Dale Earnhardt Jr - New Crew Chief Produces Results | |
The Autism Speaks 400 at Dover, Delaware was the first race for Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and his new crew chief Lance McGrew. Not only did Autism Speak, but so did the future of the Amp team and the future looks much brighter than it did just one week ago.
A quick recap of the soap opera that has surrounded the Amp team. Junior left the fading DEI team to come to Hendrick a year and a half ago. Hendrick is of course the home of Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and the best cars in NASCAR. Putting Junior with the team was the recipe for championships and glory. Ah, not exactly. In fact, the combination has been a disaster. Junior has never looked less competitive.
The vast majority of criticism has been directed at Tony Eury, Jr. The long time cousin and crew chief for Junior quickly became the scapegoat for the poor results. Despite having racked up wins and success over the years, he suddenly became a dolt who had never seen a car before much less figured out how to set one up. After months of wailing, the fans go their wish. Eury, Jr., was sent packing last week when he was taken off the Amp team and moved into research and development at Hendrick.
The crisis has been such that Rick Hendrick did not just change crew chiefs. The removal of Eury was one thing, but the replacements speak volumes. Two of the top chassis developers for Hendrick were brought on board with Lance McGrew becoming the focal point as the crew chief of the team. For a man who admittedly doesn't like the spotlight, it had to be a one way conversation with Hendrick to make it happen.
Well, this is one form of change that might be working nicely. It is easy to overact after just one race, but the results in the Autism Speaks 400 were tremendous. The Amp team suddenly looked like one of the other Hendrick teams. Junior came from as far back as 30th to run in third place for a stretch. He faded to 12th at the finish, but that wasn't bad considering the goal was to finish in the top 20 going into the race.
So, is all well know with the Amp team? Nobody knows. The future, however, looks brighter than it did just a week ago when Junior ran 40th at the Coca Cola 400.
Dirk Gibson is with DCJAutoParts.com - where you can find high performance auto parts for your car for the best prices.
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