Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Replacement Crew Chief Is Only a Temporary Fix

It is not the first time that a Hendrick Motorsports team has struggled and was in need of change.

However, the struggles of Dale Earnhardt Jr. this season were agonizing to watch and to listen to. It seemed as if every week on the radio he was complaining to Tony Eury Jr. about the car and how it was driving so horribly.

I went to the Southern 500 and had the scanner sequenced on the No. 88 car and the conversations between the two were not material that you'd want to broadcast on live television.

It was tough to tell whether Earnhardt Jr. was more frustrated with the handling of his race car or the adjustments that Eury Jr. called for that didn't seem to work.

Needless to say, the frustration reached a breaking point at the Coca-Cola 600 when Earnhardt Jr. ran near the back all afternoon, eventually finishing 40th, which is a season-low.

Change was needed, and Rick Hendrick decided to remove Eury Jr. from his crew chief role effective this weekend at Dover.

Does this solve the problems that Earnhardt Jr. has experienced this season? Quite honestly, I don't think so.

Let's be honest, some of the struggles that occurred this year were not the fault of the crew chief. Look at Earnhardt Jr.'s struggles on pit road beginning at Daytona. It was not Eury Jr. behind the wheel. He's struggled to not only see his box, but to stop in his pit box as well.

Something had to be done to get the No. 88 team back to the level they were performing at last season, but replacing Eury Jr. is really only a temporary fix to a larger problem.

When you look at Hendrick Motorsports as a whole right now, Earnhardt Jr. seems to be in the same role that Kyle Busch had in 2007, as the odd man out in the organization.

Midway through his final season with Hendrick, most notably following the July event in Daytona, Busch made it clear after his teammates wouldn't help him win the race. Therefore, he was out for himself to win races.

Hendrick's newest driver, Mark Martin, is seeing more success in his first 12 races than Earnhardt Jr. has had through an entire season with the organization. Something had to be done, and Hendrick decided to start at the pit box with Eury Jr.

What is really surprising is that Tony Eury Sr. is not the crew chief for Earnhardt Jr. From 1999-2004, it was Eury Sr. who made the calls atop the pit box for his nephew.

In 183 races, the two had 15 wins together, plus a victory in the 2000 running of The Winston. If it was me, I'd choose to put these two back together because it is a proven combination.

I'm not saying Brian Whitesell won't do a good job this weekend at Dover, nor am I saying that Lance McGrew won't do a fine job starting next weekend at Pocono. Both have been crew chiefs at Hendrick before and have been successful.

What I am saying is this is only the start to fixing the issues on the No. 88 team.

In addition to Whitesell and McGrew, Hendrick is having one of his lead chassis specialists, Rex Stump, come over and oversee the operation. Hendrick is pulling out all the resources to improve the performance of NASCAR's most popular driver, but only time will tell if it works.

Earnhardt Jr. has proven that he can win races and be competitive on the track, but he has yet to do it on a more consistent basis.

His best season was in 2004 under D.E.I. when he won six races, finished fifth in the standings, and completed 98 percent of the laps in the season. That is what the "Junior Nation" wants from their driver, but they have not seen it now for over five years.

Is this a step in the right direction for Earnhardt Jr.?

It definitely is, but it won't solve all the problems that the team has been having. Something had to be done. Otherwise, the sport's most popular driver would have been one of the worst running drivers on the track.