From one Junior to the other: 'I've got your back'

Whenever new members join the family that is the No. 88 Chevrolet team of Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Hendrick Motorsports, crew chief Tony Eury Jr. welcomes them with a stern warning.

Soaring expectations

Dale Earnhardt Jr. admits he was apprehensive going into last season. But this year, he says the team must perform when the stakes are high.

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"You guys are going to get more attention, you're going to get talked about more, when you do wrong you're going to get that magnified. When you do good, that's going to get magnified, too -- but you've got to be able to take both, because you're going to get both. It's not going to be one or the other. Both of 'em are coming, so just be prepared," Eury said he tells the new recruits.

If anyone knows about all that, it should be Eury. The two Juniors not only are cousins, but they have been longtime companions at the race track. They spent eight seasons together at Dale Earnhardt Inc., the first six with Eury as Earnhardt's car chief and the last two with Eury serving as crew chief for the No. 8 Chevy Earnhardt used to drive.

They moved to Hendrick together last year, along with high expectations. They started strong, winning both the Budweiser Shootout and Gatorade Duel non-points events during season-opening Daytona Speedweeks.

But after winning at Michigan last June to break a 76-race winless streak, and spending most of the first half of the season second in the standings, the Juniors faded in the second half of the season. They didn't win another race and eventually dropped all the way to 11th in the final standings after faltering badly down the stretch in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

Much of the blame for the swoon was laid at Eury's toolbox by fans and media -- if not by Earnhardt, who continues to say he stands by his crew chief. And no one likes to spread the blame for Earnhardt's shortcomings like the faithful of Junior Nation.

"Well, I've tried to put that to rest. I've tried and tried and tried. I give up, really, on putting it to rest," Earnhardt said.

"I feel so bad for Tony Jr. because he's just trying to make a living. He never asked for this. I don't know if I would be as strong as he is, to put up with all the criticism he has to put up with. I don't think I would be." (Continued)