Hendrick Motorsports has announced that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will have a new crew chief starting this weekend at Dover. Lance McGrew will be the interim crew chief for the No. 88 team beginning at Pocono on June 7th. Meanwhile, Team Manager Brian Whitesell will stand-in at Dover.

“Our performance hasn’t been where it should be,” Owner Rick Hendrick said. “It’s impossible to pin that on any one factor, but a change is the right decision at this point.”

Tony Eury Jr. will remain with Hendrick Motorsports in their research and development group.

“Tony and I talked through this last night,” Hendrick said. “I want him here, he wants to be here, and he’s going to be a big contributor to our future success. I have an unbelievable amount of respect for the job he’s done and for the caliber of person he is.”

Whitesell has previously served as interim crew chief for Jeff Gordon in 1999 and won two races during that time.

McGrew has previously worked with Earnhardt Jr. in the Nationwide Series and he won the 2003 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship with driver Brian Vickers. McGrew has won races with other drivers including Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin and Ricky Hendrick.

With all of the upcoming changes, Hendrick remains positive about the organization and it’s future.

“We’re going to put our full resources toward improving the situation and winning races. It’s going to be a collective effort that includes all of our drivers, all of our crew chiefs and all of our engineers. Everyone in our company will be involved on some level.”

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