Dale Jr. speaks about crew chief changes: Brandon Mudd of 590 the Fan, KFNS, (www.kfns.com), spoke with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who was in the St. Louis area yesterday for a Victory Junction Gang Camp function at Kenny Schrader's dirt track in Pevely, MO.
Earnhardt said there is a good chance Tony Eury, Jr. could be the crew chief of the #8-Budweiser team next season. "Absolutely. Anything in this sport is a possibility. We've talked about that and no decision has been made. We've got to concentrate on making the Chase; we won't make a decision before that. I don't think I can sit here and honestly tell you who will be my crew chief next year. I really like working with Steve Hmiel and in a way, I think that we make a great team. Me and him together have a good way of...I don't know, we just have a good way of working together that seems to want to build success. I think if me and Steve Hmiel stuck together, we'd win some races.
The only problem with that is he's been in this sport so long, he's overqualified. The things he was doing for the company before, those areas are now starting to suffer because of him having to come down and do the crew-chiefing side of it. So we need to figure it out. And I'm not sure if he wants to do it full-time or not, honestly, whether or not he wants to go back to that grind. We'll all have to just sit down and talk about it and see what everyone wants to do, but yeah, you have to consider that a possibility, me and Tony Jr. getting back together. Right now, though, we just don't know."(Brandon W. Mudd/590 The Fan, KFNS)(8-5-2005)
Sponsorship deal may realign teams
If NAPA remains, DEI says it has prominent driver lined up for ride
INDIANAPOLIS - If Dale Earnhardt Inc. can keep NAPA as a sponsor for a third car next season, an already topsy-turvy "Silly Season" could get even wilder.
DEI Director of Motorsports Richie Gilmore said yesterday the team is negotiating with the auto-parts supplier about staying with the No. 15 being vacated by Michael Waltrip after 2005.
Gilmore said DEI already has lined up a driver to team with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. for the 2006 Nextel Cup season. Gilmore wouldn't disclose a name but said it was someone prominent on another race team "that's been on our wish list for some time."
"[NAPA] has some options with us, Michael and some other race teams," Gilmore said. "We've put about a two-week window on it where they've got to make the decision and we've got to make a decision and go forward. But we have a driver kind of laid out, and everything laid out."
Gilmore also pooh-poohed the idea of reuniting Earnhardt Jr. with Tony Eury Jr. if the No. 8 Chevrolet were to qualify for the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Earnhardt won a career-high six races last year with Eury as car chief. An offseason shake-up moved Eury to Waltrip's team as crew chief this year.
"I would say that scenario would take away from both teams, so we wouldn't even look at that," Gilmore said. "That would affect both teams in a negative [way]."
Gilmore said the possibility of naming Eury as Earnhardt's crew chief for next season hadn't been discussed much.
"It's still too early," he said. "There's been a lot of talk outside of DEI but not at our company."
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