Forum newest posts

An interesting piece wrote pertaining Jr's crew chief or???

Johnny Mallonee
@johnny-mallonee
14 years ago
3,259 posts
After Steve Letarte was named Crew Chief for Dale Earnhardt Jrs No. 88 team a lot of people questioned the move. The number one question seemed to be why Letarte was chosen over Chad Knaus.If you were Rick Hendrick would you break up one of the most successful driver and crew chief combinations ever to take the green flag? No. It just wouldnt make sense. Not from a business standpoint. Not from a competition standpoint.When youve got a team that wins 5 straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Championships you dont mess with success.Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson have teamed up for 9 years and never finished worse than 5th in the points. Whywould you mess with success,or would you??The above was taken in part from Race Win.
updated by @johnny-mallonee: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM
Tim Leeming
@tim-leeming
14 years ago
3,119 posts
Johnny, I don't think it was ever even considered to split up Jimmy and Chad. That would come under the label of "bonehead:" and would certain qualify Rick Hendrick to take over the rein of NASCAR when Sir Brian abdicates. I hope the switch over is the advantage Junior needs. I would like to see him do well but I think that would take much more than a crew chief swap. Good luck Junior.


--
What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.
Wayne Wilson
@wayne-wilson
14 years ago
39 posts
They didn't seem to have any hesitation about changing pit crews for Jimmie & Chad
Johnny Mallonee
@johnny-mallonee
14 years ago
3,259 posts

sometimes it takes a few casts before the right fish bites
PattyKay Lilley said:
I have to agree wholeheartedly with the comments already made. It would be lunacy to break up a team that has nailed down five Championships(?) in a row, and it's more than apparent that there is no sentiment involved with decisions at HMS. But something is wrong with this equation.

If Letarte is the next great hope for Junior, why hasn't he done better for Jeff, who like Junior, is enduring a long winless streak. With teams cutting back on cars...Petty cutting two, Penske cutting one and a couple of smaller ones not coming back at all... it seems there would be enough qualified men out there to go around without gutting Jeff's team of a crew chief.

Now, one has to wonder...where is the other shoe and when will it drop. Rick Hendrick is anything but stupid, and he is not about to act without a reason. Now, I know this has been denied on all fronts and laughed at by some, but nothing at that level of commerce happens without a plan. Just suppose that the plan is to replace Letarte with someone better on the #24 team...someone with a proven track record and multiple Championships with...umm, let's see...that would be the #24 team.

I know that Ray said he wasn't interested in being a crew chief, but I also know that Rick Hendrick is an expert in knowing exactly which carrot to dangle to get the desired results. Would it really surprise anyone here if there were to be a reunion between Evernham and Gordon? I don't know any more than anyone else about what's really going on, but it sure seems to make perfect sense to me.

Johnny, was that what you were fishing for when you cast out that bait? :)

~PattyKay