Deflecting the blame for Junior's poor performance

Upon having time to reflect on all of the troubles that have been laid at the driver's-side door of Dale Earnhardt Jr., it was inevitable that this conclusion would be reached in this space.

It's not our fault.

Yep. You heard it right.

It has been going on two weeks since Tony Eury Jr. laid it all out for us at Chicagoland Speedway, revealing that the blame for Earnhardt's dual failure to win more races and truly contend for a championship since joining Hendrick Motorsports is mostly the fault of unrealistic expectations placed upon poor Junior by the media.

Look, before anything more is said on the subject, it must be noted that the interview granted by the immensely likable Eury was much appreciated by the said media. There has never been a time in this reporter's experience when Eury dodged a question or was anything less than courteous and, at least on the surface, full of mutual respect in an interview session -- whether it was a group gang bang in the heat after a race, or during a one-on-one with no one else around at a more leisurely pace in the garage or during an event at the Hendrick shop.

To Eury's credit, his answers to the many legitimate questions fired at him in Chicagoland -- where he spoke publicly for the first time since team owner Rick Hendrick mandated that the crew chief split with his driver/cousin -- were thoughtful and heartfelt.

Eury is a smart man who clearly has plenty to offer to the Hendrick operation in whatever capacity he and it decide is best moving forward.

But when he blamed the media for his demise as Junior's crew chief, and for Earnhardt's struggles in general since coming over to the No. 88 car at Hendrick, he not only was dead wrong but may have inadvertently revealed a bigger part of the problem eating away at Earnhardt's effectiveness behind the wheel. (Continued)