Hendrick Gives Vote of Confidence

Rick Hendrick has given his driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Earnhardt's crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., a strong vote of confidence amidst speculation that the cousin tandem should split up after a disappointing start to the season.

"What I want to say is that I am 100 percent behind this group and I have no intentions of making any changes,'' Hendrick said Wednesday during a conference call with the national racing media. "Tony Junior is our guy.''

Hendrick did the interview to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his first win as a NASCAR team owner, but the line of questioning quickly turned to Earnhardt's team -- one of four cars Hendrick fields in the Sprint Cup Series.

The eight-time champion owner said he welcomed the chance to set the record straight. Hendrick defended the team's potential even though Earnhardt is ranked 19th in points with just one top-10 finish this season. And he reminded everyone that it wasn't as if that team was "out in left field.''

Earnhardt moved up five positions in the standings Sunday at Bristol and is only 66 points behind the 12th place, Chase-qualifying driver Kevin Harvick. But some members of the media and even some of Earnhardt's own fans have suggested that the struggling team would benefit from a crew chief shake-up. The implication has been that the closeness of the two cousins isn't creating the ideal scenario for success.

It's a notion that Earnhardt takes great issue with. All but one of his 18 victories have come with Eury on his team as crew chief or car chief.

"I'd rather be crucified than him,'' Earnhardt said last week at Bristol, Tenn., preferring to shoulder the blame for his team's early struggles. "Every time I read in the paper that people are on his case, I feel like people are sending my brother to jail for a crime I committed.''

Hendrick acknowledged Wednesday the extreme pressure to produce that Earnhardt feels in his second year with the championship team, and the pressure Hendrick himself feels to ensure Earnhardt's success.

"I was extremely pleased with the way they ran right out of the box. ... but this year's been a slow start,'' Hendrick said. "Nobody's immune from having some problems. I'm confident with the amount of effort going into this deal right now, that we'll get better. ... and I'm very comfortable with the relationship between Dale and Tony Junior.''

Hendrick did reveal that he's already had a "milk-and-cookies" heart-to-heart meeting with the whole team months ago at Texas.

"We got some things off our chest and we all went to work,'' said Hendrick. "No one got sensitive or their feelings hurt. I asked what was good, what was bad ... and we started working. You can tell about the character of a good team when you can sit down and say, this is a problem ... and rate everything from pit crew to motors.

"I can tell you this, both Junior and Tony have told me if they thought they need to be split, they understood. That's my call and I'm not ready to make that call, not even close. I'm convinced they're better together. I think we have the right combination. And I think we are going to be able to prove that to you folks here pretty soon.''