Eury Jr. talks openly about split with Earnhardt Jr. (cont'd)

"You guys were all over him and it just brought him down. I don't think we had a strong enough finish [they were 10th at Las Vegas in the third race of the season] to bring him back up, so every week the hole gets deeper and deeper and deeper. It was like throwing a squirrel into a hole; it's not coming out. So it will dig the other way to get away from everything. Basically, I think that's it in a nutshell. It's unfortunate."

Eury did admit that the positive chemistry he felt the pair enjoyed while racing the No. 8 Chevy at Dale Earnhardt Inc. went away when they came over to Hendrick, never to completely return.

"I was always looking around the corner toward the positive," said Eury, who spent five seasons as Earnhardt's car chief before becoming his crew chief in 2006 at DEI. "I always looked at it that if I had to do it myself, I would turn it around. But one thing you learn real quick is that you can't do it all by yourself. You have to be surrounded by good people and people who have faith in you -- and that's what makes a good race team in this garage. If there are two people who believe in you and the rest of them don't, then you really don't have a lot going for you and it's an uphill battle.

"I think that was the chemistry we had with the No. 8 car at DEI. There was a lot of heart and soul in that team, where we believed in one another and picked up the next guy beside you and carried on and always did whatever you could. I think that's what I kind of missed [with the No. 88 team at Hendrick]."

Despite the heavy criticism he took on an almost constant basis from disgruntled, disappointed fans and the scrutinizing media, Eury insisted that he doesn't believe he has to prove anything to anyone. He said he will work in the Research and Development division at Hendrick for the next six months before deciding if he even wants to consider a return to the Cup garage as a crew chief.

Meanwhile, there was work to be done Thursday. Eury was trying to make certain Keselowski's No. 25 car was fast enough to make the 43-car field for this Saturday's race.

"I feel satisfied in everything I've done," said Eury, who was crew chief for only two of Earnhardt's 18 career Cup wins. "Whether the people, the race fans, the media -- whether they believe it or don't like it or whatever, I feel very successful. I've won a bunch of races. I've done everything in this garage at some point. I've got nothing to prove, you know what I'm saying?

"Would it have been nice to win a Cup championship [with Earnhardt] over here? Yeah, it sure would have. But I'm still at an organization right now where I can be a part of one. Whether I'm the leader of it or just being a part of it, it means something."