Calls To Replace Eury Jr May Get Louder

With Mark Martin’s victory in Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500, and teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr’s subsequent dismal performance, the callings for Tony Eury Jr’s head are sure to get louder.

The calls have been prevalent all season, leading Hendrick Motorsports team owner Rick Hendrick, and then Jr himself, to defend his cousin and crew chief. The No. 88 team is struggling, and is often the worst of the Hendrick cars. The No. 88 team is the only Hendrick car without a victory this season, and the team is inconsistent at best.

While I believe Eury Jr is part of the problem, all of the blame, can’t go to him. Dale Jr. has had his share of pit road mistakes. He had two pit road errors at Daytona, he had one at Texas, and he had one on Saturday.

An ill-handling car is not helping matters. He crashed Saturday because of an ill-handling car, and he scraped the wall in Texas on older tires, ending his chance for a good finish.

Maybe next year we see Dale Jr and Alan Gustafon. No one knows that yet, but for now Jr and Hendrick are committed to Eury Jr. We’ll see how it all plays out, but at this point, if the driver and owner have confidence in him, that says a lot.

As the series heads to Talladega, a track where Jr had five wins in a row, maybe this is the week where the team turns a corner.

Martin Wins Subway Fresh Fit 500

Mark Martin drove his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy to victory in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

On the final restart, Martin quickly disposed of Ryan Newman, who stayed out, and cruised to victory.

Top 5: Martin, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, and Greg Biffle.

Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr, David Reutimann, Sam Hornish Jr, and Carl Edwards finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Notables: Jeff Burton (15th), Ryan Newman (16th), Kyle Busch (17th), Brian Vickers (19th), Jeff Gordon (25th), Clint Bowyer (26th), Matt Kenseth (27th), Kevin Harvick (30th), and Dale Earnhardt Jr (31st).

Earnhardt used a pit road gamble to take the lead. But, as a result of staying out, Jr got off pit sequence with the leaders. He never got the caution he needed, and ended up needing to make an extra pit stop. As the handling went away on his car, Jr began losing positions left and right.

Then, Casey Mears and Jr got together and Jr hit the wall, ending his chance for a good finish.

On the cool down lap, Jr spun Mears out. As Jr went down pit road to head to the garage, Mears caught up with him and bumped him several times.

Kyle Busch came out of the pits on the final caution in second place, but a pit road speeding violation dropped him to the back of the pack. He finished 17th.

Driver Was DEI’s Biggest Loss

I recently read David Caraviello’s Inside Line column on NASCAR.com titled “As it turns out, driver wasn’t DEI’s biggest loss,” in which he examined the journey of the No. 8 since Dale Earnhardt Jr left Dale Earnhardt Inc.

I blogged about this yesterday.

He wrote:

[T]he one entity that DEI ultimately couldn’t afford to part with, the one missing ingredient that eventually sidelined the No. 8 car, wasn’t a driver at all. DEI could survive without Dale Jr. But losing a big-money sponsor like Budweiser turned out to be a punch to the solar plexus that left the organization gasping for air.

With all due respect, the loss of Dale Jr is the reason Budweiser left. Budweiser was happy to stick with Dale Earnhardt Jr even as he moved to Hendrick Motorsports. But, Hendrick had a contract that prevented Budweiser from sticking with NASCAR’s most popular driver.  Had Jr stayed, Budweiser would have stayed, as well.

Caraviello contends:

Drivers, even immensely popular ones, are all replaceable; there’s always someone else ready and willing to fill in behind the wheel. Not so with sponsors, whose marketing dollars are the very lifeblood of the sport. When they go away, teams suffer and fall.

While that’s true, sponsors seek out drivers that they can market and that can offer a good return. Budweiser did not leave the sport. They’re sponsoring Kasey Kahne, and would most likely have still been sponsoring Jr and DEI.

Caraviello continues:

Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson could both leave Hendrick Motorsports tomorrow, and the eight-time championship organization will still be as rock-solid — although maybe not quite as successful — as ever. Yet if DuPont and Lowe’s pick up stakes, the situation becomes much more tenuous.

The problem is that with Johnson and Gordon gone, Lowes and DuPont would most likely leave the team.

Looking at things the way Caraviello does makes little sense to me. If an event (A) occurs causing B, which then causes C, then one could argue that had A not happened, C would not have happened because B (which caused C) would not have had a chance to happen.

So, if Dale Jr doesn’t leave DEI, then Budweiser doesn’t, which means that the No. 8 would not have been shuttered.

DEI may have had to contract to a two-car team, but DEI would still exist under that banner. Instead, the team has merged and lost its staple, the No. 8, and now goes by Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. 

I’m not saying that Jr would have saved DEI, and I do agree with Caraviello on that point. But, DEI would have been in much better financial shape if Jr stayed, thus keeping Budweiser and their money there, as well.

DEI’s Fall From Grace

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing’s decision to park its famed No. 8 Chevy is a sign of the economic times we’re in. But, it is also a sign of just how far the team has fallen.

And while I don’t know the reasons for some of the business decisions being made by Teresa Earnhardt, I suspect that pride and stubborness are leading to the mismanagement of the company that Dale Earnhardt Sr built.

Since Sr’s death, Teresa hasn’t had much interest in the sport, often skipping appearances at the track. She’s been called an absentee owner on several occasions.

She let pride get in the way when Dale Earnhardt Jr made his highly publicized bid for ownership in the company. Jr frequently complained that DEI was doing nothing to keep up with the competition. He contended that the team was not purchasing new technology that would help performance, and that the team was not expanding, despite being too big for its shop in N.C.

Teresa was so stubborn and arrogant that she let NASCAR’s most popular driver walk away, and expected the team to survive.

She wouldn’t even let Jr take with him the number he put back on the map. I can understand that the No. 8 has sentimental value to DEI, but it’s not like Jr and Rick Hendrick made an unreasonable offer. I think they also would have agreed to return the number, when Jr was finished with it. But, Teresa went out of her way to ensure that they would not get the number by seeking a percentage of licensing revenue.

Since Jr jumped ship, DEI has been a sinking ship. The team merged with Bobby Ginn Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing. It lost three sponsors in Budweiser, US Army, and Menards. It lost drivers Mark Martin and Paul Menard. And is rumored to be in danger of losing Martin Truex Jr and Bass Pro Shops.

Sadly, things will not improve until Teresa gives up control of the company, or she stops letting foolish pride and personal reason influence business decisions.

Gordon Finally Wins At Texas

Jeff Gordon ended his winless streak both in the series (47 races) and at Texas Motor Speedway (16 races) by winning Sunday’s Samsung 500.

Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson finished second.

Top 5: Gordon, Johnson, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart, and Matt Kenseth.

Mark Martin, Juan Montoya, Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton, and Carl Edwards rounded out the top 10.

Notables: David Reutimann (11th), Denny Hamlin (12th), Ryan Newman (15th), Kyle Busch (18th), Kasey Kahne (19th), Dale Earnhardt Jr (20th), Clint Bowyer (22nd), Kevin Harvick (27th), and Bobby Labonte (40th).

Earnhardt Jr had an eventful day. On lap 221, Jr’s team missed a lugnut and he had to come back in. When he came back in, he missed his pit box and had to come around again. With about 40 laps to go, he was running in the top 10 when he scraped the wall and had to make a green flag pit stop. He went a lap down. He finished 20th.

Kyle Busch cut a tire after making contact with John Andretti. He also was hit with a pit road speeding violation later. He finished one lap down in 18th.