[tkj24]

Eury Jr. to be crew chief for Dale Jr.
CONCORD, N.C. -- When driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. joins Hendrick Motorsports for the 2008 Sprint Cup Series season, Tony Eury Jr. will be his crew chief. Eury, who has been Earnhardt's crew chief for the past two seasons, signed a multi-year agreement with the organization this week.

"Tony Jr. and Dale have a successful history working together," Hendrick said. "They have trust in each other, which is the biggest part of the relationship between driver and crew chief. We have the utmost confidence in their ability to win races and compete for titles at Hendrick Motorsports."

A Kannapolis, N.C., native, Eury will move to Hendrick Motorsports immediately following the current NASCAR season. He will continue the work of Darian Grubb, who will finish the 2007 schedule as crew chief of the No. 25 Chevrolets before moving into a senior competition role with Hendrick Motorsports.

"Dale Jr. and I are both excited to continue working together," said Eury, 34, who has been Earnhardt's crew chief or car chief for the majority of the driver's NASCAR career. "With the resources we'll have at Hendrick Motorsports, it's an opportunity to consistently run up front and be in title contention every year. The goals are winning races and winning championships."

Grubb, 31, who hails from Floyd, Va., will coordinate the at-track engineering efforts of the Earnhardt and Mears teams with emphasis on supporting Eury's transition to Hendrick Motorsports and Mears' switch to the No. 5 Cup Series program.

The personnel moves will give Hendrick Motorsports additional depth with the Earnhardt and Mears teams. Grubb, who earned a championship as an engineer with the No. 48 Chevrolets and has won three times in 29 races as a crew chief, will work hand-in-hand with veteran team manager Brian Whitesell.

"We've asked Darian to shoulder more responsibility and take another step," Hendrick said. "With all the challenges and difficult situations we've thrown his way, he has always proven to be successful. Darian is a star in our organization and his contributions will be vital to our future success.

"This is an extremely talented group we're putting behind Casey and Dale Jr. With the combination of Alan [Gustafson], Tony, Darian and Brian in key leadership positions, we feel strongly that both teams will have the tools to be successful in 2008 and beyond."

Hendrick Motorsports is evaluating alternative numbers for the Earnhardt team, which currently uses the No. 25 on its Chevrolet racecars. A timetable for that announcement has not been set.

[LSC9901]

This will be interesting to follow. I figured Eury Jr would go to J.R. Motorsports. Time will tell. I guess it puts both of them into comfortable positions from day one. Having first hand knowledge of each others likes and dislikes hopefully will help ease the team transition.

[Nevadastars]

What's a shock to me, is that Jr. is going to be in the 25 car and Mears is going to the 5 team. If recent history is any clue, Jr. may be #4 in the pecking order at HMS. The 5, 24 and 48 are always strong, but the 25 is rarely up front by comparison.
I'm glad to see Eury Jr. is staying with him.

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by Nevadastars

What's a shock to me, is that Jr. is going to be in the 25 car and Mears is going to the 5 team. If recent history is any clue, Jr. may be #4 in the pecking order at HMS. The 5, 24 and 48 are always strong, but the 25 is rarely up front by comparison.
I'm glad to see Eury Jr. is staying with him.

One thing to keep in mind in this case is that it'll be real easy to repaint all of the current #25 cars to look like #5 cars. With all the hoop-a-la over JR you gotta believe that he isn't going to be the #4 driver in the clubhouse.