As we have heard again and again in the weeks leading up to the Chase, one of the biggest factors in winning the championship has to be the relationship between the driver and his crew chief. Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus have it, Kyle Busch and Steve Addington have it, but many are starting to wonder in Dale Earnhardt Jr. and cousin Tony Eury Jr. still have it.

After starting the season off strong, things have seemed to fizzle out for this team. Their lone win this year came at Michigan, in a race won on fuel mileage and was not without controversy. Since that win at Michigan, Dale Jr. has only three top-10 finishes, two of them coming the past two weeks. While Junior seems to start races off strong, looking to be a contender, the car usually fades during the mid-section of the event, leaving the team to play catch-up.

When the car starts to go away, so does Junior's patience. Radio communication between Dale Jr. and Tony Jr. turns into a tirade from the cockpit about how bad the car is and what Tony Jr. needs to do to fix it. In reality, there is only so much Eury Jr. can do while sitting atop the pit box, yet Earnhardt Jr. puts it all on his shoulders.

"I just think it is like you and your brother playing in the house or out in the yard, you wouldn't treat a friend or neighbor that way," team owner Rick Hendrick said of the situation. "I think they can be better. I know Tony will be better and can help him more if he is calmer when he is giving him information. When you say I am so loose, I am so loose, but you have to talk a little bit about your drive off and your entry so you know if you are going to fix one, are you going to hurt something else. I have had the benefit of listening to a lot of drivers over the years."

Working together for so many years - not to mention the family connection - has allowed this driver-crew chief pair to develop a relationship unlike any other in the garage

"I think Tony has been so used to being quiet and letting him rant and go off," Hendrick went on to say. "They both tell me they like it, so either they are lying to me, or they like it. If they are lying to me, they screwed up because I am just going to keep on going."

In order for Earnhardt Jr. to take that next step in his career and earn his first championship, the communication between him and Tony Jr. is going to have to improve. When they made the move to Hendrick Motorsports, they did so to win championships. The Hendrick model of teamwork is something both Dale Jr. and Tony Jr. have welcomed with open arms, and Rick Hendrick's comments show there is still a bit of work that needs to be done.