Voted NASCAR’s most popular for the eighth straight year Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in Las Vegas to accept the award and answer a few questions about his future.
Less than two weeks ago his boss Rick Hendrick announced the most radical change of personnel at Hendrick Motorsports in the company’s existence.
Although some call it a crew chief swap it’s really more of a team shuffle as Earnhardt moves into what had been the Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson garage. Until the end of this season both Gordon’s No. 24 Chevy and Johnson’s No. 48 were assembled by the same HMS personnel.
Gordon’s operation will move into the building occupied by the #5 team car driven by Mark Martin.
In this past season although Johnson won the championship, Gordon made the Chase, but, was winless. HMS’s invincibility was a wee bit frayed at the edges.
"That’s one of the reasons why we made the big change we made with the drivers and crew chiefs. Our cars in general need to be faster. Mark (Martin) commented throughout the year that he didn’t feel he had the speed that he had the year before,” Earnhardt told reporters in Las Vegas.
As part of the move Earnhardt will now get Steve Letarte as his crew chief, and has he told reporters he doesn’t know how that will work.
“I don’t know. I have no answers for why when we worked with Pops (Tony Eury Sr.) that that worked and why Tony Jr. didn’t work. I thought Tony Jr. was as smart, if not smarter with today’s technology than Pops was,” Earnhardt said.
The bigger issue might be inside the driver’s mind.
“My biggest problem, I think, is my confidence. I know what I’ve done in the past. I know that I’ve outran and beat these guys that I compete with each week before and I just have to remember that the potential is there. I believe in myself but there’s a swagger that you have to have.”
And with the changes in buildings, faces and strategy Earnhardt is hoping to get that swagger back.
Less than two weeks ago his boss Rick Hendrick announced the most radical change of personnel at Hendrick Motorsports in the company’s existence.
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| (Photo: nascar.com) |
Although some call it a crew chief swap it’s really more of a team shuffle as Earnhardt moves into what had been the Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson garage. Until the end of this season both Gordon’s No. 24 Chevy and Johnson’s No. 48 were assembled by the same HMS personnel.
Gordon’s operation will move into the building occupied by the #5 team car driven by Mark Martin.
In this past season although Johnson won the championship, Gordon made the Chase, but, was winless. HMS’s invincibility was a wee bit frayed at the edges.
"That’s one of the reasons why we made the big change we made with the drivers and crew chiefs. Our cars in general need to be faster. Mark (Martin) commented throughout the year that he didn’t feel he had the speed that he had the year before,” Earnhardt told reporters in Las Vegas.
As part of the move Earnhardt will now get Steve Letarte as his crew chief, and has he told reporters he doesn’t know how that will work.
“I don’t know. I have no answers for why when we worked with Pops (Tony Eury Sr.) that that worked and why Tony Jr. didn’t work. I thought Tony Jr. was as smart, if not smarter with today’s technology than Pops was,” Earnhardt said.
The bigger issue might be inside the driver’s mind.
“My biggest problem, I think, is my confidence. I know what I’ve done in the past. I know that I’ve outran and beat these guys that I compete with each week before and I just have to remember that the potential is there. I believe in myself but there’s a swagger that you have to have.”
And with the changes in buildings, faces and strategy Earnhardt is hoping to get that swagger back.