Dale Jr.: 'More accountable' with Ives

Junior is quick to credit last year’s remarkable success — four wins, including the Daytona 500, his best showing in a decade — to his relationship with crew chief Steve Letarte. Letarte, now at NBC Sports, was known as one of the best strategists in the garage. More importantly, he became a trusted confidante to Earnhardt Jr. as their driver-crew chief relationship deepened and developed over four years.

Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t have that relationship yet with first-year crew chief Greg Ives — after seven races together, how could he? — but thinks continuing to develop a friendship is key to the No. 88 team’s title hopes.

“He’s not Steve,” Earnhardt said of Ives following a third-place finish at Texas. “They don’t have the same personality, not that one is better than the other. Me and Steve became such great friends, so it was like working with your best friend every day. Me and Greg are working on that relationship.

“I need that relationship. That’s a relationship I want to have with my crew chief. I want to be best friends. I want to be good pals. … I’ve got a lot of respect for (Greg). He’s a great family man and I trust his judgment.”

Ives’ judgment, particularly when it comes to making race cars go fast, has proven to be exceptional at any level. He was a race engineer during Jimmie Johnson‘s five straight title runs from 2006 to 2010, then won the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship last year with driver Chase Elliott.

Earnhardt pointed out after Texas that his cars are fast this year, and they may be faster than the cars he had to open last season. His average starting position through seven races this year (12.6) is better than it was at this point last year (14.6). Eliminating races in which the No. 88 wrecked or had mechanical trouble, his average finishing position this year is 3.8 (and 14.0 in all seven starts).

“He’s putting together some great cars,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I know he’s doing that. He’s doing some great things and I’m glad to have the opportunity to work with him early in his career. He’s one of the best crew chiefs, I think, in the garage.”

Although Ives can be a little more cerebral on the radio, not having Letarte as the always-upbeat “cheerleader” has forced Earnhardt to do a certain amount of growing as a driver and a leader.

“Greg obviously isn’t the cheerleader that Steve was, and I thought about it in the offseason,” Earnhardt said. “What I wanted to do was try to take it upon myself to be a better motivator. I used to just sit there and let Steve motivate me, motivate the team, and I thought, you know, I can’t always depend or count on that, and maybe I need to step up and just have a better attitude.

“The cheerleader that Steve was, it was really, really good, but it also let me off the hook a lot. And now working with Greg, I’ve got to be more accountable for carrying my own emotions and taking care of myself.”

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