Afer team owner Rick Hendrick's decision to split up cousins Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Eury Jr., the sport's most popular driver faced some of his biggest critics at the Dover International Speedway. The drama surrounding Earnhardt Jr. and the team's swing at the fences dominated the conversation in the media center much of Friday and it was finally Junior's turn behind the microphone.

Answering questions for a total of thirty-three minutes, the third-generation driver did his best to remain positive about the decision to shuffle the leadership of the No. 88 team. Things obviously have not gone according to plan since the Juniors made the move to Hendrick Motorsports prior to last season, and Earnhardt Jr. accepts a majority of the blame.

“There really isn’t one thing you can put your finger on as to why it didn’t work. I’m not hiding any blame from anyone,” he pointed out. “I take full responsibility for making some mistakes along the way – especially this year, we haven’t been on our game. I would definitely say that I haven’t been on my game.”

The team’s performance has more than illustrated that point. While the No. 88 team seemed to have a strong Speedweeks in Daytona, that all came apart once the green flag dropped on the Daytona 500. Pit road mistakes mired Earnhardt Jr. a lap down and frustrated racing against the radar. An uncharacteristic move triggered a massive pile-up late in the going, eliminating a number of front runners. That incident seemed to bring upon criticism from not only competitors and media, but fans alike.

Since that race, Earnhardt’s season has never recovered. Monday’s effort in the Coca-Cola 600 was about as bad as Earnhardt Jr. and Eury Jr. have ever shown. From the drop of the green flag, the No. 88 fell to the back of the pack and struggled to compete against cars that normally start and park. The dismal performance in front of the home town crowd led to Mr. Hendrick’s decision announced on Thursday.

This weekend’s car was set up and prepared by Eury Jr., however Brian Whitesell will be atop the pit box as the interim crew chief until Lance McGrew takes over the new role next weekend in Pocono.

“I think it’s a new chapter and a new direction, which gives you hope obviously,” Earnhardt Jr. added. “Maybe hope is a good word instead of relief. I’m not really relieved – I’m really disappointed that we didn’t get things like we wanted them with the original structure of the team. That disappointment I think will be around for a couple months at least and may linger for a long time.”

While he explained the disappointment of not having success with his cousin Tony Jr. will possibly remain for months, Earnhardt Jr. is confident that disappointment will not hinder his performance heading forward.

“You just have to focus on what you’re doing and what your job is, whatever is happening at the moment and focus on it,” Earnhardt Jr. argued. “That disappointment, you’ll be reminded of the fact that it didn’t work out – you want to work with Tony (Eury) Jr. and you want it to happen. There will be things that happen over the next several years that remind you about the situation and not working, but it won’t be a distraction to you. You have to do your job and you can’t let things hang on your mind all the time that are going to bring you down. I’ve always been real good at shutting all that stuff out, obviously.”

There is no doubt Earnhardt Jr. has had a lot to shut out this year. Criticism from competitors, media and fans alike have put an immense amount of pressure on the 34-year-old, yet he feels the majority of scrutiny has fallen on his quiet cousin.

Typically when things go wrong on a race team, everyone points the finger at the crew chief. Responsible for overseeing the majority of what goes into setting up a race car and making it run well, crew chiefs are under the gun much more if that car does not perform up to snuff – and when the driver is Dale Earnhardt Jr. that scrutiny is much more intense.

Fellow competitor and former Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Busch understands that fact and feels little sympathy for Earnhardt Jr.’s situation.

 “You’ve got to make the most popular driver in the sport competitive, so you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do I guess,” Busch bluntly stated of the driver that replaced him at Hendrick Motorsports. “He’s the one that brought that crew chief on. He’s the one that pulled so hard to bring Eury Jr. in and it looked like it was working there in the beginning and just hasn’t worked since the summer of last year really. Whatever makes him better I guess.”

“He’s always had a chip on his shoulder for me,” Earnhardt Jr. said of Busch’s comments. “I expect anytime he gets an opportunity to throw a jab in there he’s going to do it. That’s just his personality. We’re working toward trying to figure out how we can make our deal work and that has nothing to do with Kyle.”

Even though he dismissed Busch’s comments, Earnhardt Jr. did agree his cousin has unfairly shouldered the majority of the blame.

“Like Kyle said, most of the people have always been on Tony Jr.’s case and never really pointed the finger at me throughout the season and eventually the only person that will have to answer to my success is me. Whether that’s today and from here on forward, I don’t know,” he explained.

As he touched on his success and his eventual legacy, Earnhardt Jr.’s demeanor and tone of voice changed a bit. It is evident his struggles since leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc. have left him wondering where he stands in the shadow of his late father.

“Eventually I’m going to have to be the one that has to answer to the fact of how much did I live up to my father’s name and how much did I live up to his wins and everything that he accomplished and how much did I live up to everyone else’s expectations and all my fans and all the media’s expectations,” Junior plainly stated.

With Tony Jr. in the picture, the two could act like young cousins having fun and going racing. Sure they were professional – you have to be in order to race at the sport’s top level – however, their relationship seemed more relaxed than probably needed. Now, with Mr. Hendrick’s decision, Earnhardt Jr. realizes it is time to buckle down and prove he can still get the job done.

“I think the fun side went out the window a couple months ago,” admitted Earnhardt Jr. “My focus right now is strictly on being just ridiculously professional in every approach toward the car, toward the people that I’m working with. I’ve taken every serious bone I’ve got and put it together to try to repair this situation and be a part of the solution to the problem.  It definitely is going to require all the focus I have and all my motivation and determination is what it’s going to take to get it going in the right direction.”

If this team felt there was scrutiny before, if things do not pan out as planned there will be another set of questions that will need to be addressed and the scrutiny will only be worse. Of course, anytime changes are made it will take time to see affects, however with Junior Nation getting restless and the media closely following the story, this organization needs to step up to the plate and show this decision was a home run move.

 MORE NASCAR NEWS