4LT GS Roadster
Ex-crew chief talks about the pressure on Dale Earnhardt Jr.: ‘It was like
throwing a squirrel into a hole – it's not coming out.'
JOLIET, Ill. -- Tony Eury Jr. stepped outside the No. 25 hauler and into the sunshine at Chicagoland Speedway earlier this week, then waved to a group of guys across the garage area.
Those guys – Ryan Newman's pit crew – waved back and shouted greetings to Eury, obviously happy to see him back after his six-week absence from NASCAR's Sprint Cup grind.
Eury's smile lingered. He's returned to the sport's front line, at least temporarily, as crew chief for part-time driver Brad Keselowski's Chevy in tonight's LifeLock.com 400.
In May, Eury was removed as crew chief of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team after Hendrick Motorsports' No.88 team continued to slump. Things haven't gotten any better since then for Earnhardt and new crew chief Lance McGrew. They're mired at 21st in the points standings and seem unlikely participants in the season's Chase for the Sprint Cup.
And in the six races since Eury left, Earnhardt continues to be a non-factor -- his best finish was 12th at Dover and he struggled to a 39th-place finish last week at Daytona.
As he stood outside Keselowski's hauler, Eury talked about what he thought eventually led to his dismissal and his relationship with Earnhardt, his cousin and friend.
“I think it just kind of ran its course,” Eury said. “There were definitely some things that happened and evolved that brought us to this point. In general, it was time. There is no other way to put it. We just needed to try something different. Dale Jr. is not getting any younger, so let's give him the opportunity to work with somebody else and try something. Definitely the road we were going down, it wasn't a bed of roses so let's try something different. That's where it was at.”
Eury had been Earnhardt's crew chief from their days at Dale Earnhardt Inc. and came with him to Hendrick in 2007. That history – 118 races together since 2005 – made the breakup painful.
“In one shape and form it was like, ‘Cool, I'm glad this is over with,'” said Eury. “And the next one felt like I let my cousin down. I think a lot of people put him on a pedestal that he doesn't need to be on. They put a lot of pressure on him to be somebody that he's not going to be.”
Thanks to the wonders of modern-day technology, fans and media were able to hear Eury and Earnhardt's in-race radio conversations as they struggled through races. It was always easy listening, and Eury said they grew so wary of how their conversations might be perceived that it affected how they communicated.
“I've had it out and then the media has blasted me for having it out with him,” Eury said. “Then we went to a more conservative role where we didn't say anything and we got blasted because we didn't talk enough. We finished Atlanta in 11th this year and the first thing you read in the paper is that the end was near because we weren't talking. You're like, ‘OK, so which way do they want it?' We basically quit talking on the radio because there were different ways we could do it.”
Eury said the media's role in keeping pressure on Earnhardt has been profound.
“You guys were all over him and it just brought him down,” Eury told a group of reporters. “Every week the hole gets deeper and deeper and deeper and it was like throwing a squirrel into a hole -- it's not coming out. So (he) will dig the other way to get away from it.”
Eury said he has three more races to run with Keselowski and that he'll continue with his R&D work for Hendrick through the end of the season. He'll decide what to do with his future after that.
“I've got nothing to prove,” Eury said. “Would it have been nice to win a Cup championship (with Earnhardt)? Yeah, it sure would have.
“I'm at an organization right now where I can be a part of one, whether I'm the leader of it or just being a part of it. It means something. To go out here and say that my goal this weekend is to out-run Dale Jr., no. My job this weekend is to go out here and get Brad Keselowski … his best finish of the year.”
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