I thought it was interesting that ESPN.com and RACER.com had different spins on the Dale Earnhardt Jr. / Tony Eury Jr. split.
First, yesterday ESPN.com had a link that stated Eury was fired, but it now states that Eury is “out” which are two slightly different takes on the situation. I don’t think I dreamed that it said fired, but I can no longer find the reference, so maybe I am mistaken. At any rate, ESPN.com has an interesting article on Lance McGrew, the new crew chief for Little E.
There is some thought within the sport that Eury and Earnhardt employed a different preparatory approach than that used by the other three Hendrick Motorsports teams. McGrew lent credence to that thought.
“I just believe there were some theories that they were using to making decisions by, that weren’t necessarily the same theory that’s on the rest of the complex,” McGrew said.
“The idea of having a multiple-car team is you can lean on your teammates. And you have to be within the same page to get any information. A lot of times they were not on the same page.”
I have always liked Junior, but other than Eury being “of the blood” I have never understood why Junior did not go after a top notch crew chief. I bet things turn around in a hurry.
RACER.com has a completely different take on the situation; read softer landing.
“Our performance hasn’t been where it should be,” said team-owner Rick Hendrick. “It’s impossible to pin that on any one factor, but a change is the right decision at this point. We have a plan in place, and we’re going to move forward with it.”
The rest of the article is mostly fluff and stuff about the Junior/Eury relationship. I have been impressed with the new RACER.com format, but this one was certainly not hard hitting news.
