knows how to work as a crew chief. It’s the way he’s acted with all the drivers he’s ever been a crew chief for – all two of them, Jeff Gordon and Earnhardt Jr.
“Jeff Gordon sat down in 2005 with me – I idolized the guy [because] I grew up in his race team,” Letarte said. “He made sure I knew that he expected me to treat him like any other driver on any Saturday night anywhere I would be.
“So I did. I managed him as he asked me to manage him. I guess maybe it became my style.”
Letarte’s style requires Earnhardt Jr. to get to the hauler earlier in the day and give detailed notes after each race weekend.
Earnhardt Jr. said there are a variety of ways to be successful – he ran well for Tony Eury Sr. even though he wasn’t required to be at the hauler earlier or make detailed notes – but this is what Letarte wants.
“I never really had anybody ask much of me as far as a crew chief goes – just be there with your helmet and be ready to drive when it’s time to drive,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “[Letarte’s] asked me to do other things separate to the driving job itself.
“It helps him do his job better.”
While he can’t pinpoint a race where he felt Letarte’s demands proved their worth, Earnhardt Jr. said it works for Letarte weekly as far as getting cars ready for the race track.
“All those little things count and they matter,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Now they can go back on that stuff this year and look at those notes I provided and maybe have a better idea of what to expect for the race.
“It’s all about preparation. … There’s things that happen in the races particular to the car itself that you’ll make a note of, and the next time you go back to that race track, you read those notes and go, ‘Wow we forgot to talk about this’ or ‘we can fix this.’”
Letarte said Earnhardt Jr. bought into the program right away although Earnhardt Jr. said “I was grumbling about it at first” as far as being the track earlier than before.
“I found that place to be enjoyable and wanted to be there,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “It’s been good. He’s an easy guy to be around, too, which helps a lot. None of this works unless he has got the right personality.”
Not only is Earnhardt Jr. getting to the hauler earlier in the day, he also spends more time there during the day.
Part of it is that he likes hanging out with Letarte, so it doesn’t always feel like work.
“As soon as I got in the truck in the morning, I never left until the day was over with,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I never did that my entire career until this year. I always went back to the bus between practices. I was never there early and never did any of those things in the 10 years I raced before that.
“I don’t think it held me back. I don’t think I was realizing my full potential [though]. Maybe you can call it holding me back. He made me understand those things I thought were trivial were important to him, important to his ability to do his job.”
