Eury Jr. out as crew chief for slumping Earnhardt (cont'd)

Earnhardt and Eury spent Tuesday and Wednesday testing on the road course at Virginia International Raceway. Hendrick told them he was splitting the pair upon their return.

"I have mixed feelings, and that's just natural," Eury said. "But I enjoy working at Hendrick Motorsports, and this is where I want to be. I'll do whatever I can to help all of our teams and try to be a part of another championship. I think a new challenge will be good."

Whatever route Hendrick takes, he's giving Earnhardt the full-time use of Whitesell and Rex Stump, the lead chassis engineer.

"Tony and I talked through this [Wednesday] night," Hendrick said. "I want him here, he wants to be here, and he's going to be a big contributor to our future success. I have an unbelievable amount of respect for the job he's done and for the caliber of person that he is."

Earnhardt and Eury -- first cousins and the grandsons of Robert Gee, one of Hendrick's first employees -- have worked together in some capacity for Earnhardt's entire career. The two went through a rough patch that led to constant bickering at the end of the 2004 season when they raced for the championship at Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Earnhardt's stepmother, Teresa, separated them at the start of 2005, a move that led Earnhardt to finish a career-worst 19th in the standings. They were back together before the end of the season, but won just one race together in '06 as Earnhardt's relationship with his stepmother rapidly deteriorated.

The next year, Earnhardt wrestled with the decision to leave DEI, then embarked on one of the most high-profile free agencies in NASCAR history. He settled on Hendrick Motorsports, and Eury went with him.

Although they opened their first season at Hendrick by winning the exhibition Budweiser Shootout and a Daytona 500 qualifying race, Earnhardt didn't win a points race until the 15th event of the year. That was at Michigan, his only victory all season.

Still, consistency put him at the top of the title contenders when the Chase for the championship began. But Eury and Earnhardt moved away from what got them into the Chase and finished last in the 12-driver field.

Earnhardt struggled to identify the reasons why his relationship with Eury simply stopped working.

"That's really the confusing part," Earnhardt said. "I don't have no idea. Nothing's different than last year. It's kind of like looking down out of the boat into the lake, and you can only see about a foot, and the problem lays about six, seven, eight, 10 foot down, and you just can't see it. You know it's there.

"The only thing I can say was a little bit of an issue was, most of last year, we ran on right-front bump stops, and we were running good with that. And we had studied and learned that. During the middle of the season, [teammate] Jimmie [Johnson] was trying some different stuff, and he started having some success with it.

"We started trying it and trying to make it work and trying to learn it, so we could be ready to go to the Chase and not get our butts kicked, and we really kind of got lost trying to develop this other idea of how to set the car up. And we got a way from what was working and never really regained that momentum back."

Though Earnhardt says he's looking forward to find a permanent crew chief for next season, his qualifications for the job might raise some eyebrows.

"There's so much pressure on that [No. 88] team," he said. "Those guys on that team don't go to the race track and show up under the same environment as anyone else -- especially Tony Jr. and the guy that decides to run that team as a crew chief. He's definitely in a different situation and definitely in a different environment than any other crew chief.

"I'm going to tell you, the guy who takes that job going into 2010 is either confident as hell or crazy. Maybe that's what we need."