CUP: Eury Blames Media For Earnhardt’s Woes

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http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/cup-eury-blames-media-for-earnhardts-woes/
Written by: Tom Jensen 07/09/2009 - 06:03 PM
Tony Eury Jr., in his first race back since being replaced as Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief following the Coca-Cola 600 in May, on Thursday blamed his cousin’s struggles on the media.

In the six races since Tony Eury’s departure, Dale Earnhardt has finished no higher than 12th in any race and has fallen from 19th to 21st in the NASCAR Sprint Cup points standings. (Image: LAT Photographic) » More Photos
Eury had been crew chief of Earnhardt’s No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Impala SS since Earnhardt moved to the team prior to the start of the 2008 season. But he was replaced by car owner Rick Hendrick after a dreadful 40th-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, the team’s home track.

In the six races since Eury’s departure, Earnhardt has finished no higher than 12th in any race and has fallen from 19th to 21st in the NASCAR Sprint Cup points standings. At this juncture, he has virtually no chance of making the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Earnhardt’s dismal performance is a direct result of too much media attention, Eury said Thursday at Chicagoland Speedway, where he is serving as crew chief this weekend for the No. 25 part-time Hendrick entry driven by Brad Keselowski.

“I think, my personal opinion, is that you guys put so much pressure on him after Daytona that Dale Jr. just basically had had enough,” Eury said in a noon media availability at the 1.5-mile track. “If you want to get down to it, we went to Daytona and had a shot at winning that race, had some problems on pit road, but we ain’t going to slam Dale Jr. We’re going to pick him up and say, ‘Let’s go to Vegas,’ and we went to California and blew up, so there’s two negative weeks. You guys were all over him and it just brought him down.

“I don’t think we had a strong enough finish to bring him back up so 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,” said Earnhardt. “So I will dig the other way to get away from it. Basically, I think that in a nutshell, that’s it. It’s unfortunate.”

And Eury was just getting started at that point.

“You open the newspaper, you go online — I couldn’t open up a paper because it would be an Earnhardt or a Eury Jr. story somewhere and it’s either, if we won the race it was great and if it wasn’t then it was all negative,” said Eury. “To a point, you just get tired of reading and you get tired of seeing it.”

Eury even lambasted the media for making critical comments about the in-raced radio communications between himself and Earnhardt.


“I’ve had it out and then the media has blasted me for having it out with him when we first started,” 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, ‘Okay, so which way do they want it?’ We basically quit talking on the radio. … That’s unfortunate that it had to come to that, but we still believed in one another and that’s all that mattered.”

Eury also said he and his cousin had managed to save their relationship despite all the bad press.

“In no way shape or form am I going to let this sport get in between me and Dale Jr.,” Eury said. “It was a job, I enjoyed being around Dale Jr. — still do. He’s family and we go deeper than this racing deal. I’ve always wanted him to have the opportunity, if he has to be with somebody else, if that brings him up a scale then I’ve always been for that. I’m just looking forward to working with Brad (Keselowski). Me and Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. have plenty of hunts planned together and we’re going to go do things outside of racing. To be honest with you, I don’t think we really talk a whole lot of racing when we do talk. I think that’s pretty cool.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com.
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Yep!

It's al the media's fault!

But when times are good and you are winning, I didn't hear many complaints about too much media attention.

No, it goes much deeper than this.
 
The media made those crappy pit calls. The media were the ones that were responsible for not adjusting the car correctly...I see.
 
BobbyFord said:
The media made those crappy pit calls. The media were the ones that were responsible for not adjusting the car correctly...I see.
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at least it has become apparent that it wasn't ALL Eury Jr that was broke......the other half of the equation wasn't pulling his weight either
 
Clutch said:
at least it has become apparent that it wasn't ALL Eury Jr that was broke......the other half of the equation wasn't pulling his weight either
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I agree. The two together were not compatible. They argued like hell on the radio.
 
I never thought it was all one-sided. I think they just weren't clicking together. Apart both may do much better:beerbang:
 
Junior has replied to this and said that the media isn't to blame for anything. At least he knows the right things to say. Now if he would just admit that he isn't totally into racing right now.
 
The Hendrick power plant makes simular acquitment for the 5, 24, 48, 88.

5 Team = 3 wins /13th in points
24 Team = 1 win (and a duel 150 win)/ 2nd in points
48 Team = 2 wins / 3rd in points
88 Team = 0 wins / 21st in points

I think its just time to stop making excuses why he's not running good and just admit he is going to have to live in his dad's shadow his whole career (Simular to Kyle Petey having to live in Richards Shadow).
 
buckaroo said:
Junior has replied to this and said that the media isn't to blame for anything. At least he knows the right things to say. Now if he would just admit that he isn't totally into racing right now.
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I was going to post the same thing. You keep beating me, Buck! Junior said the blame belonged all on him.
 
WNY24Fan said:
I was going to post the same thing. You keep beating me, Buck! Junior said the blame belonged all on him.
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Sorry bout that. You are probably reading their email the same time I am. I'll lag back a little further in the future for ya! :)
 
buckaroo said:
Sorry bout that. You are probably reading their email the same time I am. I'll lag back a little further in the future for ya! :)
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Oh, instead of "laying back" and beating me to the finish line! ROFL ;):D
 
buckaroo said:
Junior has replied to this and said that the media isn't to blame for anything. At least he knows the right things to say. Now if he would just admit that he isn't totally into racing right now.
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So one more thing that Eury Jr an Earnhardt Jr don`t agree on.
 
So y'all help me out on this one. Junior Nation said it was all Eury Jr's fault. Finally Hendrick, the smartest owner in Nascar, listened and replaced Eury. He also threw in the best and brightest brains of the HMS engineering shop to try and get better finishes. Instead he was rewarded with Lil'E doing worse and falling farther back in points. And still it's someone else's fault. I must be missing something somewhere.
 
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