Earnhardt, McGrew staying together, for now

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Rick Hendrick has made a crew chief change before when one of his drivers has failed to qualify for NASCAR's season-ending Chase. But right now, the car owner said Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Lance McGrew will remain together on the No. 88 team.

Earnhardt stands 18th in points entering Sunday night's event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and barring a miracle run in the next two races will be on the outside looking in when the Sprint Cup playoff begins Sept. 19 at New Hampshire. Hendrick said he plans no crew chief change on the No. 88 team for the final 10 races, which he did in 2005 when Jeff Gordon failed to qualify for the Chase. Steve Letarte replaced Robbie Loomis for the tail end of that season.

Hendrick stopped short, though, of saying whether Earnhardt and McGrew would remain together into next season.

"We make decisions as things develop during the season and at the end of the season," Hendrick said Saturday at Atlanta. "Right now, we've got a game plan, and we're sticking to it. Today, next week, and going into the Chase and during the Chase, our plan is for those two guys to be together."

McGrew joined the No. 88 team midway through the 2009 season, replacing Tony Eury Jr. Earnhardt, who finished 13th two weeks ago at Bristol, would be eliminated from Chase contention with a loss of 26 or more points Sunday night. But Hendrick said he likes the chemistry he's seen between the driver and crew chief, which netted a competitive early summer run that briefly placed the No. 88 team back in Chase contention.

"Actually, I'm pretty happy with the chemistry there now," Hendrick said. "Maybe some of you guys [in the media] don't agree. I'm around them, I'm in the shop every week, I'm in the Tuesday meetings. And I talked to Dale and I talked to Lance and I talked to them both after they'd been testing. We had some good momentum going, and then we kind of fumbled the ball a little bit right before the Chase. But if you can't pinpoint where your problem is, and the whole organization needs to be better ...."

Barring a strong run in the next two weeks by Mark Martin, Hendrick will place two cars in the Chase after sweeping the top three places last season. Hendrick knows his team has some issues as a whole -- "we're not happy with where we are as an organization," he said -- and seemed unwilling to single out the No. 88.

"If you miss the Chase and you just decide that you're going to change something just to be changing it, I think that's a mistake," he said. "I've never tried to do that. I keep my options open. At the same time, if the driver and the crew chief are getting along and they're working together and they're trying, that's all I can ask for."