NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Earnhardt Jr. Hopes To Get Confidence Back With Letarte
Steve Letarte will be Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s third crew chief since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2008...
Bob Pockrass  | http://www.scenedaily.com  |  Posted December 03, 2010   Las Vegas, NV
Dale Earnhardt Jr. lives under a media microscope. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. knows he will get his confidence back as a driver when he runs consistently in the top five in Sprint Cup races again.

How new crew chief Steve Letarte can improve his performance and restore that confidence, he doesn’t exactly know.

Earnhardt Jr. said Thursday that his team’s switch from crew chief Lance McGrew to Letarte, the former crew chief for Jeff Gordon, is like knowing what you’re getting for Christmas.

“It’s healthy,” said Earnhardt Jr., who has 18 career wins but only one victory and one Chase appearance in three years at Hendrick Motorsports. “We needed this to happen. I needed this to happen. Hopefully this will get me back to winning races, running in the top five and running in the top 10.

“I used to own up to my own inconsistencies back in 2000, 2001 all the way up through 2004 and ’05 when we had some of our more successful years. I’d do anything to be that inconsistent now. I know I can be that guy again – at least that good. This is a good opportunity to see if that can happen.”

Letarte will be Earnhardt Jr.’s third crew chief since joining Hendrick in 2008. He joined Hendrick with Tony Eury Jr., his crew chief at Dale Earnhardt Inc. and the son of his most successful crew chief, Tony Eury Sr.

Although Earnhardt Jr. made the Chase in 2008, he struggled in 2009 and Eury Jr. was replaced by McGrew, who led the No. 88 team for 60 races. During that time, Earnhardt Jr. was winless and had the two worst points finishes of his career – 25th in 2009 and 21st in 2010.

“I have no answer for why when we worked with Pops that worked and Tony Jr. didn’t work,” Earnhardt Jr. said Thursday after being named the sport’s most popular driver for the eighth consecutive year. “I thought that Tony Jr. was as smart, if not smarter, with today’s technology than Pops was. I felt they were on equal grounds and I was going to have a dynasty of a crew chief in Tony Jr.

“He has that talent and that knowledge and it just didn’t work. We made a change with Lance, and we went half a season and we felt pretty good about what he was doing, decided to go another year and it didn’t work. I was up and willing for a change and I sat on the side and waited to see what that change would be. I was called into the floor and told what the new deal was and I’m behind it.”
Steve Letarte (Pictured) has spent the last five-plus years working with Jeff Gordon. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Confidence has always been a key to Earnhardt Jr.’s performance and success. It has been lacking the past three years.

“The only person that can truly help me get where I need to go starts with me, then it goes to [team owner] Rick [Hendrick], Steve and those guys in your inner circle every week and in your corner every week,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “My biggest problem, I think, is my confidence.

“I know what I’ve done in my past and I know that I’ve outrun and beat these guys that I compete with each week before. I just have to remember that the potential is there.

“I believe in myself, but there’s a swagger that you have to have. … To convince myself to get back where I need to be confidence-wise, I need to see it happen on the track. I can’t just talk myself into going to the track thinking the way I need to think. I’m going to go there, mash the gas and it needs to happen.”

Earnhardt Jr. said he and McGrew made some progress but not enough to warrant sticking together. McGrew will now work with Mark Martin, while Martin’s former crew chief, Alan Gustafson, will guide Gordon’s No. 24 team.


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