Head2Head: Should Eury Jr. be replaced on No. 88?

It's time for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to wake up and smell what's right in front of him -- if he wants to win a championship, he needs to replace Tony Eury Jr.

It's honorable, Junior taking the heat for the lack of success and saying it's not Eury Jr.'s fault. But the fact is, Junior isn't winning races and Junior is nowhere near where he should be in Hendrick equipment.

September 2005 was when Eury Jr. became Junior's crew chief and Junior has two wins in that period -- TWO! This from a Nationwide Series champion and a driver who had 16 wins in five and a half seasons before Eury took control.

Do the math: 16 wins in 209 races without Eury Jr. on top of the pit box; 2 wins in 123 races with Eury Jr. calling the shots.

The ultimate problem comes with in-race decisions. How many times have we seen Junior riding up front, looking like he would challenge for the win, only to see him fade as the race wore on? Too many to count. Junior has the talent behind the wheel, no one questions that. So what's the issue? It has to be the man calling the shots.

I'm not saying fire Eury Jr. -- he was on hand as car chief for most of Junior's success. Maybe that's the solution -- Eury Jr. is better suited handling the mechanical side of things rather than the race day decision side of things.

I appreciate Junior's loyalty, but this is a business, and when someone isn't performing -- a change is required.

When things don't go as planned in life, it seems as though there's always a fall guy -- justified or not. In the case of Dale Earnhardt Jr. failing to meet unrealistic expectations, nobody dares to point a finger at NASCAR's most popular driver. Instead, fans and the media want Tony Eury Jr.'s head on a platter -- and frankly, that isn't fair to him.

Changing crew chiefs isn't the magic elixir. It rarely, if ever, yields long-term results. Remember the Pete Rondeau/Steve Hmiel experiment? That was a double-disaster. Some have suggested putting Chad Knaus atop the 88 box. Why mess up the chemistry of the three-time defending Sprint Cup Series championship team just to alleviate Junior's woes?

Eury Jr. has made some bad calls -- but put down the pitchforks, folks. It was Eury's call that got Dale Jr. into Victory Lane at Michigan -- a win that Junior almost blew when he passed the pace car. In this year's Daytona 500, it was Junior that missed his stall as he daydreamed down pit road, Junior that pitted outside of his box and Junior who got into Brian Vickers.

There is a chemistry issue between the duo, but Earnhardt Jr. is as much to blame as anybody -- he'll be the first to admit it. If Junior let his cousin call the shots and just drove the car, things would improve.

Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon believe in Eury Jr. Most importantly, Dale Jr. believes in him (just has yet to believe him). Isn't that reason enough to not make a change?