Teresa Earnhardt made a surprise visit to Lowe’s Motor Speedway last Saturday night, and some Dale Earnhardt Inc. insiders say it was a move to rally the troops. Several DEI sources expect changes to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s #8 team this week. Pete Rondeau has performed admirably as crew chief, but the front office feels a stronger hand is needed to motivate the brew crew. Jimmy Elledge, crew chief for #41-Casey Mears, and Ford were mentioned as possible replacements. Tony Eury Jr., #15-Michael Waltrip’s DEI crew chief and Earnhardt Jr.’s cousin, says he gave his word to his men that under no circumstances would he abandon them during the season.(Sporting News/PRN’s Garage Pass Radio Show)(5-23-2005)
UPDATE: Effective immediately, Steve Hmiel will serve as interim crew chief on the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet driven by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, replacing Pete Rondeau. Richie Gilmore, Vice President of Motorsports at Dale Earnhardt Inc. stated, “We are capable of consistently winning and are focused on that as a company. We are going to concentrate our efforts on improved results with the number 8 car.” Steve Hmiel, Technical Director at Dale Earnhardt Inc., will replace Rondeau commencing with this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. “Pete is a valuable asset and has brought a number of innovations to our organization. He will continue to do that in a different capacity and we’re happy that Pete is so strongly dedicated to Dale Earnhardt Incorporated and its success,” Gilmore said. He concluded, “We have high expectations of how our teams are to perform and we will utilize every resource we have to win races. Our primary objective is to get the 8 and the 15 solidly into the Chase for the Championship and as a company, we’re focusing everything we have at that goal.”(DEI PR)(5-24-2005)
UPDATE 2: DEI Vice President of Motorsports Richie Gilmore says he has a short list of possible crew chiefs for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the Bud Chevy team. This after DEI Technical Director Steve Hmiel was named as the interim replacement for Pete Rondeau who will stay with the company. Gilmore, who wouldnt name names, says “There are some people under contract and if we cant get the right guy Steve is prepared to do it for the rest of the year and if it goes well it might be longer than that.” Gilmore doesnt characterize the move as driven by panic. “We had a plan in the off-season where we needed to get to and weve felt like weve seen a lot of results that weve been happy with with the #15 and Michael Waltrip and Tony Eury Jr. The #8 was probably three-quarters of the way where we want it to be, but everything seems to be chemistry and the chemistry wasnt there on race day. Communication from the pit box to the race car was something that we felt needed to get better.” Gilmore still thinks Rondeau has a bright future as a Nextel Cup Crew Chief. We hope we can get him in a position to be a cup crew chief here down the road and to succeed because we think he is one of the top crew chiefs in the business. He was in a position where the chemistry wasnt right.”(PRN’s Garage Pass Radio Show)(5-25-2005)
