Editor’s note: This story originally ran in June. Autographed copies of Steve Letarte’s book “Leading the Way” are currently available for a limited time. Pick one up as the holidays approach! | Go here to purchase
When Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. came together as crew chief and driver prior to the start of the 2011 season, both were at a crossroads. Earnhardt hadn’t won a race since 2008 while Letarte was coming off a winless season with Jeff Gordon at Hendrick Motorsports.
Four years later, as Letarte was leaving the pit box for the NBC Sports broadcast booth, the duo had tallied five wins together — including the 2014 Daytona 500 — and the sport’s longtime Most Popular Driver was a title threat again.
“Our relationship was on a different level,” Letarte told NASCAR.com. “It was more as equals, more as friends, more as buddies, more as coworkers, and that instantly gave it sort of a different feel. When I look back on it, the success that Dale and I had and the relationship that he and I created was just an amazing four years to finish out my career.”
RELATED: Letarte’s stats as a crew chief | See every win of Dale Jr.’s career
In his new book “Leading the Way,” (as told to Nate Ryan of NBC Sports and available for purchase today) Letarte offers readers and fans alike a unique inside look into how he helped rebuild confidence for Earnhardt — who wrote the foreward for the book — and the No. 88 team, and how the relationship with Junior still impacts Letarte to this day.
“When Dale and I were put together, we were both at a point in our careers where we questioned privately ourselves where our careers were going,” Letarte said. “It was such a turnaround from there to 2014.
“While I looked forward to the opportunity to take my new job (at NBC), I was going to miss what I was doing greatly. After being out of it for six months or so, I kind of wanted to go back and relive it. To tell the stories to the fans, the behind-the-scenes stories and then also to the business leaders, the managers of the world about how we went about rebuilding his career and my career together.”
The book was a three-year project for Letarte and opens with the crew chief learning of his new assignment following the 2010 season, where team owner Rick Hendrick shifted him from Gordon’s No. 24 team to Earnhardt and the No. 88. Letarte candidly admits he thought he would be unemployed after that season.
Throughout the book, Letarte provides insights into the leadership and team building he utilized in helping get Earnhardt back on track to Victory Lane. In the two seasons before their pairing, Earnhardt had finished outside the top 20 in points. The key to the relationship, according to Letarte, was that it started from scratch with no preconceived notions.
RELATED: Steve Letarte offers fantasy advice on NASCAR.com
“One thing I learned with Jeff (Gordon) — the best advice I never took — was he wanted me to treat him like everyone else on the race team,” Letarte said. “And while that is great advice, I could just never do it. He was my mentor. He gave me the opportunity to crew chief. He’s the whole reason I’m in the sport.
“So when I got Dale as a driver, I was convinced that even if it didn’t work, I won’t look back on it and say that I should have done this or I should have done that. I decided I was going to do it my way. We just started with conversations and building a relationship and then took that relationship to the race track.”
Early on, there were several near-victories for the pairing, with the most notable being the 2011 Coca-Cola 600 where Earnhardt ran dry on the final lap.
In 2012, each was able to snap his personal winless drought – Earnhardt’s was at 143 races, while Letarte’s was at 115 races – with their collective triumph in June 2012 at Michigan International Speedway. And while the victory was a huge sigh of relief, it also was the moment Letarte realized he wasn’t going to be a crew chief forever.
When Letarte was considering leaving the pit box for a television job with NBC, Earnhardt was one of his sounding boards. Dale Jr. showed his leadership and growth in an emergency team meeting when the news of Letarte’s move leaked out.
“Dale was one of the people that I leaned on to get his opinion,” Letarte said. “I think that proved our relationship. As a race car driver, he didn’t want me to leave. Professionally, he didn’t want me to leave, but personally, he saw how it could be great for me and my family, and I really think that is why we are going to work together again.
“Because our friendship was much more than on the race track.”
The release of the book coincides with the start of NBC’s portion of televising the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series beginning at Chicagoland Speedway this weekend. The recently retired Earnhardt is joining the booth and re-teaming with his former crew chief once again.
And while the book shows the strength of this relationship, the television screen is sure to display it as well.