Dale Earnhardt Jr finally gets a new crew chief. Sure it was a long time coming, but who should really get the blame for the failure of the #88 team, Dale Jr. Tony Jr. or both? There is plenty of blame to go around and wherever you put it, I’m sure you have your reasons. If you look at the situation both should share the blame. It’s a team and on a team, the chemistry needs to be right to be successful. You would have thought that on the first go round at DEI when the two worked together they would have learned to get through their problem and get out on the track and win races and compete for championships.
This split is nothing new. These two had trouble working together in the past. Those of you that don’t know what I’m talking about let me take you back to the days at DEI when Dale and Tony Jr. worked together on the 8 car. Things began to go south for the two and they were not getting along. The two split and Tony Jr went over to crew chief the 15 car driven by Michael Waltrip and Dale Jr got another crew chief. That didn’t really produce the results they were looking for and the two were eventually reunited.
One would think that if you had the team shaken up and you able to get a second chance to prove to everyone that you could work together, that it would be different. That would be a big no! Once they were reunited Dale Jr. was in a contract year and he began feuding with his mother in-law Teresa Earnhardt. This just added fuel to the fire because Dale jr. would end up breaking something on the car pretty much every race. Well they both got free passes like everyone did at that time; because everyone was too busy blaming Teresa for the fall of DEI.
Move forward to 2008 Dale Jr. goes over to Hendrick Motorsports to get his career back on track. When he left DEI he brought Tony Jr. with him, a mistake in many peoples eyes. Some question why would Dale bring Tony with him seeing that Hendrick Motorsports has some of the most talented people in the business. With the likes of Allen Gustafson, Darian Grubb and Ron Malec, Dale Jr had the cream of the crop to pick from, but he chose Tony Jr.
Dale insisted that Tony Eury Jr. should be his crew chief and that everything would be fine. Well move the clock ahead almost a year and half and the combination of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Eury Jr. has produced only one win for Hendrick Motorsports in nearly 50 starts, to make matters worse they have progressively gotten worse as the 2009 season has rolled along. Last week the team hit rock bottom, as Dale Jr. was lost and running at the back of the pack for the entire Coca-Cola 600. Dale Jr. finished a disappointing 40th.
Something needed to be done and Mr. Hendrick finally pulled the trigger and decided to replace Eury Jr. with veteran crew chief Lance McGrew. Brian Whitesell will be on the box this weekend in Dover and McGrew will take over next week at Pocono. Is McGrew the answer? Probably not but a shake up is what that team needed and they needed it a long time ago. Keep in mind this is the Same Brian Whitesell that took over crew chief duties for the 24 car of Jeff Gordon when Ray Evernham left to start his own team. If you remember, Whitesell’s first race with Jeff Gordon ended with the 24 car in victory lane. Maybe there is hope for Dale Jr if history can repeat itself.
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