DEI shuffles crew chiefs

[Carrie]

Nascar.com (http://www.nascar.com/2004/news/headlines/cup/12/01/dearnhardt.dei.changes/index.html)
December1, 2004
From Team Release

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Tony Eury Sr. has been promoted from crew chief of the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet to director of competition for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Steve Hmiel, previous director of competition, will now be the technical director for DEI.

During his tenure as crew chief, Eury Sr. led Dale Earnhardt Jr. to two Busch Series championships and 15 Cup victories, including the 2004 Daytona 500.

Pete Rondeau has been named crew chief of the No. 8 team. He took over as crew chief on the No. 15 NAPA Chevrolet late in the 2004 Cup season. Rondeau led Earnhardt Jr. to a Busch Series win at Bristol this year and Ron Fellows to a second-place finish at Watkins Glen.

Full story (http://www.nascar.com/2004/news/headlines/cup/12/01/dearnhardt.dei.changes/index.html)

[Carrie]

w00h00! I am so excited. I have said all along he neded to get them damned eury's out of there. He gets lucky sometimes with the calls but more times than not, he makes the wrong call, and costs Jr the race. I can't wait for next season...Hey tadd...think this will be the year???

[taddzilla]

I think that JR, and Tony Jr worked pretty well together. I heard those two talking the most on the scanner when it came to needed changes.

Changes in the garage always seem to add new life into a team. I think that JR's team has a good head of steam and needs to address some bad races at a few tracks.

Good luck to the entire DEI races teams, and hopefully one of them will bring home the cup.

[Carrie]

While watching the races (cuz not all of us are rich like you and get to go to the races! j/k) during pit stops, other teams would make one maybe 2 changes at a time. With Jr's team it was always 3 or 4 and then it was nearly impossible to get the car right after that. They would always take him from one extreme to the other, and never just where it needed to be. some times it seemed like they were purposely sabotaging him

Then you have all the times that he told them I need to come in, and he was told "wait 2 more laps" then he blows a tire and ends up in a wreck, or a lap down or what ever the case was at that time.

He needs someone in there thats going to make subtle changes, to the car, such as they did when he won Bristol in the bush race. I told Feenie then thats who I thought Jr needed...and now hes got him. I am extremely excited about this change.

**EDIT---sorry...just an after thought...The other thing JR needs is team mates. Yea he has waltrip, who seems like a nice enough guy, but his driving skills and judgement calls leave a lot to be desired. I think that this will be more eveident when Truex makes the move in 2006. I just hope that by that time, he gets 2 or 3 more cars out there that can run with him (waltrip can't seem to keep up) so he can draft etc..It really seems like Jr is out there all alone, and that just sucks ass.