Is Jr Motorsport being too loyal to Tony Eury Jr?

[Cynic]

Possibly, this should go in with the Danica stuff, in which case mods feel free to move it, but...

When Eury Jr was working with Junior in cup, one of the criticisms aimed at him was that he could not react fast enough to changes in the car handling during the race. All too often the 88 would qualify high, run well until the first pitstop and then drop backwards for the rest of the race. I'm no 88 fan but I do wonder now if some of the #88's results were despite, rather than because of the set-up.

So eventually Jr nation get their way and Eury Jr goes back to the shop, before being assigned to she-who-must-not-be-named in the Nationwide series. and now the pattern is being repeated. Generally the #7 has run well in qualifying, but has then been a pig to handle during the race (I've become convinced that 'fighting a loose condition' is in fact SWMNBN new surname) and with shorter race distances and less tyre sets at Nationwide level there are less opportunities to correct a duff race set-up once the green flag drops.

Is it time for Jr Motorsports to put family loyalty to one side and accept that Eury Jr simply does not have the necessary skill set to be a crew chief at the top levels, or do they soldier on and accept that any car he sets up is likely to fall down the rankings once a race gets past half distance?

[Clive Brown]

It's one of the most fascinating aspects of NASCAR that it is a true team sport; the driver and the crew chief must have a successful chemistry between them if the enterprise as a whole is to be successful.

It has to be remembered that at one point, the two Jrs. were very successful together, so I'm not sure that pointing the finger at Eury Jr. in an attempt to explain away the frankly p1ss-poor performance of the #7 in the NNS this season is necessarily justifiable.

Let's be clear. Had She been a bloke, on her track record she wouldn't have had a sniff of a fully-funded seat for a whole season in equipment this good, let alone a guaranteed seat in Cup for the 2013 season in a prime team such as Stewart Haas. I can think of innumerable drivers who have a better moral right based solely on their performance to both her 2012 and 2013 rides than she has so far been able to demonstrate.

[Cynic]

It has to be remembered that at one point, the two Jrs. were very successful together, so I'm not sure that pointing the finger at Eury Jr. in an attempt to explain away the frankly p1ss-poor performance of the #7 in the NNS this season is necessarily justifiable.

They might have been successful together, but very little of it was at cup level, and IIRC the one success with the then CotF was done on fuel strategy, I'm not in any way trying to explain away the performances of the #7, in fact I fully expect her to fall flat on her face next year. I'm more interested in the fact that despite his reputation, Eury's perormance as a crew chief, at least when it comes to race results is highly questionable. Although I can't find the stats for his finishes so perhaps someone can prove me wrong?

[Paradise City]

Eury Jr might not be a hot shot crew chief in the vein of Letarte or crafty Knaus but if he gets even the slightest hassle because Danica is not performing that would be a big injustice, IMO.