[TomSportsHack]

any ideas why Dale Jr is doing so poorly this season?

my opinion is that the chemistry among the team is lacking, and how can you be quick during practices and lose it during the races, and the guy on the pit box (IMO) doesnt know what he's doing, of course Dale Jr missing his pit box a couple of races aint helping either

as a Dale Jr fan this is getting pretty old......:yikes:

Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. is an idiot. ESPN2's NASCAR Now had a telling statistic chart tonight: Of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s 18 Cup wins, Tony Eury Sr. was the crew chief for 15 of them while Eury Jr. was the crew chief for exactly 2. (Steve Hmiel was the crew chief for the other one).

Eury Jr. just can't set up the car, a problem that goes back to his tenure with DEI. Kind of reminds me of what happened to Kirk Shelmerdine, Dale Sr.'s longtime crew chief. He was a great crew chief until the Cup series switched from bias-ply tires to radial tires in the early 1990s. After that? Completely lost. Seems to be the same with Eury Jr. — either that or he didn't get the crew chief genes from his father.

There's no reason the 88 team's pit stops should be as mediocre as they have been, too. That also goes back to the crew chief.

I'd like to see Ron Malec (currently the car chief on the 48 team) move into the crew chief slot with the 88. Being around Chad Knaus seems to have a good effect on up-and-coming car/crew chiefs. Would take some of the pit-lizard pressure off Junior, too. :biggrin:

I first heard that Alan Gustafson might move over from the 5 but apparently Alan's told Rick Hendrick that he doesn't want to leave that team (and why would he? He's the crew chief for his boyhood idol and they have great chemistry).