NASCAR Cup Series

Dale Earnhardt Jr. expects bumps in the road with new crew chief

Published Dec. 5, 2014 3:15 p.m. ET

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Jared Turner

Without question, the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season is going to be a year of adjustment for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

After spending the past four seasons with crew chief Steve Letarte, Earnhardt Jr. will have a new face atop his pit box as former Hendrick Motorsports engineer and Nationwide Series crew chief Greg Ives calls the shots for the No. 88 team.

While Ives brings impressive credentials to the job -- he guided rookie Chase Elliott to the 2014 Nationwide Series title at JR Motorsports and was an engineer on Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 team for five of Johnson's six championships -- the 35-year-old Michigan native also has big shoes to fill.

Earnhardt Jr. won five races over his four seasons with Letarte after scoring a total of only three victories in the six seasons prior to Letarte's arrival.

Earnhardt Jr. also enjoyed a strong chemistry and personal friendship with Letarte like he had never had with a crew chief who wasn't a family member.

So no one, including Earnhardt Jr. himself, will be surprised if NASCAR's most popular driver encounters a few bumps in the road with his first new crew chief in five seasons -- even if that crew chief happens to be a guy who Earnhardt Jr. and team owner Rick Hendrick believe in.

"I think me and Greg could get off to a great start. I think we could get off to a mediocre start. You never know when you get to working together," Earnhardt Jr. told FOXSports.com prior to the final race of the 2014 season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. "We've got our lead engineer, Kevin Meendering -- he's going to be a big key player in all this helping Greg sort of really round the bases and get up to speed on what we've been working on the past year and the tendencies that I have as a driver and things that I will and won't like.

"We've got to be open to Greg's ideas and some new ideas and fresh ideas, also, so all that stuff's got to sort of counterbalance. That's a bit of a work-in-progress. I don't think it happens immediately in the offseason."

The former crew chief for the No. 88 team believes the new guy is up to the task, but he does have one piece of advice for his successor.

"I think the most important thing I'm going to tell Greg Ives is to be Greg Ives," Letarte said. "That's what I learned. I got to work with Ray Evernham, who was spectacular, and Robbie (Loomis), who is great, and I learned to be me. I don't try to be Chad (Knaus), I don't try to be Robbie, I don't try to be Ray. I just try to be my own man, and I think Greg Ives should do the same thing. I think he's an extremely smart kid. He's going to have a great future in this sport."

While 2014 was Elliott's first season with Ives, their success made it seem as if they had worked together for years. It's no wonder, then, that Elliott believes Earnhardt Jr. -- his former boss -- won't need long to gel with Ives.

"I think Greg is very deserving of the opportunity," Elliott said, "and I think anybody that is wondering about the change, I think they're going to be pleasantly surprised by the results and the effort and the teamwork and the way that Greg treats people, not only to me this year driving his cars, but he treats people the way they should be treated that work on the cars, and nobody has -- nobody's role means any more than anybody else's, and I think Greg has a great understanding of that.

"He obviously has the smarts and whatnot to do the job. But I think the biggest thing is leadership, and like I said, treating people the right way will go a long way, and I think he treats his guys the way they should be treated."

Earnhardt Jr., who won four races in his final season with Letarte, knows there will be hurdles to overcome in Year One with Ives. But he's looking forward to learning, growing and getting better together. Much like he did with Letarte.

"You've got to get to the racetrack and go through a month or two months of sort of feeling each other out and figuring things out," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I think that eventually, surely, I think we'll do great. I think he's got a great future as a crew chief. I think Kevin Meendering does, too, and you just never know, though, when you start working with people.

"I've seen some of the greatest guys get together and it doesn't work automatically; it sort of takes a little work, so we won't panic if things don't hit it off right off the bat, but I expect us to do really well once we figure it out."

VIDEO: Steve Letarte proud of his time with Dale Earnhardt Jr. 

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