Absentee crew chiefs stay plugged in via technology

No crew, no calls, no problem.

NASCAR crew chiefs who find themselves forced outside the track these days are likely singing a similar tune.

Be it a welcomed leave of absence for the birth of child or a more begrudged exit to serve a lengthy NASCAR-imposed suspension, crew chiefs simply refuse to be silent.

Success continues

Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson had top-fives in their first races with interim crew chiefs. Dale Jr. did, too, in his last race without Tony Eury Jr.

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• Video: Gordon, Junior talk

And with increasing technologies and innovation, they don't have to be.

Evident by Tony Eury Jr.'s tech-savvy setup in his motor coach last weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway, the crew chief was anything but silent.

"I stay in touch with things like NASCAR TrackPass and the cell phone. I keep up with the practice lap times and instant message back and forth with our team engineer, H.A. [Mergen]," said Eury, who will return to the pit box this weekend in Daytona after serving a six-race suspension for improper brackets used to attach the rear wing to the COT of the No. 8 Chevrolet.

The violation was discovered before the Dodge Avenger 500 at Darlington Raceway in May.

From the results his driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., has posted of late, seemingly the communications, though not firsthand, were effective.

"I try to offer help if they need it -- but I really try to let Tony Gibson work with Dale Jr. and the team to make the decisions during practice," Eury added. "I'm an extra set of eyes and I try to offer help when I can without getting in the way."

During a post-race interview, Earnhardt joked that his crew chief hasn't been missed.

"The six races that Tony Gibson was in charge, we had good cars every week and the joke around the shop is that Tony Jr. is under pressure now because we run better with Gibson! But, it will be great to be back at full strength with Tony Jr. next week at Daytona," Earnhardt said.

According to NASCAR rules, suspended crew chiefs are not permitted to communicate with their crews via team radios, however, NASCAR is not in a position to monitor all outside communication that may take place, such as cell phone calls, instant messaging or text messaging.

Also, crew chiefs are not allowed to enter the garage areas so most -- including recently suspended Hendrick Motorsports crew chiefs Chad Knaus and Steve Letarte -- set up shop in their motor coaches just outside the track and utilize AM/FM Pi Antennas to monitor radio traffic.

Jeff Gordon and his interim crew chief, Jeff Meendering, kept the lines of communication open with the ousted Letarte, but didn't overload on tech tools. (Continued)