NASCAR Cup Series

Looking for answers to Junior's disastrous year

Published Oct. 19, 2009 10:05 p.m. ET

foxsports

Is there a fix for Dale Earnhardt Jr. — quick or otherwise?

First thing first. With five races remaining in the 2009 season, Hendrick Motorsports' first responsibility is locking up its fourth straight championship.

Once that's accomplished — and there's little doubt that a Hendrick driver will raise the Sprint Cup title at Homestead in November — the next point of business must be creating a working solution for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 team.

Keeping track

Starts	Wins	Top fives	Top 10s	Avg. finish
31	0	2	5	22.9

In his second season of a five-year contract, Earnhardt is 22nd in the point standings. He's never finished outside of the top 20 since moving up to the Sprint Cup level full-time in 2000.

On Friday, Earnhardt could no longer mask his disappointment.

"I'm about to the end of my rope on it," Earnhardt said. "I've been riding it out, but I think there comes a point, though, where you don't want to ride it out anymore. It's been a long year. I really don't want the year to be over with, because I like going to the racetrack every week and racing, but the last several — well, all year, it's been so low.

"The highs have been not very high, and the lows have been terribly low. So that's hard to want to get back up and try again the next week, when you take such a beating, but I don't know what else to do."

Tony Eury Jr., Earnhardt's cousin, long-time crew chief and a casualty of the team's lack of performance this year, shares the pain.

"It's a real shame," Eury Jr. said. "I feel real bad for him. People that have been around Dale Jr. for any length of time know he's capable of driving a car. Sticks ain't lined up. Sometimes things don't jell, and I think that's what you have."

In late May, owner Rick Hendrick replaced Eury Jr. with veteran Lance McGrew — but not before three other potential crew chiefs declined the offer. Neither Earnhardt nor McGrew knows at this point whether they will remain together in 2010.

Earnhardt acknowledges the position is a "tough job." Anyone who signs up to be Earnhardt's crew chief faces intense scrutiny from NASCAR's largest fan base. Any crew chief who accepts the role must be willing to deal with flak from a driver that has an acute feel for the car but struggles if the setup does not suit him.

The perfect candidate would dictate the direction of the team and command the respect of the driver. Earnhardt thrived under the authoritarian style of his uncle, Tony Eury Sr., who leads the No. 88 Chevrolet at JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series and remains fiercely loyal to his nephew. But Eury Sr. insists he's content with his current job.

Earnhardt doesn't want the sole responsibility of making the decision on a crew chief. He believes HMS management is better qualified to make that call. But Earnhardt "has fun hanging out with" McGrew and has shown improvement throughout races, even though the results don't reflect their gains.

"Nothing's wrong with how that's going for the most part," Earnhardt said of his relationship with McGrew. "Hell, you don't even know if Lance wants to do it. What the hell? I wouldn't want to do it."

In the 19 races since McGrew jumped in, Earnhardt has posted one top-five and two top-10 finishes and dropped three positions in the point standings.

"We just haven't been able to put the finishes together for one reason or another," McGrew said. "I'm hoping that, with a little bit of time, that consistency comes for both of us."

But the melodrama continues. Earnhardt hit a low at Auto Club Speedway on October 11th. That followed a promising run at Kansas Speedway the week prior, where Earnhardt led 41 laps before the engine expired with 35 laps remaining in the race.

The team picked itself up and rolled into California, where Junior qualified 37th, ran as high as second and averaged a 12th-place position in the race. Earnhardt was riding 10th when Ryan Newman hit the rear quarter panel and knocked the valve stem out of his tire. With five laps left, the tire deflated, causing Earnhardt to slow on the front straightaway and trigger an eight-car crash.

When the team unloaded at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Thursday, the results were no better.

"We go out, and we were top 15 in practice, and we went out and tried to qualify, and we're one of the worst cars here," Earnhardt said. "We don't know why or have any answer for it. All the other cars qualified fine, did well, backed their times up in practice, and we didn't even get close.

"We looked ridiculous (Thursday) night. So it's like really encouraging one day, and then the next day it's equally discouraging. And that gets really old."

Earnhardt is not comfortable being the odd man out. Certainly, he knew in an organization that boasts two champions, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, he'd be expected to deliver. Eury insists that was a challenge Earnhardt embraced.

Now add Mark Martin to the equation. Not only is Martin one of the most respected racers in the garage, he also developed almost immediate chemistry with his crew chief, Alan Gustafson, scored five wins this season and is currently sandwiched second in the point standings between Johnson and Gordon.

I think Dale Jr. is out of his comfort zone. He grew up racing in the family. When he had to go outside of that comfort zone, I am not sure he has ever gotten his legs under him yet.

I'm not sure how they are going to fix that.

Listen to me, Dale Jr. is a great driver and he can get the job done. Right now though, his confidence is shaken and he needs to get back into some familiar territory with some familiar faces for him to perform at the best he can.