DOVER, Del. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. worked with his interim crew chief a week earlier than expected.
The solid result in the No. 88 Chevrolet came just in time.
Earnhardt appeared in sync with Lance McGrew in their first race together, and the 12th-place finish Sunday at Dover International Speedway was a nice first and badly needed step toward salvaging Earnhardt’s slumping season.
“We ain’t clicked yet, but we’re definitely doing OK,” Earnhardt said. “We’ve got a lot to learn about each other. And the more we know and understand about each other I think the better we will be.”
Earnhardt was running fifth at the halfway point, then settled in the rest of the way in the 10th to 15th slot. McGrew said before the race he would have considered that result a victory, then build on that finish the reminder of the year.
“You can’t go from where we were to first, it’s not going to happen,” McGrew said.
Earnhardt couldn’t get much worse than his season-worst 40th-place finish last week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. That dismal result prompted owner Rick Hendrick to remove Tony Eury Jr. from his position as Earnhardt’s crew chief Thursday.
Earnhardt said it was strange hearing a new voice calling the shots.
“Lance called a pretty good race and I felt like that he was saying all the right things and keeping me and the team on the same page,” he said. “One of the things I liked about Lance is I felt like I was in the pit box with him all day and I felt like he was riding with me all day. That was a good feeling. Hopefully we can keep that up
McGrew was scheduled to work with Brad Keselowski on Sunday, but he failed to qualify, freeing up McGrew to make the calls for Earnhardt. McGrew had been scheduled to start next week at Pocono Raceway.
“The powers that be decided to go ahead and give us a week head start,” McGrew said.
Team manager Brian Whitesell, who was scheduled to be the crew chief, assisted McGrew.
“It’s the most challenging assignment anybody’s ever had, just because of the profile,” McGrew said. “Not only is it important for Dale Jr. to run for Hendrick Motorsports competitively, I think it’s important for the sport. He has such a tremendous amount of fan base, you don’t want to know people are turning off the TV at home because Dale Jr.’s not running good.”
The longtime Earnhardt-Eury pairing only produced one win in 48 races with Hendrick, and this season saw a flurry of pit-road gaffes and setup miscalculations that has a spot in the Chase for the championship looking like a long shot.
Hendrick said Earnhardt and McGrew had instant chemistry.
“For the guys to work that well together this quick, I was real pleased,” he said. “I listened to them all day and the communication was extremely good and the feedback was really good and the decisions they made.”
Former Hendrick driver Kyle Busch took a shot at Earnhardt on Friday about the perception that his poor finishes were never his fault, always the crew chief.
Earnhardt left his seat next to McGrew at the driver’s meeting and took one in the front row for a brief chat with Busch. The two spoke for a little more than a minute before Earnhardt returned to his original seat.
Earnhardt declined to comment on the conversation.
He still had Hendrick’s support
“It’s an awful big load that Dale Jr. carries,” Hendrick said. “I personally wouldn’t want that. I just don’t”
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