I don't know what was more painful this weekend--suffering through a broadcast of FOX's "American Dad" during Sunday's rain delay, or watching Dale Jr. try to keep his #88 car out of the wall on Monday afternoon.By now, race fans are used to Junior running well behind his Hendrick teammates. However, Sunday's performance, with its 38th place result, was just plain ridiculous.
It's bad enough Junebug qualified in 27th spot. But there's no excuse for going two laps down so quickly and finishing behind teams who are lucky just to get sponsors by race day. It's not like his team had the excuse of a cut tire like Harvick (or an equipment malfunction, or a miscue in the pits). Junior's car was junk from the start. And it was pitiful to watch.
If the rumors circulating in cyberspace are any indication, team owner Rick Hendrick may choose to go with a new crew chief on the #88 pit box as early as this weekend.
Hendrick has been loyal to Eury Jr. so far, but on Tuesday he didn't come out with guns blazing in his crew chief's defense. "Could it change? No. We're talking about things. We're meeting. We're going to make decisions as the days go by, but we haven't made any decision as of right now," Hendrick told reporters.
Let's hope there's something big in the works. I hate to bust up a family as much as the next girl--but it may be time for cousin Tony to move on.
Photo credit: Associated Press
It's not going to change Jr's performance any, all you Junior fans think a crew chief will solve all the 88 teams problems, well it won't. JR has other issues himself that he needs to deal with off track before he can become a great racer like this father.
ReplyDeleteMark these words, Junior will NOT be any better with a new crew chief, it's deeper than that and before he can work out whatever it is going on in his head, he won't be the racer we all know he can be.
Sorry...but don't place all the blame on Eury Jr.Fact seems that since the implosion at DEI began,Jr hasn't been much of a factor in many races.Just because he's,arguably, the sport's "most popular driver" doesn't mean he's anything other than an average driver."Sorry Jr. Nation..."Seems right now that Mr. Hendrick could be thinking that He'd rather have the sport's"most hated driver" wheelin' a car around the track for him.All I'm sayin' is that it takes a team effort to win these things,and that includes the guy behind the wheel also...Don't throw it all on Eury Jr.....
ReplyDeleteWhen will people realize, that Jr. aint daddy. If it weren't for the Earnhardt name, Jr. would be racing at some back woods, quarter mile, dirt track at best. He always has an excuse as to why he can't get it done. He is just trading on the name. There will never be another Dale Sr. People keep hanging on to the name. How many different teams does he have to be with before people realize this. As for Mr. Hendricks, he like others, just bought the name.
ReplyDeleteAn average, or below average driver would have wrecked that car within the first 50 laps. I agree with DW who said Jr had to be a really good driver to bring that car home in one piece and not a wadded-up wreck. The last race took me off the fence and into the new crewchief gang, I find it very interesting that Jr, Jimmy and Jeff were off testing instead of attending the almost mandatory meeting. Wonder if they were trying a practice crew chief switch or something like it??
ReplyDeleteActually granny you are wrong!! You wish that were true, but reality proves you wrong! Gee a Jr fan wrong about the real world?? Shocker! NOT! LMAO at you! Jr was the one NOT at any of the meetings. If you read anything about the meeting, all reports are stating that JJ and Jeff were there, but Jr would not show! Guess that shows how much the baby cares about racing.
ReplyDeleteTo the legions of Anonymousi, and Douche:
ReplyDeleteJr's winning ways left the building long before he left DEI. When he had Pops on that pitbox, he was an up-and-comer. Tony Jr. has not been able to push his driver to excel. The two are bad for each other. They're both waiting for the other to make something happen. And both are winning at losing.
I think tony Jr is an excellent car chief, who can assemble winning cars and set them up to win races, but he doesn't have the talent to call races. Put him back in the shop, he reached his level of incompetence.
Dale Sr had Tony Sr(Pops) teach Dale Jr to drive. And he did by telling Jr what to do when. Jr didn't poop 'til Pops said so. and he thrived. When Pops left the pitbox, so did Jr's motivation.
