NASCAR Cup Series

Eury Jr. out as crew chief at JR Motorsports

Published Sep. 17, 2012 9:13 p.m. ET

foxsports

JR Motorsports parted ways Monday with crew chief Tony Eury Jr., 10 days after his father was ousted as competition director.

Eury Jr. was crew chief for Danica Patrick and is a partial owner of the Nationwide Series team.

''I had hoped he would be here for a long time, but as we've discussed the direction of JR Motorsports moving forward, it was clear our differences in ideas were too vast to overcome,'' said Dale Earnhardt Jr., one of four owners of the race team.

Earnhardt Jr. and Eury Jr. are cousins, and Eury Jr. was his crew chief for many years at the Sprint Cup level.

''I love him like a brother, and you'll never hear me say a bad thing about him,'' Earnhardt said. ''I know he'll have much success in anything he does going forward.''

JR Motorsports on Sept. 7 released Tony Eury Sr. as competition director after a discussion with him about team performance.

JR Motorsports has won nine Nationwide races, but none since Jamie McMurray's win at Atlanta in 2010.

The team this year fields cars for Patrick and Cole Whitt, and is winless on the season. The organization in April put Bruce Cook on the pit box for Whitt in place of Eury Sr. as crew chief of the flagship No. 88 Chevrolet. Whitt responded with eight top-10 finishes in 19 races.

JR Motorsports last week hired Ryan Pemberton as competition director.

Earnhardt said Monday no decision has been made as to who will crew chief Patrick this weekend at Kentucky Speedway.