To say that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had an up-and-down season may be one of the biggest understatements of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Junior’s second season has been a disaster, with far more downs than ups and far more questions than answers to just what has happened to one of NASCAR’s biggest names.
But Junior found a little stability last week when Hendrick Motorsports team owner Rick Hendrick took care of one of his troubled driver’s biggest questions by naming interim crew chief Lance McGrew the full-time crew chief of Junior’s No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet team for the 2010 season.
“I have total faith in Lance and what he’s capable of accomplishing with Dale Jr.,” Hendrick said in a press release. “There was a lot of pressure with how he came into this deal, and the way he’s handled it has been extremely impressive. Lance is confident in himself and in his decisions, and all the outside distractions aren’t going to faze him. He’s a strong-willed guy who will keep his eye on the ball and not settle.”
McGrew took over as interim crew chief in May for Tony Eury Jr., Junior’s long-time crew chief and cousin, after a rough start to a 2009 season that saw Junior finish in the top five just once and outside the top 10 in 10 of the first 13 races of the season.
Things haven’t gotten much better for Junior since McGrew took the reigns — Junior has just one top-five finish, two top-10 finishes and six top-15 finishes to go along with 13 finishes of 20th or worse, causing some speculation around the garage area that McGrew would not be retained after this season.
But with last week’s announcement came Junior’s apparent blessing.
“Lance has been part of the solution, not the problem,” Earnhardt in the press release. “He’s tough, which is what I need, and we’ve really clicked in a short period of time. The communication has gotten better every practice and every race, and I know that’s going to keep improving. Having this decision behind us is really important, and now we can focus on the future instead of the past."
McGrew, 41, began his official duties as full-time crew chief for the No. 88 team over the weekend at Talladega, where Junior finished 11th, his best finish since finishing ninth at Bristol in late August.
He’ll look to finish out the final three races of the season on a high note before turning to the short NASCAR offseason to try and right the ship for a race team that signed with HMS two years ago full of promise.
McGrew has had success as a crew chief in the past, leading Brian Vickers to the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship in 2003 and has victories on all three of NASCAR’s touring series. He’s also won races with drivers Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Ricky Hendrick, Mark Martin and Tony Stewart.
“The communication between Dale Jr. and I continues to improve every single week,” McGrew said. “Both of us are 110-percent committed to the success of this team, and we’re going to do everything necessary to get the job done for Hendrick Motorsports, our sponsors and Dale’s fans.”
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Rank…Driver … Points … Behind
1. … Jimmie Johnson … 6248 … ---
2. … Mark Martin … 6064 … 184
3. … Jeff Gordon … 6056 … 192
4. … Juan Montoya … 6009 … 239
5. … Tony Stewart … 5969 … 279
6. … Kurt Busch … 5936 … 312
7. … Greg Biffle … 5908 … 340
8. … Ryan Newman … 5846 … 402
9. … Kasey Kahne … 5834 … 414
10. … Carl Edwards … 5811 … 437
11. … Denny Hamlin … 5800 … 448
12. … Brian Vickers … 5692 … 556
