Crew Chief change on the #88 at Dover?

President Lou Demian · Lou Demian - President

Crew Chief change on the #88 at Dover?

JG4TMR · John Magee

The big question is...who will replace him? It needs to be someone who will TELL Jr. .....not the other way around. They did replace his crewchief years back at DEI and it was a failure....it just depends on who it is...maybe pull Hammond or McReynolds out of the booth????

Tooz · Matt Sealey Former Member

Hammond? McReynolds? are you kidding me?

no the time to do this was when he came over to Hendrick and he could have had McGrew or Gustafson.

No, if this report is correct, I'm sure it will be a young guy in the organization that we don't know much about. Eury Sr. or the guy who was Kurt Busch's crew chief at first would be a good fit.............his name is eluding me right now.

Lefflerfan · Stephen DiCaprio - Vice-President

If you're talking about Kurt's very first crew chief, well that would be Jeff Hammond! I assume you mean who he had at the #2 earlier?

JG4TMR · John Magee

lol yes I was just kidding....could be either Jimmy Fennig or Pat Tryson

-- Edited by JG4TMR on Tuesday 26th of May 2009 10:19:18 PM

Tooz · Matt Sealey Former Member

Fenning...that was it.....I think he is with Ragan right now though.

President Lou Demian · Lou Demian - President

New crew chief for Dale Jr.: Hendrick Motorsports today named Lance McGrew as interim crew chief of the #88 Sprint Cup Series team of driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. beginning with the June 7 event at Pocono Raceway. Team manager Brian Whitesell will lead the team this weekend at Dover. "Our performance hasn't been where it should be," said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. "It's impossible to pin that on any one factor, but a change is the right decision at this point. We have a plan in place, and we're going to move forward with it." Whitesell and Rex Stump, Hendrick Motorsports' lead chassis engineer, have been assigned to support McGrew on a full-time basis. Whitesell, who won two of seven races as Jeff Gordon's interim crew chief in 1999, will join McGrew and team engineer Tom Stewart on the #88 pit box to assist with race strategy. "We're going to put our full resources toward improving the situation and winning races," Hendrick said. "It's going to be a collective effort that includes all of our drivers, all of our crew chiefs and all of our engineers. Everyone in our company will be involved on some level." Tony Eury Jr. will move from the crew chief position into a key role with Hendrick Motorsports' research and development group. Eury posted one victory, one pole position, 19 top-10 finishes and 11 top-fives in 48 races with the #88 team. "I have mixed feelings, and that's just natural," Eury said. "But I enjoy working at Hendrick Motorsports, and this is where I want to be. I'll do whatever I can to help all of our teams and try to be a part of another championship. I think a new challenge will be good." McGrew, 41, earned the 2003 Nationwide Series championship with driver Brian Vickers. He won the October 2006 Sprint Cup race with Vickers at Talladega, and most recently led Cup rookie #25-Brad Keselowski to a seventh-place finish May 9 at Darlington. As a crew chief, McGrew has posted victories in all three of NASCAR's major touring series: Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck. He has won races with drivers Vickers, Jeff Gordon, Ricky Hendrick, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin and most recently Tony Stewart Feb. 14 at Daytona Beach.(HMS)(5-28-2009) Comment here

Dino · Dean Higley - Council Member

THEY REPLACED THE WRONG JR!!!

Tooz · Matt Sealey Former Member

Bite your tongue there buddy!

Lefflerfan · Stephen DiCaprio - Vice-President

Haha! Well I imagine Jr could finish 33rd every week and as long as the fans stuck by him, Hendrick would too.

joesgot4 · Troy Wiggins - Council Member

I agree with mr higley, wished hendrick had kept kyle bush! i imagine rick hendrick also realizes he made a mistake! jr needs to go race for jr. motorsports! WE ALL ARE NOT #88 FANS!

Earnhardt Junkie · Robert Butterfield Former Member

They waited way to long to make this change but as a long time Earnhardt Fan...... Junior is quickly running out of mulligans and he needs to start racing like we know he can. I know he'll do fine but as it was stated above and I have said over on my Blog when I had it up... He is not and cannot run the race from inside that car, he's not in charge the crew chief is.

If Sr. was here today, there would have been a time he would have jerked him out of the car but the short hairs and knocked some sense into him, Tony Eury SR would have done the same.

Junior has stated he found comfort in knowing Tony Jr was on that pit box but I don't think he found comfort in sucking so bad he created his very own vortex having a negative impact on weather patterns.

BLUF (Bottom line up front) Junior needs to start concentrating on racing if that is what he wants to do, "Mommy Dearest" may have hit on something when she told him and the media that he needs to make up his mind what he wants to be, a celebrity or a racecar driver.

Lefflerfan · Stephen DiCaprio - Vice-President

Eury Jr took all the blame, but last time I checked he wasn't the one making all the pit road screw ups. After seeing how pathetic that car was at Charlotte, this move was a given. Will be interesting to see if Jr improves.

Tooz · Matt Sealey Former Member

the Stockcar Toon on the front page is pretty funny!

Dino · Dean Higley - Council Member

Well, the crew chief change did not do much for Junior's ability to get into his pit box. He's the only person I know that is faster on pit road than he is on the track. lol