Hendrick Motorsports remains committed to improving Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor

Friday, December 04, 2009

Hendrick Motorsports' Dale Earnhardt Jr. is confident his team can bounce back after a disappointing 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

Elmer Kappell
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LAS VEGAS – Rick Hendrick is hoping that what made the No. 5 team of Mark Martin so good in 2009 can help the No. 88 team of Dale Earnhardt Jr. get better.

The two teams, housed in the same building at Hendrick Motorsports, are becoming “one big team with two cars” and Martin lead engineer Chris Heroy will now work with Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick said Thursday.

Hendrick Motorsports will celebrate the fourth consecutive title of driver Jimmie Johnson today, and Hendrick wants part of what makes Johnson successful – the way the Johnson team works with the Jeff Gordon team – to be part of the formula that helps improve Earnhardt Jr. from his 25th-place finish in the standings.

“They’re making a lot of changes and a lot of suggestions that sound really good to make the team have a little more substance throughout the entire roster of the members that make it up,” Earnhardt Jr. said Thursday. “I feel great about the changes. We started to work with some of these guys at the tail end, the last two or three races, and I hope it makes us better. It should make us better.

“I think as an entire unit, the 88 car could have been stronger and we had the resources, but there was a broken link here and there. Hopefully we’ve got that fixed and we will see the results on the race track.”

When Earnhardt Jr. came to Hendrick Motorsports after the 2007 season, he brought crew chief Tony Eury Jr. with him. They had a strong start in 2008 but struggled at the end of the season and in the start of 2009, resulting in Eury being replaced by Lance McGrew in May.

Earnhardt Jr. had flashes where it looked as if he was about to break out with a top performance, but hasn’t gotten the results he wanted yet with McGrew.

“He was the best car I had right before the Chase [For The Sprint Cup] last year and the deal started coming apart and I felt like he and Tony needed to be separated,” Hendrick said. “We couldn’t change all of the team in the middle of the year when we moved Lance.”

Hendrick said the team needs to have a good start at Daytona in February and “you’re going to see a big difference in that team.”

“[Earnhardt Jr.] feels good,” Hendrick said. “When things are changing and you’ve got a new year, you get to wipe the slate clean. He’s pumped up about next year. He’s got that spring in his step. Any driver that goes through what he’s been through, he can get down, get down on the team and get down on himself.”

It certainly doesn’t make it any easier when Johnson, Martin and Gordon finished 1-2-3 in the standings.

“That whole team over there is still trying to find its way; and by team I mean the whole 5-88 shop,” said Johnson crew chief Chad Knaus. “Once they get that, and they’re getting it … they’re going to be better next year.”