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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Junior, Letarte Buoyed By Tight Bond, Tough Love
Dale Earnhardt Jr. respects crew chief Steve Letarte for both his hard-nosed approach and reliable encouragement…
Jared Turner  |  Posted January 27, 2012   Concord, NC
Crew chief Steve Letarte (Left) has developed open communication lines with driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Photo: Getty Images)
Rick Hendrick vividly recalls Steve Letarte’s reaction upon learning he’d been appointed crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The 10-time Sprint Cup champion team owner had just shuffled the deck of cards at Hendrick Motorsports, pairing three of his four drivers with different in-house pit bosses.

Letarte, who had been with Jeff Gordon, landed with Earnhardt’s No. 88 team as Hendrick reassigned Earnhardt crew chief Lance McGrew to the No. 5 team of Mark Martin, and moved Martin crew chief Alan Gustafson to Gordon’s No. 24 team.

“Steve was in shock for the first hour maybe,” said Hendrick, who announced the changes just two days after the 2010 season. “And then he went up to Dale’s house and that’s when the relationship started.”

Not even Hendrick knew just how fruitful the relationship would turn out to be.

More than a year later, it’s clear to most everyone that putting Letarte alongside NASCAR’s most popular driver was a shrewd move.

In addition to making the Chase for the first time in three seasons, finishing seventh in points and coming within a whisker of two race wins, Earnhardt got something from Letarte that he’s often needed in other crew chiefs: A good old-fashioned kick in the pants. Letarte placed tough demands on Earnhardt's time and method of communication related to the car.

“Steve was really vocal in telling me things that he expected out of me that I wasn’t doing as a driver,” Earnhardt said. “He saw things where I could change, and he was really strict, and I really like that. I told him, ‘I need to hear these things. I need you to really hold me to a certain standard and make me conform to that.’ He definitely ran a different style of program and a tighter ship than I was used to.”

But along with coming to know Letarte as a “field general,” Earnhardt also found a “cheerleader.” There were several occasions last season when Letarte’s encouragement over the team radio helped his driver soldier on.

The ultimate example came last September at Richmond when the crew chief coached Earnhardt to a 16th-place finish – good enough to secure a berth in the Chase – despite driving a car badly wounded in an early wreck.

It’s that kind of no-quit attitude that Earnhardt has often lacked in past crew chiefs.

“The one thing that I need from him is to know that he believes in my ability and what the team can accomplish,” said the 37-year-old son of the late seven-time Sprint Cup champion Dale Earnhardt.

“I don’t ask much of him – just don’t change. The guy he was last year was perfect.”

Letarte, a long-time Hendrick employee, barely knew Earnhardt prior to their pairing. He was plenty privy however, to Earnhardt’s struggles and the pressure that would come with making pit calls for the sport’s biggest star.

Steve Letarte is a veteran of the Hendrick Motorsports organization. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
In an effort not to prejudge Earnhardt, whose talent and desire to reach the top echelon of the sport have often been questioned, Letarte went into the relationship with an open mind.

He never feared the fourth-generation driver might not embrace his tough-love approach.

“I purposefully did not ask anyone their opinion of Dale Jr. nor did I listen to any opinions that were offered to me,” said Letarte, who is Earnhardt’s third crew chief since joining the Hendrick organization in 2008. “I went in to Dale Jr. and I introduced myself as if we had never met. And we started the process in November with a completely blank slate. I had no expectations. I had expectations of his commitment – what I expected him to do as a race car driver – but I had no expectations because of past history.”

Letarte found a driver willing to try new ideas and break old habits in an effort to be better. The two quickly formed a friendship that extended beyond the track.

“When I saw Dale getting into a car with Steve Letarte and his kids going to the mall, I said (to Letarte), ‘You’ve got him,’” a smiling Hendrick said. “But seriously, Dale wants to be comfortable. He wants to respect the guy (crew chief); he wants the guy to respect him. And he has that. And Steve has learned what he likes and what he doesn’t like.

“Instead of after the race when everybody’s pissed off and they go their different way, Steve will put his arm around him and they’ll go in the truck and they’ll talk and they may ride home together. And Steve is always thinking about how can I make this deal better, and Dale knows that and has total confidence in him.”

Winning Earnhardt’s trust didn’t happen overnight.

“Sometimes you can tell him that you have his best interest at heart, you can tell him that this is the best thing for him but till he believes it and he sees it and he feels it, it doesn’t do any good,” Hendrick said.

“Everybody that’s tried to help him has done what they could, but Steve went at it a different way and Steve is what Dale respects.”

As Earnhardt and Letarte prepare to enter their second season together, many of the questions they faced ahead of 2011 are gone.

They know they can contend for victories and make the Chase. They know they can get along. And, perhaps most importantly, they know each has the other’s back.

“I never question his desire; I hope he never questions mine,” Letarte said. “He’s never said he has. It allows us to go into battle. When things get tough, we can be very matter of fact about what the issue is, and we don’t have to work through a whole bunch of other mud of what it might be.

“If the car’s loose, it’s loose. I believe what he’s telling me. He believes I can fix it and if I don’t fix it, he believes I was trying. When you get all of that out of the way, the rest is kind of nuts and bolts.”

Jared Turner is an Associate Editor for SPEED.com, covering NASCAR and Formula One, and is an Editor for TruckSeries.com. His professional motorsports writing career began in 2005.
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