Now The Pressure Is On!!
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Now The Pressure Is On!!
This is What I Wanted AND GOT
Tony Eury Jr., who has worked with driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. as crew chief or car chief since his Sprint Cup Series debut in 2000, is no longer working atop the driver's pit box.
look at that... Eury is out.
One interesting thing a friend of mine pointed out- last year, despite only winning once, Jr. ran very well & was 2nd in the points for most of the year, until: Darian Grubb announced he was leaving for Tony Stewart's team, and then left this year. Sometimes team chemisty is like that...
the suits in daytona beach have a tremendous amount riding on this. the way tv ratings are plunging, they are hoping this is a grand slam out of the park kinda deal. jr. is the dallas cowboys of nascar. lots of fans hope he does well while lots of fans hope he doesn't do so well.
but all will tune in to watch........
the crew chief is first to go and next in line is the driver if things dont improve
but you have to wonder could an owner have the balls to fire nascars most popular driver
He would be sent packing with most teams, but Rick Hendrick isn't just going to FIRE a guy who is trying his best and it is a chemistry issue.Quote:
Originally Posted by oldhippie
Jr. has to learn to work a new voice on the radio and new guys running the show in the pits. Things CANT be any worse than the 600 when he was driving like a madman trying to keep from knocking the fence down and losing 2 laps.
http://www.racingone.com/article.aspx?artnum=49530
Well, it is over. The feuding cousins wont be entertaining us on the radio feed on Sirius no more. Rick Hendrick announced today ( and NASCAR on Sirius Covered it all DAY) that Tony Jr. was given a job in the R and D department and that his replacement is Lance McGrew. Brian Whitsell will be part of the team as well Rex Stump ( the man the "T-rex" 24 car was named after). Whatever one may think of Jr., he has to either produce something close to contending for race wins or he will fade off into the sunset.
Personally, I think an old time Hard@ss is the kind of crew chief that I think would work well with JR. A Harry Hyde or Suitcase Jake Elder type who would take the boys out for hot dogs during the race if the driver got too lippy. That kind of guy unfortunately isn't available, so the horse designed by committee better work. The optimist in me knows Rick Hendrick knows what he is doing and these guys are good.......
jr and Tony Eury work much better then Tony Eury jr
Youtellme, it is like you wouldn't be happy til the poor guy lost his job? I do agree he had to go, but it isn't something that was making me happy when I heard about it.
DOVER, Del. -- Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. exchanged sharp volleys Friday about Earnhardt's crew chief change.
"It's never Junior; it's always the crew chief," said Busch, who fired the opening shots when asked about team owner Rick Hendrick's dismissal of Tony Eury Jr. as Earnhardt's crew chief a day earlier.
“
He's got his hands full, I guess, having to deal with what's going on. And if Junior doesn't run well, then [McGrew] is going to be the 'problem' again.
”
-- Kyle Busch
Busch's salvo was not taken lightly by Earnhardt.
"He's always had a chip on his shoulder for me," Earnhardt said of Busch, "so I expect any time he gets an opportunity to throw a jab in there he's going to do it. That's just his personality."
Earnhardt replaced Busch at Hendrick Motorsports last year, but since then Busch, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, has won 11 Sprint Cup races to Earnhardt's one.
Asked about Eury's replacement, Lance McGrew, with whom Busch worked in the Nationwide Series at Hendrick in 2004, Busch expressed sympathy for McGrew.
"He's got his hands full, I guess, having to deal with what's going on," Busch said. "And if Junior doesn't run well, then he [McGrew] is going to be the 'problem' again."
"That doesn't really surprise me," Earnhardt said. "We're working toward how we can make our deal work, and that has nothing to do with Kyle."
Busch said he understood the move to bolster a driver with Earnhardt's star power but weak performance of late.
"You've got to make the most popular driver in the sport competitive, so you gotta do what you gotta do, I guess," Busch said.
But Busch added, "He's the one who brought that crew chief on; he's the one who pulled so hard to bring Eury Jr. in [along with Earnhardt in his move from Dale Earnhardt Inc.].
"It looked like it was working there in the beginning," Busch continued, "and it just hasn't worked since the summer of last year, really. So, whatever makes them better, I guess."
Busch, since being squeezed out in favor of Earnhardt and over salary differences with Hendrick, has vastly out-performed Earnhardt since the beginning of 2008. And Busch has made no secret of his pride in that.
Not only has Busch out-won Earnhardt 11-1, he is currently sixth in points, well within Chase criteria, while Earnhardt is 19th after 12 races. No driver has ever come from 19th at this point in the season to make the Chase. Greg Biffle made the biggest leap, from 19th to 14th, in 2007.
Veteran Jeff Burton expressed more sympathy for Eury, who has been under intense fire for months from Earnhardt's fans, than for anyone else in the shakeup.
"I have a lot of respect for Tony Eury Jr.," Burton said. "I've seen him be part of making an awful lot of race cars go fast, including the cars that Junior was driving.
"If you go back just two years ago [when Earnhardt and Eury were together at DEI], there were an awful lot of races that Junior had chances to win, and compete at a very high level, and had problems," Burton said.
"I think the fans have been excessively