Jr is NOT his Daddy, he doesn't have that chip on his shoulder. He never grew one 'cause he didn't need one. Pops prodded him to drive and wouldn't take less than the best from him. Jr needs that. He needs a crew chief that'll not accept less than a win. Eury Jr ain't got that. They see each other as equals and Dale can't drive for that kind of leader.
Put Pops up on that box and Jr will be top-10 consistently. The whole team needs a leader who can call cadence. Not someone saying,"all right, guys. Get in line".
Dennis Amen
ReplyDeleteMike
Man you hit nail on the head Pop's needs to be there on the Box
God what a bunch of garbage. From Jr haters to Jr Nation Haters to those that just like to kick someone because he's down. This isn't some soap opera full of pastey characters, it's a team . Sometimes a group of people can pull off the seemingly impossible (Kyles current string of wins, Jeffs sucess, Jimmys run of good fortune,) there have been many over the years in all forms of sports. Sometimes a group of people can't pull together any semblance of a reasonable goal. This is what is taking place with the 88 team. Will a crewchief change be a magic bullet? Probably not. What must happen is changing something, be it people places or things. For some reason the the current assembly of these things doesn't favor a positive outcome of the goal the 88 team is trying to achieve. It may not be anyone even close to the track that is effecting the teams on track performance. It could be some back shop folks with an attitude or perhaps lacking the "team" feeling. It could be that one individual that just does his or her job but not giving that little extra it takes to contribute to winning team. Mr. Hendrick needs to look at EVERYBODY connected with the 88 team to identifie the weak link or weak links. He may find that it isn't anyone on the track at all.
ReplyDeleteJr needs to put racing 1st instead of last. The party boy, no exercise, stay up late lifestyle has no place in Sprint Cup. Jr is a pathetic excuse of a driver and it makes me laugh that cars outside of the top 35 in points finish in front of him on any given raceweekend.
ReplyDeleteNot a Jr. fan, but not a hater. The way I see it is Eury Jr is not a crew chief, at least not a hendrick owned team chief. They have a terrific man in the wings, as grubb used to be, in Lance Mcgrew. Put Mcgrew in charge of the 88 team and the results will happen very soon. A driver, in these technically driven cars, is only as good as his crew chief.
ReplyDeletewhat about jr. car cheif that left before the chase last year. What happen the team went to hell. Now tony in the 14 car has him and is where jr was in the points last year secound. Grubb was the key and Mr. H let him go the Tony's team great move there team owner.
ReplyDeleteI echo Mike's sentiment; DEJ needs a crew chief like Tony Eury, Sr., not Jr. When Pops was calling the shots, it was HIS way or the highway; when Pops was calling the shots, DEJ was winning a lot too. DEJ needs a hard ass, drill sergeant type of crew chief if he's going to win again...
ReplyDeleteOH, I think Jr. has pretty well proved to anyone dumb enough to think he was like his dad that that is NOT a fact. He raced for his dads approval. Now he has all the money he'll ever need (win or lose) and it's just a job to him. The passion is gone. Do you think you'll see him out there when he's 68 years old like Morgan Shepherd racing just because he LOVES to race??? Don't think so. Did hear a new excuse today: Jr has stepped aside and let Mark Martin have the GOOD cars so he can win his championship. Really scraping the bottom of the excuse barrel, Nation? I can't wait to see what excuses come up after Tony Jr. is gone.
ReplyDeleteWell, we can call the 88 Team Hendrick's Folly, opting for the popular driver over the good one (Kyle.) Maybe a better business decision -- how much of a cut of the licensing does the team owner get -- but Earnhardt is starting to look like Casey Mears: dead weight. He's driven well in the past, I say rebuild the team from scratch. Use the rest of the season to try some different things out and come out of the gates next season like Kurt Busch or Ryan Newman: resurrected.
ReplyDelete