Dale Earnhardt Jr. has one win in three seasons at Hendrick Motorsports. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

“I really bought into the program and bought into Lance’s opportunity and his ability to lead us as a crew chief,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “We did some good things. We just weren’t moving along fast enough in this world as far as getting more productive and getting better as a team – we weren’t doing that quickly enough.

“In this time and age, you have to produce now. We feel that urgency and we feel that responsibility and pressure. I do.”

Not only will Earnhardt Jr. get Letarte as his crew chief, he will race with the crew that worked for Gordon and drive the cars Gordon drove this season. He will now be based in the shop with five-time champion Jimmie Johnson, and many of the people who work on Johnson’s cars will now work on Earnhardt Jr.’s cars as well.

“I don’t think there’s anything that the 48 team [of Johnson] would look at [me] as something that could drag them down,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I think they’re a little more confident than that.

“If anything, Jimmie should be able to maintain his success. … It’s a little bit intimidating going into there and knowing how successful that team has been. But it also is an opportunity to rub up against it and learn what you can and be observant to what feels different about it, the culture in the shop and the approach they take to racing.”

Earnhardt Jr. and his old team had lunch together last week, and he also has spoken to his new crew.

“I really didn’t know hardly any of those guys,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “It’s a new environment. It’s like going to a new school. You’ve got to make new friendships and new relationships. For me personally, I’m reluctant to make those kind of relationships, but when you’re forced into a situation like this, once you do make those relationships, that’s probably the biggest reward about the sport.

“The friendships that you make, the bond, the camaraderie and going to bat for each other and getting to know some truly amazing people that you otherwise would have the opportunity to get to know.”

The 36-year-old driver is also looking forward to having a clean slate and starting over with a new team.

“You look at it as a clean slate and a chance to see if this new package, new chemistry will produce better results,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “The anticipation to get to the track is more and you’re ready to go to work and want to go run laps at the same speed and see lap times and see adjustments and feel new cars and what they’re doing and how they’re reacting to the changes that the new crew chief is making and the new engineer is producing.”

Earnhardt Jr. joked that he will have to change his vocabulary on the radio because Letarte’s kids listen at home on the team scanner.

Crew chief Lance McGrew (Left) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Right) will no longer work together in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

“I hope for me, being around him and his group and their professionalism will rub off on me, make me a better driver, make me a better person, make me more productive in my communication with him,” Earnhardt Jr. said.

While Earnhardt Jr. and McGrew won’t work together, there is no animosity between them and they weren’t frustrated with each other despite some heated exchanges during races, Earnhardt Jr. said.

“We pretty much knew that things weren’t working well,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “We were very aware with what reality was and how we were running and how poorly things were going. We were frustrated. We were pitted so closely together throughout the weekend that some of that is going to bounce off each other a little bit.

“I never took it personally from him. … We got along pretty good considering how me and Tony Jr. would have handled the same situation.”

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